Petworth House and Park

A treasure house for art aficionados set in a magnificent country park.

Petworth House stands majestically on the edge of extensive parkland with its back to Petworth town. In 1150 the fortified manor and estate were bestowed by the Queen to the powerful Percy family as a wedding present. The house then stood unchanged for centuries, until the 8th Earl of Northumberland was ordered to remain at Petworth by order of Queen Elizabeth. The medieval buildings consequently became subject to ongoing repairs, renovations and extensions and in the late 17th-century, Petworth was transformed into the palatial residence that we see today.

Petworth House is also the proud home of the National Trust's finest and largest picture collection. Turner's landscapes embellish the elegant Red Room, Van-Dyck's portraits hang in the Square Dining Room and Kneller's depictions of the ladies of Queen Anne's court decorate the Beauty Room. Works by Reynolds and Blake, as well as sculpture, fine furniture and carvings by Grinling Gibbons are on display. This extensive art collection began under the 6th Duke of Somerset in the late 1600s and was earnestly continued by his successor, the 2nd Earl of Egremont. His son, the third Earl, was a patron of contemporary British art and went so far as to arrange a studio at Petworth for the renowned Romantic painter, Turner.

Turner devoted many hours to sketching the house's fine interiors and immortalising the panoramic views across Petworth Park. Capability Brown worked his landscape magic here in the 18th century and his idyllic vistas were said to have inspired some of Turner's best work. A herd of some 700 deer still roam beneath the oak and chestnut trees, a short distance from the shrubbery paths which lead visitors on a pleasant stroll through Brown's visionary pleasure grounds.

We offer:

• Gallery
• Garden
• Historic building
• Country park