Our visit to the country house of Audley End was an interesting one, a place full of history with beautiful huge gardens surrounding it. The house near Saffron Walden in Essex (located south of Cambridge) was built in the 17th century and is classed as one of the finest Jacobean houses in the country. As we are members of the English Heritage (which owns or runs properties, sites and listed buildings in England and Wales) we decided to check out the stately home which is the family seat of Lord Braybrooke.
We started off by taking a walk around the parkland which includes lots of mock-classical monuments. The park is divided by the River Cam which visitors can cross by taking one of several ornate bridges and the main road which follows a former Roman road.
One of the interesting parts of the grounds we came across is the Organic Kitchen Garden which is surrounded by brick walls and grows plenty of vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs. There are also two huge greenhouses located here where visitors can snoop around and check out the beautiful herbs and flowers being grown.
After a nice cup of tea and a scone in the tea rooms it was time to go inside the house. The house used to be three times the size it is now when first built. The first room we came across is an outstanding main entrance hall with plenty of paintings of noble men and Royal members of the family. In fact every room in the house has plenty of paintings on offer.
A quick bit of history (I love writing this part on my blog posts): Audley End was once the site of a monastery which eventually was demolished by King Henry VIII in the 1500s. It was then converted into a stately home and once upon a time, Queen Elizabeth I visited the site in 1578. The house also at one point belonged to the Howard family (related to Catherine Howard, one of Henry VIIIs wives). In the 1600s, the first house was demolished by Thomas Howard, who was the Lord Treasurer in the government at the time, and commissioned to build a much grander palace to entertain King James I. Well, Thomas was a bad man and he embezzled money from the crown. He announced he had spent £200,000 on the house (which was a heck of a lot of money back then) and it turned out he had stolen most of this. So in 1619, Thomas and his wife were found guilty of embezzlement and sent to the cells at the Tower of London, where he died in disgrace in 1626.
Other notes to add that Samuel Pepys visited the site in 1667 and King Charles II brought the house in 1668 so he could use it as a home when he was attending the races at the nearby market town of Newmarket. In the 1700s it was handed to the Branons Braybrooke who still has a stake in the estate today, the other half of the property being owned by English Heritage.
There is also World War Two history here (similar to my visit to Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, read it here), Audley End was used as a camp by a number of units before being given to the Special Operations Executive. They used this place for its Polish branch, more mostly for the elite paratroopers of the Polish Army in exile before going back to occupied Poland to give the Nazis a good hiding. There is a war memorial to the 108 Polish servicemen who died in service, and this stands in the main drive.
There are plenty of bedrooms, state rooms, drawing rooms on offer but the main attraction is the nursery located on the top floor for the eight children which used to live here. Visitors children can try out hats whilst tour guides dress up in Victorian dresses and suits and have lots of useful information on the children who lived here.
Outside the house there is a pretty garden with lots of different coloured tulips and a water fountain. Right at the back of the park is a temple built in Roman times and is a great place to take a view of the house and park.
The house has plenty on offer and is well worth a visit. Just outside the grounds is a small steam railway named after the house. We actually did make a return trip just for the railway at Christmas time to take our daughter to see Santa Claus. Booking in advance online, we boarded the train at a specially built station which consists of toilets, a cafe and a shop. The train ride took us through woodland where we got to see many reindeers, Christmas trees and other Christmas decorations en route to Santa’s grotto. Here the train stopped on a platform but all the passengers had to stay on the train as Santa and his elves came down to each child, had a little chat, took a photo and received a gift. Then the train pulls away and returns to the station. Afterwards we went to visit Winter Wonderland where there is an activity area where children can write a letter to the big jolly man and send it at the festive post office. There is also storytelling, dance area, craft making and face painting to be had. We were fortunate to see Santa Claus twice at Audley End House and Gardens, once in 2019 and 2022.
Essential information on Audley End House and Gardens
How to get to Audley End: By car, the best way is to leave Junction 8 of the M11 (Stansted Airport) and take the A120 (signposted Hertford and Bishops Stortford) at the roundabout. Then at the next roundabout take the third exit (turning right) onto the B1383 (signposted: Stansted Mountfitchet. Follow this road through that village and then Newport for several miles before taking a right turning into the estate (Audley End is signposted by the ‘brown’ tourist information signs’. The postcode for the Sat Nav is CB11 4JF.
By train the nearest station is Audley End, however it is over a mile away and can take up to thirty minutes to walk it. There is a footpath running alongside the B1383, just not recommended at night as there is no street lighting. There is also a taxi rank at the train station. Trains from London depart to Audley End from Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale (for the Victoria Line) and also from Cambridge to the north.
For those living further afield and want to fly in to Audley End, the nearest airport is Stansted Airport, about five miles south of Audley End estate. Other nearest airports are London’s Heathrow, Gatwick, City, Luton, Southend and to the north, Birmingham. The first place I would go to find airline tickets to the city is using (I would recommend) Skyscanner to find flights as that is my first point of call. Then if necessary use the airlines directly to find a good deal. I sometimes use Momondo as well to compare prices before booking.
Car Rentals - as I do a lot of road trips around the world, I use Rentalcars.com which is very reliable for booking car hire in advance. I also use Turo (the airbnb of car rentals) and never had a problem with them. The cars are insured, owners vetted and never had an issue.
Accommodation: There are a lot of accommodation options and a lot of websites which can do some great deals. My first point of call is always Booking.com and can offer a range of hostels, hotels, campsites, apartments, guesthouses and bed and breakfasts.. After that I always have a look through AirBnb and Vrbo for great deals on apartments and other lodgings especially when traveling as a family.
Currency: England uses the British Pound. Currency can be exchanged at the airports and train stations (for a huge fee) so I would recommend either going to a currency exchange place downtown, to a bank (if they have good rates) or if you got a good bank account with fantastic exchange rates, then use an ATM machine (may incur a small fee but I always do this option as I got good bank accounts). A great website I use to compare currency exchange rates is XE, which gives people up to date information.
Language: England uses the English language and is used all over the country. Just to point out there are many dialects and other languages like Cornish-Gaelic used in the country but everyone who speaks English will understand other dialects from other regions.
Watch out for: As far as I am aware, there are no major scams to look out for. As always in Europe, watch out for the usual pickpockets or any pretty crimes but I felt very safe at Audley End.
Travel insurance: This is essential to anywhere you go in the world. I always carry travel insurance. Having travel insurance will cover you from theft, illness and those annoying cancellations which can happen on the road. Safety Wing offers coverage for a lot of adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and so forth.
Need a visa for the UK? Always check if you need a visa when coming to the United Kingdom. Since leaving the European Union because of BrExit in January 2020, visa rules apply for those coming from the European Union.
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Please note that while I was not working with English Heritage at Audley End House and Gardens, my review and experiences written about in this post are 100% genuine. I value my readers too much to lie to you. My blog would be nothing without you and your continued support! There maybe some links above which are affiliate and are at no additional cost to you. If my readers use them, I earn a commission to buy their products and remember, I only mentioned products and companies I use. The income from this keeps this website going. Thank you.
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