Columbine Hall, Suffolk

Columbine Hall has appeared in many articles and books. Pevsner’s Guide to West Suffolk describes it as “enchanting”.

The medieval manor house rises straight from a spectacular moat. It sits in an acre of formal garden inside the moat (designed by Chelsea Gold Medal winner George Carter). Another 28 acres of orchards, woods, parkland and bog gardens are outside the moat. The gardens were featured in Gardens Illustrated and The English Garden (twice). The interior has been in World of Interiors and style books by Kevin McCloud, George Carter and Ros Byam Shaw. 

Hew Stevenson and his late wife Leslie Geddes-Brown bought the manor house, which had been empty for seven years, in 1993, and, along with Melvyn Smith, have transformed the interior. They have filled the house with an eclectic collection including ancestral portraits and an enormous estate map of 1741; they bought a lifesize Chinese auspicious deer at auction (without seeing it) plus two six-foot Burmese earth spirits and have a spear taken from Hadendoa warriors at the battle of Tamai in 1884. Many are a result of Hew’s interest in his family, described in his book, Jobs for the Boys: The Story of a Family in Britain’s Imperial Heyday.

Tickets £22, including a guided tour of house and garden followed by tea and cakes.

What our visitors say:
Your house is beautiful and fascinating and you make the most informative and entertaining guide.

Please see our cancellation policy below:
If you cancel more than two weeks before the tour is scheduled to take place, we will fully refund your ticket money excluding any phone booking fees. If it’s less than 14 days before a tour, for any reason, we regret that we cannot refund your ticket money unless we can resell your ticket(s). If we cancel at any time, we will fully refund your ticket money. Although we make every effort to avoid it, sometimes a tour has to be cancelled at short notice due to circumstances beyond our control. In this case, we cannot accept responsibility for, or refund, any consequential losses, such as money spent on travel or accommodation.

Greeted or guided by the owner

No photography in the house
No stilettos
No dogs