Cottesbrooke Hall and the Cottesbrooke estate in Northamptonshire, England is reputed to be the inspiration for Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, published 1814.
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The Hall and estate are appx 10 miles north of the town of Northampton along the A5199 road just 1 mile north of the village of Creaton. The village of Cottesbrooke is adjacent to the estate.
The Hall is a near-perfect example of Queen Anne architecture located in a large parkland setting with wide views across the local countryside. The building was begun in 1702 and finished in 1713 by Sir John Langham and remains today largely unaltered. The original architect is uncertain. It is home to the Woolavington Collection, one of the most extensive collections of sporting paintings in the world.
The Hall is set in the 18th century landscaped Cottesbrooke Park, and has fine furniture, the interior decoration, grounds and gardens. It was winner of the Historic Houses Association/Christie's 'Garden of the Year' Award in 2000.[1]
The building and grounds are open to the public from May to September only.[2] The times are very limited and visitors should book in advance if requiring tours of the house. The best access route to the main visitor entrance is via the signposted turn east off the A5199 at Creaton.
The gardens today are entirely 20th century. The architect Robert Weir Schultz, 1860–1951, designed a sunken courtyard garden with a pool and pergola, and a long paved terrace walk between mixed borders and overshadowed by old Lebanon cedars. A pair of 18th century gates lead to pleached limes and a statue of a gladiator. A statue walk with yew hedges has four fine statues by Peter Scheemakers originally in the Temple of Ancient Virtue at Stowe and bought in 1938. South of the house, which was originally the entrance façade, a new garden surrounded by wrought-iron railings was laid out in 1937 by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe in the form of a quadripartite parterre, with topiary shapes of common and golden yew disposed among lead statues, beds of ‘Iceberg’ roses, and tubs of agapanthus [3]