Polesden Lacey

Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house (expanded from an earlier building). It is located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England and a National Trust property.

This Regency house was extensively remodelled in 1906 by the Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville, a well-known Edwardian hostess. Her collection of fine paintings, furniture, porcelain and silver is displayed in the reception rooms and galleries, as it was at the time of her celebrated house parties.

There are extensive grounds, a walled rose garden, lawns and landscape walks through part of the estate of 1,400 acres (5.6 square kilometres).

The future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth spent part of their honeymoon here in 1923.

Previous houses

There were houses on this site before this Regency house. Polesden Lacey had at one time belonged to Sir Francis Geary but his Polesden Lacey was demolished when Joseph Bonsor bought the estate and had the present house built. He died in 1835 and the house passed to his son. From then, there have been several owners of the property until it was bought in 1906 by Captain the Honourable Ronald Greville and his wife Margaret. Mrs Greville was responsible for the interior setting that was to impress her guests of the time.

Mrs Greville's Polesden Lacey

The house was remodelled by Mrs Greville using architects Charles Mewès and Arthur Davis, who were responsible for the Ritz Hotel in London. Mrs Greville filled the house with collections of very fine furniture, pictures, porcelain and silver, much of which were supplied by many of London's fine arts dealers. With these purchases, she created a retreat in the country necessary for her house parties

Less than half the property is open for viewing. Many of the remainder of the outbuildings are used by the National Trust as a regional administration centre.

Trivia

* The gardens of this house (and the surrounding countryside) were used as location for the 1991 Stephen Poliakoff film "Close My Eyes".
* The front of this house was used as a location for the 1997 film "Shooting Fish".

External links

* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-polesdenlacey/ Polesden Lacey information at the National Trust]
* [http://www.gardenvisit.com/g/pole.htm Polesden Lacey garden design history]
* [http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Polesden+Lacey Flickr images tagged Polesden Lacey]
* [http://www.bartosik.org/photography/polesden_lacey.htm A personal photographic account of Polesden Lacey, April 2008.]