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Places with famous connections
From the childhood homes of the rich and powerful to the places creative and scientific minds gained their inspiration, explore the houses in our care with connections to famous people.
- The Beatles’ Childhood Homes
- Get a ticket to ride on a trip down memory lane with a combined minibus tour to Mendips and 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool, the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. This is your opportunity to see inside the houses where the Beatles met, composed and rehearsed many of their earliest songs.Visit The Beatles’ Childhood Homes
- The holiday home of Agatha Christie
- Glimpse into Greenway, the private Devon holiday home of much-loved author Agatha Christie and her family. The relaxed and atmospheric house is set in the 1950s, and contains many of the family’s collections, including archaeology, silver, botanical china and books. The saloon in the boathouse, with a fireplace and a balcony overlooking the River Dart, is where Christie set the murder of Marlene Tucker in Dead Man’s Folly.Visit Greenway
- The home of Sir Winston Churchill
- Family home and place of inspiration for Churchill, Chartwell in Kent remains much as it did when he lived here. Pictures, books and mementoes evoke the career and wide-ranging interests of this statesman, writer, painter and family man, while the hillside gardens reflect his love of landscape and nature. They include the lakes he created, Lady Churchill’s Rose Garden, and the playhouse built for his youngest daughter.Visit Chartwell
- The home of Benjamin Disraeli
- In rolling Chilterns countryside sits Hughenden, the Buckinghamshire home of Queen Victoria’s favourite prime minister. Acquired during Disraeli’s political career, he and his wife Mary Anne turned it into the country house needed to secure his political aspirations. Explore the atmospheric manor and its displays of personal memorabilia to discover Disraeli’s colourful private life, and why he was such an unlikely prime minister.Visit Hughenden
- The home of Sir Francis Drake
- The home of one of Britain’s greatest seafarers, it was from Buckland Abbey, Devon, that Drake planned his assault on the Spanish Armada. The Cistercian abbey was founded in 1278, and before Drake’s time was owned by Sir Roger Grenville, captain of the Mary Rose when it sank. The Abbey, now part-museum and part-home, features extensive walks on the estate and far-reaching views over the River Tavy valley.Visit Buckland Abbey
- The home of Thomas Hardy
- Few authors have such strong associations with the natural and cultural heritage of their local area as Thomas Hardy. His semi-fictional Wessex – inspired by the landscape surrounding Dorchester – was the setting for much of his writing. His birthplace, Hardy’s Cottage in Dorset, is a small cob and thatch cottage built by his father. A short journey away is Max Gate, the red brick villa designed by Hardy himself.Visit Hardy’s Cottage
- The home of Rudyard Kipling
- ‘That’s She! The Only She! Make an honest woman of her – quick!’ was how Kipling and his wife Carrie felt when they first saw Bateman’s, East Sussex. In the wooded landscape of the Sussex Weald, this was the writer’s sanctuary, where he was inspired to write Puck of Pook’s Hill. Kipling’s connections with historic British India can be seen in rugs and artefacts, while most of the rooms – including his book-lined study – remain as he left them.Visit Bateman’s
- The home of Isaac Newton
- Birthplace and family home of the famous scientist, it was at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire that Newton made many of his most important discoveries about light and gravity, when he moved out of Cambridge during the plague years of 1666-7. You can see the famous apple tree that inspired his thoughts on gravity from the bedroom window, and explore some of his ideas for yourself in the Science Discovery Centre.Visit Woolsthorpe Manor
- The home of Beatrix Potter
- Beatrix Potter bought the 17th-century farmhouse of Hill Top, in the Lake District, with the royalties earned from Peter Rabbit. The garden is laid out to reflect Peter’s adventures with Mr McGregor. Tom Kitten, Samuel Whiskers and Jemima Puddleduck were all created here. Down the road in Hawkshead is the Beatrix Potter Gallery with exhibitions of original sketches and watercolours from the celebrated children’s stories.Visit Hill Top
- The home of Vita Sackville-West
- Sissinghurst Castle in Kent has one of the most famous and influential gardens in the world. Purchased in 1930, Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson restored the collection of neglected Tudor buildings and farmland, salving Sackville-West’s bitter disappointment that – as a woman – she was unable to inherit her beloved ancestral home, Knole. Her planting and originality are a hallmark of the garden.Visit Sissinghurst Castle Garden
- The home of Ellen Terry
- Smallhythe Place in Kent was purchased by the famous Victorian actor, Ellen Terry, in 1899. Her most famous role as Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth led to further work and admiration. Smallhythe was often filled with creative spirits performing in the theatre barn in the grounds. Plays continue to be a regular occurrence throughout the year.Visit Smallhythe Place
- The home of William Wordsworth
- A Georgian townhouse in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth was the birthplace and childhood home of the Romantic poet and his sister Dorothy. The house is presented as their bustling family home with costumed servants, so visitors of all ages can experience life in the 1770s. Relax in the summerhouse on Wordsworth’s famous terrace, walk and listen to his poetry and discover the Lake District nature that inspired his work.Visit Wordsworth House and Garden
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