Shopping at Mottisfont

A delightful shopping experience 

You'll find the shop and the plant centre next to the visitor welcome centre. Pop in on your next visit; dogs are welcome, too. Whether you're looking for a souvenir to take home or a present for a loved one, make sure you stop by - the shelves are bursting with gifts ideas and lovely treats. 

Support Local Artisans

We are proud to support local businesses with a selection of products made within a 30-mile radius of the estate. Our range includes local toiletries, jewellery, honey, gin, cider and ale.

Tasty Treats

Look no further for your favourite preserves and chutneys – all produced in the UK. Whatever your taste, sweet or savoury, our range of treats is perfect for any occasion.

Home and Fashion

As the season changes, feel snug as a bug with our throws, scarves and hats. The new fashion range has been inspired by nature and the locations we have in our care – from tulips and other floral displays, to fluttering butterflies and beautiful summers day landscapes.

Our homeware brings the beauty of nature indoors with cushions, scented candles and beautifully patterned soft furnishings to add the finishing touch to your home. Take a piece of the National Trust home with you.

Outdoor and Gardening

You can make the most of your green space with our range of gardening accessories, tools, and outdoor decorations. Our plant centre offers a seasonal range of plants, herbs, and flowers inspired by Mottisfont’s own gardens.

Right now, we've got a broad selection of potted spring bulbs, ready to brighten up your garden. Create a beautiful display with our selection, including snowdrops, narcissi, fragrant hyacinths, and jewel-coloured tulips.

Children’s Gifts

For younger visitors, we have a delightful range of pocket-money treats, traditional toys, games, and books inspired by the natural world.

A Constant Heart – the War Diaries: An intimate insight from the last owner of Mottisfont, Maud Russell

The publication of Maud Russell’s diaries is of considerable importance. Few diaries covering the Second World War remain unpublished, even less weave together so many strands; politics, art, high society, wartime life on a country estate, the unfolding drama of the war itself – the last brought into even sharper focus by Maud’s struggle to help her Jewish relatives flee Nazi Germany.

Together with her husband Gilbert, Maud’s principal home was Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire, described by John Julius Norwich in his foreword as ‘the most desirable house in England’, and which she later gave to the National Trust. The daughter of German immigrants, Maud was an outsider who owed her place in society to her wealth and marriage. To many she was an enigma, but the diaries reveal a woman of strong emotion with an immense appetite for life.

The opening entries alone hint at the riches that lie ahead. There is a meeting in Paris with Matisse (who painted her), an anxious visit to Cologne, the commissioning of Rex Whistler to decorate the ‘big room’ at Mottisfont, and a deepening intimacy with Ian Fleming, almost certainly her lover – as in due course was the Russian mosaic artist Boris Anrep, whom she shared with his common-law wife.

Yet despite Maud’s determination to forge a new life after Gilbert’s death in 1942, she was steadfast in her commitments, blessed with an unswerving sense of right and wrong, and loyal to her friends. And the list of those friends is to call the roll on British political and artistic life in the mid-twentieth century, many of whom are brought vividly to life in diaries which, until now, have remained private and unpublished. Written by her Granddaughter, Emily Russel, this books offers a private and sensitive insight. 

The book is available from the shop priced at £15

Every purchase makes a difference

Every purchase you make helps us care for nature, beauty, and history at Mottisfont. Thank you for your support