Berkshire Downs Country Houses
Tue 3 Jun 2025 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM BST
The Old Rectory, RG17 9DS
Description
Enjoy exclusive owner-guided tours of two Grade II* private country houses nestled in the Berkshire Downs in the beautiful village of Inkpen.
Discover the late 17th-century Georgian Old Rectory, Inkpen, described in Country Life in 1943 as a “perfectly preserved miniature William-and-Mary country house”. The house was built in about 1695, when Dr Colwell Brickenden, the rector of Inkpen, inherited the nearby Titcomb estate in Kintbury on the death of his elder brother, and straight away rebuilt the rectory to house himself and his seven children in a manner befitting their new situation. In 1933, the former rectory was sold by the Church Commissioners and bought in 1938 by Lt-Col T. H. du Boulay and his wife, who, during the war years, singlehandedly restored much of the miniature Versailles gardens, inspired by André Le Notre, while her husband was away on active service. The Old Rectory, formerly known as Inkpen House, has some contemporary internal features but the original house remains largely unaltered.
The Old Rectory © Stephen Richards / Inkpen House, Inkpen
Later explore the largest house within the parish of Inkpen, 18th-century Kirby House, at various times owned by the Brickenden and Butler families, and now by the Astor family. The property, a superb example of a Queen Anne house, was built in 1733 and is set within eight acres of formal gardens which include a terrace designed by Harold Peto, herbaceous borders, a lily pond garden and walled garden. There are some 19th- and 20th-century additions but the original house, built of grey brick with red dressings and red chamfered raised quoins, is largely unaltered.
We will meet the welcoming owners of both houses and learn about their past history, present usage and the families’ future plans for these exquisite country houses.
Header image: Kirby House © Brian Robert Marshall, CC BY-SA 2.0 <;, via Wikimedia Commons
Tickets £92 including a two-course gastro pub lunch at the Crown and Anchor Inn, Ham. Lunch options to be made available to attendees in May 2025.
Booking opens at 9.30 am on 6 January 2025