The front of Chenies' current structure, built in the mid-fifteenth century.
I've hiked past Chenies Manor house four times, peering through the garden walls, yet never returned for a visit during the hours they were open. So, one afternoon last week, I decided it was high time I did.
Now, I've been to dozens of stately homes, National Trust properties, castles, palaces, and proper British cottages, but I have to admit I was not too jaded to enjoy Chenies. First of all, it's very old. There's been a residence here since the Domesday Book, 1086, and before that, in Saxon times. Second, quite a few people who even I recognize have stayed here: Edward I, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Elizabeth I—who visited both as an infant and again as monarch. You can trod upon the old oak floors in the very room where she worked, and with very little effort, imagine yourself a member of her court.
Chenies also has the distinction of being one of the houses where Catherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife, engaged in the adultery that eventually got her killed. In fact, it's said to be haunted, perhaps by Henry VIII himself.
This home, unlike many others in Stately Britain, is still lived in, and has an air of pragmatic stateliness. It's been used as a location for many films, including an upcoming BBC special on Jane Austen. (A couple of the rooms had been repainted blue for the programme.) It's a great place to see antiques and tapestries in situ, including several pieces from the 16th century. The billiard table is large enough to field a cricket team—fortunately, the floor was reinforced or I'd never have dared to go back downstairs.
You can count the 22 cut brick chimneys—built by the same man who built the chimneys at Hampton Court Palace. There's a tunnel, in case the family need to escape quickly, and a little room to hide a priest, should the need ever arise.
The gardens, even in the early days of October, were stunning. A pink garden, a topiary garden, a maze, a physic garden (don't touch!) were all blooming along as if summer were still at full strength. The kitchen garden was awash in chard, shallots, and other fall veggies.
The manor house is open two afternoons a week until the end of October, and is located a short bus ride away from the Chorleywood tube station. It's worth a visit, something I wish I'd known the first time I walked past and wondered what was behind those walls.
The back of the house and the formal lawn—possibly where Edward I invented Easter eggs.
Click below for more photos.
The back of the house, from the pink garden.
Windows on the side of the house facing London were bricked over during the plague, on the advice of a plague expert.
Dahlias bursting forth in the side garden.
The kitchen garden, with a scarecrow.
