We recently spent a lovely day exploring Greys Court, a Tudor country house and garden near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. We packed a picnic, the two kids and dog, and went off for the day. The drive was beautiful and before we knew it we had arrived at our destination. We walked the short distance from the car park and were greeted with the stunning view of Greys Court, which overlooks the countryside. As well as the beautiful historic house, there are extensive walled gardens and the ruins of earlier buildings, as well as a gift shop, tea room and toilets.
Exploring Greys Court with kids
You can see the weather was perfect on the day of our visit. We decided to visit the walled gardens first, although unfortunately this was one area where the dog wasn’t allowed. The gardens were set out as a series of ‘rooms’ and each had its own theme: white garden, rose garden, cherry garden, kitchen garden, wisteria and more.
After a quick stop to enjoy our picnic, it was time to explore the house. You are able to visit a number of rooms, including the dining room, drawing room, some bedrooms and the kitchen.
The house has been left as it was when the last owners lived at Greys Court so it has a bit of a 1960/70/80s vibe.
The house has been added to over time and there are lots of stairs, quirky stair cases and strange little rooms, such as this dressing room.
There were plenty of furniture and furnishings to admire, including handmade patchwork quilts and sweet pincushions.
I loved the old linen cupboard and would love to have space to store all my handmade quilts in something like this!
Our self-guided tour ended back downstairs in the huge kitchen where a volunteer was baking flapjacks. This made the room smell delicious, and encouraged us to visit the tearoom for some refreshments.
We made sure to get our National Trust passport stamped in the gift shop, and picked up some second hand books in the little bookshop.
Our visit to Greys Court was really special and I hope we can go back again soon and see the gardens in a different season.
Love the wall paper in the dressing room, so 1970s!