Review: Exploring Kelmscott Manor

Kelmscott Manor is a beautiful building in stunning village of Kelmscott, which dates from around the 1570’s. The Grade I listed Manor has a lot of history, and is best known for being the summer-home of world-famous designer, William Morris.

Getting To Kelmscott Manor Car Park

The farmhouse is based just outside of picturesque town of Lechlade, and around a 15-20 minute drive from North Swindon. The roads to get here are straight forward, and quite beautiful at times, especially going over the River Thames and seeing the boats on the water. As you get close to the village, you will pull off the main road, and down a country lane, there is plenty of opportunity to pull over and let other cars pass in the opposite direction. By following the brown ‘Kelmscott Manor’ signs, you will find your way there with ease.

There is no parking available on the grounds itself, however there is a free car park adjacent to St George’s Church, roughly a 10 minute walk from the Manor. This is also signposted as you drive through the village. If you’re unable to walk from here, or the weather isn’t playing ball, there is a free shuttle bus that runs between the car park and the manor. The journey takes roughly 3-4 minutes, and can sit up to 6-7 people at a time. Our driver was really lovely, and was accommodating to another family who needed wheelchair access.

Getting to Kelmscott Manor

The walk to Kelmscott Manor from the car park is very charming, as well as being very well signposted. You will have to walk on the road in parts, but it is fairly quiet.

You will start your walk by the church and stroll past Morris Memorial Hall, designed by Ermest Gimson in 1934. Then, you will pass the Memorial Cottages, designed by Phillip Webb in 1902. Finally, you will pass the Manor Cottages, which were again designed by Ernest Gimson in 1914. Each and every building along the way is beautiful in it’s own right, and most of them are wrapped in beautiful Wisteria Trees.

What happens on arrival?

As we arrived at the entrance building the staff greeted us with a smile and welcomed us into the grounds. Since this was our first time visiting, we were directed to the reception desk where we purchased our tickets. The best thing is once you buy your

ticket, you will have access to Kelmscott Manor for an entire year, that’s 12 months free! It is also worth noting that you only require a ticket to gain access to the Manor House itself; access to the grounds is free.

The Manor Museum

The site is home to a variety of buildings and gardens. You’ll firstly step foot into the courtyard, where you’ll find a Learning Barn, tearoom, and manor house entrance.

The Manor itself if simply stunning. We queued for only a few minutes to access the house, as visitors are let in at intervals. We were advised on the best way to view the house, and were then free to roam. In every room, there is a very knowledgeable volunteer who were happy to take our questions, and showed a genuine interest in the Manor’s history.

All 3 floors of the house are full of the amazing designs of William Morris, some of which are still so popular today. Whilst wondering around the house, we really got a sense of the Morris family, how they lived, the possessions they had, and the entertainment they would have used.

A lot of the rooms can be fairly dark, which is purposely done in order to preserve the original fabrics that lined the windows, walls and floors.

We spent around 45 minutes walking around the house as we took plenty of photos of it’s many little quirks and lovely views out the windows (no flash photography).

As you exit at the rear of the house, you are able to look around the outhouse, where beers were brewed and baked good were well… baked. The farmhouse vibes out here were wonderful.

Around the corner from here is the very well-kept gardens. The gardens are home to what was our favourite activity, the Croquet pitch. There are mallets and balls available to play a full game. It’s honestly such a fun game, and absolutely perfect for kids to get involved with!

Kelmscott Manor Gift Shop

As we finished our look around the Manor House, we headed to the gift shop to browse what was a really extensive range of goods and memorabilia. The shop was filled with Kelmscott inspired items including books, homeware, stationery and much more.

I’d picked myself up a brand new book mark, featuring a William Morris design.

Tearoom

From here, we headed across the grass over to the tearoom. The café offers a great variety of food and drink, including afternoon tea. There are options available for lunch such as Salads, Ploughmans and scotch eggs. As well as being plenty of cakes to choose from. We went for a hot chcolate, cappuccino, a slice of chocolate cake, and a slice of courgette and avocado cake! We were pleased with the quality, and speed of service from the wonderful staff behind the counter. If the sun is shining, you can sit out and enjoy and some ice cream too.

In terms of seating, you can either sit in the tea room, or weather-forgiving you can sit outside on the picnic benches. If it is a really nice day, you can even bring a blanket and sit on the grass, there’s plenty of space. Kelmscott Manor is also dog-friendly, so there’s plenty of space to walk your pets, and fresh air for them to enioy.

Accessibility

Finally, we’d like to commend Kelmscott Manor on their efforts with accessibility at the site. The shuttle bus is wheelchair accessible. Carers are admitted free of charge and wheelchair users are entitled to discounted tickets. The picnic tables on the lawn are also wheelchair accessible.

Since the Manor house is 3 stories, there is an interactive tablet available to tour the house with, as well as an access folder with all the historical information. Finally, there are disabled access toilets on site.

We cannot recommend Kelmscott Manor enough. It’s perfect fun for all the family, as well as being an educational journey. We guarantee you will love it here, and definitely return within the 12 months that your ticket is valid for!

Visit Kelmscott Manor’s website and buy your tickets HERE!