Things to see and do in the house at Charlecote Park

Visitors in the Drawing Room at Charlecote Park, Warwickshire — Take a look at the grand interiors in the Elizabethan Revival style inside the house | © National Trust Images/John Millar

Overlooking the river Avon on the edge of Shakespeare’s Stratford, the house at Charlecote Park has been home to the Lucy family for over 900 years, and remains their home today. Find out what you can see inside this Victorian family home, and discover an immaculately preserved service courtyard.

Visit a Victorian home

The house at Charlecote Park was the vision of Victorian owners George Hammond Lucy and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, who extended the house and filled it with treasures from their European travels.

How to visit the house

From March to mid-November, the house is open every day from 11am - 3.30pm (last entry 3pm). On your visit, you will be able to discover five rooms on the ground floor: the Great Hall, the Dining Room (although it might occasionally be closed for repairs), the Library, the Billiards Room and the Drawing Room. Upstairs, you can visit the Ebony Bedroom and explore our brand-new display, the Library of Memories. The upstairs are only accessible through stairs; ask us if you're unable to go upstairs and we'll help you see what is upstairs via a tablet.

To find out more about the conservation work taking place, chat to our friendly volunteers. They're present in most rooms and enjoy telling visitors about the history of Charlecote and answering your questions.

On weekends, timed tickets are necessary to visit the house. These are available on a first come first served basis from the Visitor Reception. No booking system will be in place, so we recommend turning up early, especially on weekends, to guarantee your entry to the house.

Works are happening in the Dining Room

Please note that we are currently restoring the Dining Room due to a water leak that caused damage to the structure, plaster and wallpaper. We're sorry it's not looking its best at the moment, please bear with us as we restore it.

The Library of Memories

'The Library of Memories' is a brand-new display situated in the upstairs room of the House and open to the public from March 2025. It showcases the writing of Mary Elizabeth Lucy, who lived at Charlecote Park in the Victorian era, and draws on themes of making and sharing memories. We seek to inspire visitors to share their memories with us, and with each other, and find new ways to relate to Charlecote’s past residents. The display focuses on a book from the library written by Mary Elizabeth Lucy, Grandmamma's Chapter of Accidents, that has not previously been displayed.

Sneak peek at the Library of Memories

An interpretation panel of the Library of Memories with a colourful drawing and text — Learn more about Mary Elizabeth Lucy's life through her writings and drawings | © National Trust/Camille Francois

Discover Mary Elizabeth Lucy's life through her writings and drawings

Mary Elizabeth Lucy certainly had an exciting life! She recalls some of her (mis)adventures in a book dedicated to her granddaughter Ada, which she illustrated herself.

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Immaculately preserved outbuildings

To the side of the house is the service courtyard. Here you’ll find the beautifully preserved laundry and adjoining brewhouse,.

Around the corner are three carriage houses containing on of the best original carriage collections in the National Trust's care. Here you can compare the merits of a phaeton, a barouche or a brougham.

As you explore the service courtyard, don't forget to pop into the second-hand bookshop, located in one of the old stable blocks. The books are carefully stacked up around some of the original fixtures and fittings still in place.

Two visitors with a baby in a pram explore the Laundry Rooms at Charlecote Park, with washing hanging on a line behind them displayed interpretive text — Visitors exploring the Laundry Rooms at Charlecote Park | © National Trust Images/Annapurna Mellor

Explore the Victorian kitchen

The last stop on your house visit is the scullery and kitchen. Step through the brown, wooden doors off the service courtyard and immediately right to ascend the steps to the scullery.

This was used for washing huge amounts of vegetables and crockery. Take a look inside the original bread oven as you walk through this space.

The kitchen at Charlecote is one of the best surviving Victorian kitchens in Britain and would once have been the bustling hub of the house.

Today, the kitchen is preserved in time, with the fireplace and historic working table taking centre stage. You can imagine this space being a hive of activity here to prepare to feed the estate.

The kitchen leads into the Servants' Hall shop. As you step through the corridor, look up at the row of bells near the ceiling. The Servants' Hall would have been a bustling space for the service staff to congregate. Take a look at one of the walls to see what their average yearly wage would have been!