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Roger Bailey | profile | all galleries >> Uppark House and Gardens (National Trust) tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Uppark House and Gardens (National Trust)

A fine late 17th Century National Trust house and its treasures set high on the South Downs with magnificent views. The fully restored mid-18th Century interior houses rescued Grand Tour paintings, ceramics, textiles, furniture and the famous dolls' house. Extensive servants' rooms shown as they were in 1874 when H.G. Wells' mother was housekeeper. The garden is in picturesque style, primarily foliage, with flowering shrubs, bulbs, perennials and herbaceous plants in a woodland & downland setting. Free parking, woodland walk, National Trust Shop and restaurant.

On 30 August 1989, Uppark was severely damaged by fire. Its repair has been the most complicated the National Trust has ever undertaken. Uppark re-opened its doors in the Trust's centenary year (1995), a timely celebration of British conservation skills.

If there is much that has been learned and to be grateful for since the fire, there is continuing sorrow for what has been lost. The Meade-Fetherstonhaugh family's possessions were totally destroyed. The loss of the private rooms and their contents on the upper floors, removed from Uppark an intrinsic element of its fame as a house unaltered since the 19th-century. Downstairs, the patina of age has largely gone from several rooms but it has been possible to preserve much of the old paint and gilding in the Saloon and Dining Room, untouched since c1815.

The aim has been to restore Uppark, in so far as is practicable, to its state before the fire. Old and new have been carefully interwoven and recorded but it is hoped that their junction is invisible and that a seamless repair has been achieved.
Uppark House - I was burnt down in 1989 and reopened in 1995.
Uppark House - I was burnt down in 1989 and reopened in 1995.
The Restaurant
The Restaurant
The Stables and Dairy.
The Stables and Dairy.
View of the House from the Dairy
View of the House from the Dairy
The Dairy
The Dairy
The Cool room off the Dairy
The Cool room off the Dairy
Reflection of the House in the Dairy window.
Reflection of the House in the Dairy window.
The Stables
The Stables
The Tunnel
The Tunnel
Entrance to the House.
Entrance to the House.
The Restaurant
The Restaurant
Restaurant clock tower - 4pm time for tea!
Restaurant clock tower - 4pm time for tea!
Sundial in the gardens
Sundial in the gardens
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U014.jpg
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U015.jpg
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U016.jpg
The West wing
The West wing