Standen House and Garden

My wife and I had a great visit here last week. We were lucky with the weather. Good cafe, in a barn. Second hand book store with very resonable prices. The house was very interesting to look around. Lovely furniture, lighting, paintings and wall coverings. Easy parking and w/c facilities. Friendly, helpful staff..

· via Google

There are country houses, there are Arts and Crafts masterpieces, and then there is Standen House and Garden: the National Trust property that answers the question, “What if William Morris designed a very tasteful obstacle course for pensioners?” Approaching the house, you are immediately struck by the glorious Sussex setting, the rolling views, and the sense that every visitor has arrived wearing either expensive walking boots or a fleece purchased during the Blair administration. The car park attendants greet you with the solemn gravity of air traffic controllers, directing Volvos and electric SUVs into neat little rows before you begin the long pilgrimage uphill towards the entrance. By the time you reach the house, you feel you’ve already completed the South Downs Way. Inside, Standen is a triumph of Arts and Crafts design: wallpaper, fabrics, tiles, carpets and curtains all competing politely to demonstrate that nobody in 1894 had ever heard the phrase “maybe that’s enough pattern.” Every surface appears to have been personally approved by William Morris during a particularly energetic phase. You leave with the distinct impression that the Victorians would happily have wallpapered the family dog if given enough time. The Beale family fortune, one learns, came not from sugar plantations or colonial trade, but from the altogether more British art of invoicing people for legal paperwork. The family firm prospered magnificently during the great railway boom, proving that wherever Victorian Britain laid a mile of track, a solicitor was never more than six feet behind it carrying a leather briefcase and an alarming billable hourly rate. One wanders through the elegant rooms pondering the moral hierarchy of inherited wealth. Is it more ethical to build a fortune from the slave trade, or from charging rival railway companies three guineas to dispute whose embankment had frightened a cow near Swindon? The National Trust tactfully leaves visitors to decide for themselves while browsing the gift shop tea towels. And of course, modern visitors cannot help wondering whether today’s infrastructure solicitors are enjoying a similar bonanza from HS2 Ltd. Somewhere in a glass office in Birmingham or London, there is surely a partner billing £700 an hour to argue about compulsory purchase orders while quietly selecting Farrow & Ball shades for a future Arts and Crafts-inspired kitchen extension. The circle of British history continues unbroken: first the railways create the wealth, then the wealthy build country houses, and eventually the public pay £18.50 each to visit them and buy a commemorative chutney. One also begins to suspect that the Beales may have unconsciously inspired the great fictional dynasty of EastEnders. The parallels are difficult to ignore. Here too is a sprawling family empire built on relentless commerce, simmering emotional repression, and people quietly judging each other over tea. The only real difference is that the Standen Beales expressed themselves through Morris textiles and tasteful panelled interiors, whereas the Walford branch preferred screaming “Leave it, Ian!” across a market square beside a burned-out fruit stall. Had the original Beales survived into the television era, one imagines the family solicitor’s office eventually giving way to a chain of cafés serving heritage scones at £6.80 apiece while various descendants fought bitterly over the ownership of the orangery.

· via Google

Thoroughly enjoyed our visit to standen house. Cafe and staff in there were lovely, tasty coffee and cakes. The house was enjoyable albeit a little more modern than most and not very accessible on having so much information in one lump, luckily staff were great and giving us information instead. Gardens were really nice to walk around and explore. I can see they are working hard to get some of the gardens back. Unfortunately one of us in the group got stung by 3 bees on a path above the bee hives because we didn't see a sign saying the bees will be agitated at the moment!! The sign was the other end of the path! But non the less, wasn't the bees fault. Definitely be back to see the nature pond and autumn flowers. My only gripe is for elderly and disabled the toilets are far away from the gardens/cafe and car park. Close to the house.

· via Google

Breathtaking, of all the National Trust properties I have visited so far, this is truly my favourite. The details, the textiles and crafts, the pottery, the furniture, the colours - everything creates such an harmonious, relaxing and warm atmosphere. I took pictures of every single corner, every room was “my favourite”. Ahhhhhhh!!!! I love this place!

· via Google