Osterley House

L2 Day13 - cycled to Osterley Park with a friend. The park is very large and open to the public for walking and cycling, it was very busy today, but the House and surrounding formal gardens are only open to National Trust members. There was a house on the site in Elizabethan times ( the stable block which houses the cafe remains from this time) but the present house was designed in 1760’s by Robert Adam when he was emerging as a fashionable architect.
The house was eventually given to the National Trust who took over the management in 1991. The house has often been used for filming because of its neoclassical interiors and has been restored to the period of about 1780.
It was used for Buckingham Palace scenes in ‘The Young Victoria ‘ and in the recently released film ‘Rebecca’ ( now available on Netflix) the interior was used for Manderley’s kitchen.
The formal gardens include an original Robert Adam summerhouse which today had lemon trees and other plants being sheltered for the winter. Still lots of lovely autumn colour in the trees including a very old silver maple.