Hanbury Hall

Built in the 18th century by Thomas Vernon, a lawyer and whig MP for Worcester, Hanbury Hall is a beautiful William and Mary style country house, garden and park. Hanbury Hall is thought to stand on the site of the previous mansion, Spernall Hall, and Thomas Vernon first describes himself as ‘of Hanbury Hall’ in 1706, and this and other evidence leads to a likely completion date of about 1706. The date of 1701 above the front door is thought to be a Victorian embellishment, but no building accounts are known to exist.

A mix of interiors are to be discovered inside, from the restored Hercules rooms and recreated Gothic corridor, to the recently re-decorated smoking room and stunning staircase wall-paintings by Sir James Thornhill which underwent recent restoration work and look quite magnificent. They include a small representation of Rev Henry Sacheverell being cast to the furies – this relates to an incident in 1710 when Sacheverell, a Tory, was put on trial for sedition by the Whig government, and dates the paintings to that year. The focus of the paintings around the stairwell is the life of the Greek hero Achilles, as told by a range of classical sources.

Surrounding the house are eight hectares (20 acres) of recreated early 18th-century gardens and 162 hectares (400 acres) of park leading into the surrounding countryside. Features include an intricately laid out parterre, fruit garden, grove, orangery, orchard and bowling green.