Visiting the house at Packwood

Packwood view of house from garden in summer Warwickshire — View of Pakwood house from the summer garden | © Tom Webster Deakin

Explore the house at Packwood, where salvaged objects and exotic pieces come together in a Jacobean-meets-Edwardian style. During your visit, you'll wander through several meticulously furnished rooms, including the homely Drawing Room and the Great Hall, which was once a cow barn. The collection at Packwood House includes sixteenth century tapestries, technicolour stained-glass, and a teacup fit for a Queen.

A house transformed

The house at Packwood was first built around 1570 by the Fetherston family. Over the following 370 years, it was extended and restored to create the Tudor-style manor house you see today.

It was gifted to the National Trust in 1941 by Graham Baron Ash, a local man whose wealth enabled him to transform the house into his dream Tudor home in the early twentieth century. The rooms you can see today reflect his love of tradition, collecting, conserving and entertaining. Look out for the star items in each room.

Exploring the ground floor

The Birmingham Door and Inner Hall

There are two entrances for visitors to Packwood House: the 'Birmingham Door', so called because it was used by Baron Ash when he travelled to Birmingham, and the 'Leamington Door', for travelling to Leamington. You will enter through the Leamington Door, and a volunteer will welcome you before you go on to explore the Inner Hall, which was originally the entrance room in the Fetherston era.

The Drawing Room

The Drawing Room was created by adding a partition wall to make two separate rooms and was originally part of the Inner Hall. The fireplace is in the corner of the room because of this alteration. The room was likely used by Baron Ash for relaxing and entertaining.

Some of the collection items in the Drawing Room highlight one of Baron Ash’s proudest moments as owner of Packwood, Queen Mary's visit in 1927. The teacup, pen and chair she used while visiting are memorialised in this room, a lasting reminder of a very special visit.

The Dining Room

The Dining Room was used for ‘posh’ dinners according to Baron Ash’s sister, Beryl, who also remarked how the room felt haunted. The six pieces of silver which sit on the two chests commemorate Baron Ash’s time as Sheriff of Warwickshire, a position he proudly held in 1938.

The Entrance Hall

The Entrance Hall was extensively remodelled by Baron Ash, from an open galleried-staircase space to a more Tudor-style hall, with a magnificent double height window. An archive photograph on display shows how the room looked in 1921 before its renovations.

The Long Gallery

The Long Gallery is a deceiving space. From the inside it appears authentically Tudor, with its tapestry-adorned walls and beautiful wooden flooring. However, this space was built in the 1930s by Baron Ash to connect the Entrance Hall in the main house to the lone Great Hall. The tapestries in this room are just some of the 26 tapestries in the collection, and include the first one Baron Ash purchased, ‘Verdure with Two Chickens’, found in a cathedral in Tournai during his service in the First World War.

The Great Hall

Once a cow barn, the Great Hall is the epitome of Baron Ash’s transformation of Packwood. He began restoring the space in the 1920s. A room used for entertaining guests, this is where Queen Mary took her tea in 1927 and where Prince George Chavchavadze gave a spinet recital in 1931. This spinet now sits in the Drawing Room. Dominating the room is a great seventeenth century oak table, bought by Baron Ash from Baddesley Clinton, a neighbouring National Trust property.

Take your time to wander around the house, the friendly volunteers are there to share the stories of Packwood with you.

The Long Gallery at Packwood House, Warwickshire. A long narrow room with wooden floors and ceiling, a large fireplace can be seen on the right and tapestries line the wall. Sunlight streams in through large windows on the left. — The Long Gallery at Packwood House | © National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel

Exploring the first floor

Queen Margaret's Bedroom

Baron Ash named this room after the bed, which is said to have been slept in by Queen Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI, before the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 (when the bed was at Owlpen Manor in Gloucestershire). The Lookout Room next door was formerly the bathroom to Queen Margaret's bedroom next door. Baron Ash removed the fittings and took them to Wingfield Castle, where he moved to after leaving Packwood.

Queen Mary's Bedroom

Queen Mary used this bedroom when she visited the house in 1927. Baron Ash was so thrilled at her visit, that a brass plaque was made and put up here.

The Ireton Bathroom

Baron Ash converted this into a bathroom in the late 1920s - it is incredibly luxurious, with beautiful antique Delft tiles. All the other bathrooms in the house have these taps and lion's heads.

We hope you enjoy exploring the house here at Packwood, if you'd like to know more detail guidebooks can be purchased from the shop

An impressive bath tap in the Ireton Bathroom at Packwood, Warwickshire — An impressive bath tap in the Ireton Bathroom | © National Trust/Abi Chandler

Highlights of the collection

An early 17th century stained glass window panel featuring sailing ships on the sea with an oval shaped frame around it. — Rare early 17th-century stained glass window panel, featuring sailing ships, at Packwood House. | © National Trust Images/Claire Reeves

Stained glass windows

Almost every window at Packwood House has a panel of stained glass. There are a number of unusual ones, including an example from the early seventeenth century in the north window of the Long Gallery that depicts a ship. There are not many examples like this known in the world.

The Great Hall at Packwood House, Warwickshire with the long oak refectory table in the centre of the room. On the left is the fireplace with tapestries hanging either side and George I walnut chairs stand on the opposite side of the room. — The oak refectory table in the Great Hall at Packwood. | © National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel

The Great Hall table

Baron Ash maintained good relations with his near neighbours at the ancient moated manor house of Baddesley Clinton. He bought a handful of items from his friend Cecil Ferrers, who was unable to fund the maintenance of the old house. Perhaps the most prominent piece is the magnificent hall table, with its distinctive run of scrolled central supports.

The artist's lay figure

This dressed mannequin was originally an artist's lay figure, a very rare item. Used as a model for poor struggling artists to draw, she could be hired for £1 a month, whereas a human model would have demanded £3 a week. She has a papier-mâché head and wears a wig. She now sits in a sedan chair and is dressed in an eclectic mix of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century garments, with beautiful green shoes.

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There are many fascinating items to see at Packwood House. Alongside its famous tapestries, there is exquisite painted stained glass dating from the sixteenth century, a whole 1930s bathroom lined with old delft tiles, and much more.