Basildon Park

Today I had plans which got cancelled at the last minute so I decided to treat myself to a day out. I went to Basildon Park, one of the nearby National Trust Houses. Having lived much closer to Basildon in the past, I had been there before, but not for some years.

Although things may not change much at an old property such as this, the National Trust is changing how they show these houses to the public. I thoroughly enjoyed several hours here, which included a small tour for an hour (highly recommended for learning the most about the history), a wander round the gardens and parkland while it wasn't raining, both lunch and later on, a coffee, and a slow wander around the whole house.

Basildon Park is even more popular since it has been used several times as a film set for various period films and dramas - Pride and Prejudice, The Duchess, Dorian Grey, and probably most famously, the Downton Abbey Christmas special 2013.

I hadn't really appreciated until today how many of these grand country houses were demolished in the 20th century in England. It started after WW1 and by the 1950s one house was destroyed every 5 days. It didn't end until the mid 1970s but by that time 1000 had been torn down. Basildon Park could so easily have been a victim of this sad trend.

Having been built in 1783, the house had a succession of owners and by 1910 was empty. In WW1 it was used as a convalescence hospital. After the war it was purchased by someone who had the intention of selling to an American buyer who would dismantle it and re-erect it in the US. Because of the Depression that plan never succeeded, but the house had still been stripped of much of its contents and abandoned. In WW2 it was requisitioned and used as a training ground for tanks, and later as a POW camp. After the War, it was bought by Lord and Lady Iliff (his family had briefly been one of the previous owners) with the purpose of restoring it to its former glory and saving it from destruction. It was their family home for 30 years until it was given to the National Trust n 1978. Allegedly, Lord Iliff gave it without consulting his wife and she didn't speak to him for 6 months! They continued to live in the south wing (South Pavilion) until they both passed away, Lady Iliff most recently in 2007.

Basildon Park