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Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian era house and estate, located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties.
This Regency house was expanded from an earlier building, and extensively remodelled in 1906 by Margaret Greville, a well-known Edwardian hostess. Her collection of fine paintings, furniture, porcelain and silver is displayed in the reception rooms and galleries, as it was at the time of her celebrated house parties. The future George VI and Queen Elizabeth spent part of their honeymoon there in 1923.
The estate includes a walled rose garden, lawns, ancient woodland and Edwardian era.
In 1747 Sir Francis Geary, 1st Baronet purchased the estate, and subsequently spent his retirement there. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the poet and playwright, came to live there in 1797 and began work to improve the building. However this effort was counter-productive and in 1818 Joseph Bonsor, a stationer and bookseller, bought the estate. He commissioned Thomas Cubitt to build an entirely new house in 1821–23, creating the core of the house seen today. Bonsor died in 1835, and the house passed to his son who, in 1853, sold the estate to Sir Walter Farquhar, 3rd Baronet, who held it until his death in 1902.
The estate was then bought in 1906 by William McEwan, for his daughter, Margaret Greville. Architects Charles Mewès and Arthur Davis, who were responsible for The Ritz Hotel, London, remodelled the house for the Grevilles. The couple filled the house with collections of fine furniture, porcelain, silver and art. Ronald Greville died in 1908 only two years after they had moved to Polesden Lacey. He was aged 46.
Margaret continued to entertain lavishly at the house. She also owned a home in London in which she held expensive parties. Over the next 30 years her reputation as an Edwardian society hostess became established.
The house was first opened to the public by the Trust in 1948. In August 1960, a fire destroyed around half of the roof of the property. Several ground floor ceilings were damaged by water during attempts to extinguish the blaze, however the collection of art and furniture was rescued by estate workers. The cost of repairs, some £65,000, was covered by insurance and the house reopened to the public on 9 June 1962.
In 1995 the National Trust embarked on a programme of restoration and renovation. In 2008/9 the visitor facilities were re-furbished, with a new car park, cafe, shop and farm shop. However, not all of the house is open to the public, including many bedrooms and servants' areas. From the 1970s to 2015, some of these closed off spaces are used as offices; there is hope that more will be restored and opened for visitors in the future. This process began in March 2011, with the opening of Mrs Greville's private apartment.
Polesden Lacey received over 287,000 visitors in 2020/21, placing it in the Trust's top ten most-visited properties.
Estate
There are a number of walks around the Polesden Lacey estate, especially in the valley that the main house overlooks. The estate includes a Youth Hostel, called Tanners Hatch. Polesden Lacey also has open-air performing facilities, which are used during the summer to host various musical and theatrical events. In 2009 there was the Polesden Lacey Festival. In 2016 a campsite was opened on the estate.
In popular culture
Polesden Lacey has been used as a filming location including; Close My Eyes, and Antiques Roadshow.
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