HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS

Seymours Prestige Homes catches up with Ilona Davis the new director of West Horsley Place Trust

“I want the house to be a place of creativity and I want the estate to champion the natural beauty of Surrey, but most of all, I want to continue the dynamic vision that Bamber and Christina had for West Horsley Place.”

These are the words of Ilona Davis the new director of West Horsley Place Trust, the magnificent medieval estate that was bequeathed to esteemed author and former University Challenge host, the late Bamber Gascoigne, by his aunt Mary, Duchess of Roxburgh.

Taking over the role of director in November 2022, Ilona’s first encounter with the estate was via Grange Park Opera last summer. In something of fortuitous coincidence, she then spotted a job advertisement for a new director, she applied and the rest, as they say, quite aptly, is history.

“I was looking for a new challenge and West Horsley is a gift,” she enthuses. “Yes there is a lot of work to be done, the building is still on the ‘at risk’ register but while we do all we can to conserve the building, my aim is to really bring the estate to the public and create a sustainable arts space that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

The West Horsley Place Trust was formed in 2014 when it was decided by new owners Bamber and Christina that the house and its sprawling 350-acre grounds should be opened to the public.

Their great love of the arts formed the outline of their plans with the couple keen to host performances somewhere on the property. It just so happened that at the same time, the then Hampshire-based Grange Park Opera company was searching for a new home.

Its entrepreneurial founding director Wasfi Kani approached the new owners of West Horsley Place who said the decision to build the Theatre in the Woods was taken in minutes as the team chatted with the Gascoignes over coffee and biscuits.

And while builders got to work outside, so plans were developed to rescue enough of the house to welcome its first visitors.

Since re-opening, the estate as hosted a wealth of tours, classes and talks and has amassed a good number of volunteers all willing to share in the burden for caring for such a heritage-rich home.

“It is really important to me, as it was to Bamber and Christina, who was herself an artist, that the house is not just preserved in aspic. The intention is for it to be a real creative hub, alive with people using it for a whole host of activities.

“I want people to be able to feel and understand the history - it has one of the most impressive libraries around and I want visitors to be able to touch the books and read the inscriptions - some of which date back to the 16th century - not just to be told about the or gaze at them on the shelf. Of course, this may need some figuring out, but it was certainly the wish of the last owners that while the house is from the past, it is not stuck in it.”

Ilona’s plans also stretch far beyond the mansion’s walls and into the surrounding fields where she aims to encourage people to walk and explore the stunning Surrey countryside - before calling in at the Tiger Lilly coffee pop-up for refreshments.

“It is another way to welcome visitors of all ages,” she explains. “For people to spend time in the house - maybe on a course or on a workshop - and then to have a walk or a picnic and to make a day of it. I want families to be at ease here and for the estate to be somewhere children want to come. That way we instil a love for history and the arts that will ultimately ensure West Horsley Place’s future.”

Family matters

In 2014 Bamber Gascoigne, a historian and broadcaster received a call from a solicitor. After being informed of the death of his 99-year-old aunt, Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe he was summoned to a meeting to determine the terms of the will. He duly attended the meeting and was handed a copy of the will which on page 10 stated that his aunt had bequeathed West Horsley Place to him. He had no idea that he was due to inherit, a realisation that he described as both ‘a thrill and a very alarming new challenge’.

Structural surveys revealed that the house needed more than £7 million to bring it back to a safe and healthy condition, with a further £2 million required for the other listed features. Concerned but undeterred the Gascoignes formed a charity, then named the Mary Roxburgh Trust, and held auctions of various artefacts from the property to get renovations under way, for what he described as ‘an exciting adventure’.

Sadly, Bamber passed away in February 2022, but under the care of the West Horsley Place Trust the adventure continues...

History in the making

The timber framed, 50 room house dates back to the 15th century and was originally owned by statesman, soldier and translator John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners.

Since then it has been in the residence of the Marquess of Crewe, Henry Currie, MP for Guildford before being left to Mary Duchess of Roxborough. She closed most of the house, living in just five rooms until her death, aged 99 in 2014.

In order to secure the future of the estate many of her possessions were auctioned at Sotheby’s. Expected to raise in the region of £2.2m, the eventual total was £8.8m.

Grange Park Opera

The Theatre in the Woods was borne out of the need for the then ‘homeless’ Grange Park Opera’s to find a new home. From initial conversations in 2016, came in a matter of months a fully-fledged 700-seater opera house that received its first audience on June 8, 2017.

Since then it has produced critically acclaimed interpretations of classic works Otello as well as groundbreaking pieces such as it’s World Cup inspired Gods of the Game. Its 2023 season kicks off with Tristan & Isolde and you can find out more at: grangeparkopera.co.uk

Ghostly goings on...

If you think the magnificent house looks a tad familiar, then you may have seen it as the backdrop to many film and television shows. Probably the most famous is the touching BBC sitcom Ghosts, starring and created by the team behind the award-winning Horrible Histories. The cast and crew take over the Surrey spot from early spring when the house is closed to the public, but you can follow the showbiz goings on via a behind-thescenes tour later in the year.

For further information head to westhorsleyplace.org

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