Sunday Snap – The London Country Estate

We were in central London for last week's Sunday Snap of a closed tube station. When it was opened in 1907 is was called Stand Station but by the time it closed in 1994 it had another name. I asked what it was renamed as and the answer was

Aldwych

Going underground last week with the right answer was Jen.

For this week we're moving away from central London and into the suburbs. The grand house above is typical of many now in the care of the National Trust but not something you would expect to find in the London Borough of Hounslow. The estate was purchased in the 1560s by financier Sir Thomas Gresham and he built the original house. It survived until 1713 by which time the ownership of the estate was in the hands of Sir Francis Child of Child's Bank. The house was in such a bad state of repair that Child family asked the then fashionable architect Robert Adam to remodel it. At the time the Child family had a house in central London as their primary and this was considered their country villa. Sir Francis left the estate to his brother Robert who in turn left it to his eldest granddaughter Lady Sophia Fane. When she married the 5^th Earl of Jersey her husband's family already had other suitable properties for them to use and the property was leased out.

In 1939 the then owner the 9^th Earl of Jersey decided to open the house for public viewing as many people had requested to visit it and as he didn't live there he saw no reason against it. It proved a popular decision with around 12,000 people visiting the house in the first month of opening. The money-making scheme was cut short by the Second World War and the grounds were used for the first training of the Local Defence Volunteers which was later known as the Home Guard. Although this school became famous across the world in wartime news reels it was not liked by Winston Churchill and the War Office and it was shut down and relocated in September 1940. After the end of the war the Earl of Jersey was keen to offload the estate and when Middlesex County Council no longer wanted to buy the property he give it to the National Trust in 1949. Today from many parts of the estate you would never think you were so close to the centre of London except for the din of the traffic on the M4 that cuts through the parkland and constant roar of the planes going over from nearby Heathrow. This week's question is

What is the name of the above house?

We were joined last week by Snoskred who has been eyeing up some sparkly Christmas decorations. Over at Jack and Noah's the Christmas tree is up and the Christmas jumpers are on. There's been a trip to Chicago for Sue. Susan's trio met the big guy himself. Kelly has been capturing the last colours of autumn in the leaves. Finally, Kara left us with an amazing rainbow.

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I'll share my favourites with you next week and remember I do like a bit of a tale to go with a photo but it's not a necessity!

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