Things to do in The Vyne house

The staircase hall featuring delicate plasterwork and a balcony. — The staircase hall at The Vyne | © National Trust / Virginia Langer

The Sandys and Chute families made The Vyne their home for over 500 years. They accumulated beautiful and important objects and made significant changes to the house during their lives, which you will see as you explore the opulent state rooms and humble servants’ quarters.

Explore the house

Enter the house through the portico and explore each room of the ground floor to discover intriguing stories about The Vyne's former residents. With Grecian pillars, sweeping balconies and plasterwork like royal icing, the 18th-century staircase hall is a sight to behold.

Tucked away in a ground-floor ante-room, examine the intricate detail on Lattimo plates handpainted with 18th-century Venetian scenes. In the stone gallery, you’ll find a Tudor roundel that emulates the style and grandeur of the ancient world. The Vyne's pre-Reformation chapel showcases the earliest depiction of Henry VIII in stained glass.

Successfully conserved: The Vyne's leather screen

Back on display following painstaking conservation, gaze up at an 18th-century leather screen festooned with 24 romantic scenes. Once damaged and in poor condition, conservators rescued this treasure at the Royal Oak Conservation Studio based at Knole.

A gentlemen kneels beside a seated lady with his right hand in hers. — An 18th-century oil-painted scene after artist Jean-Antoine Watteau. | © National Trust / Karen Legg

Taking a closer look

Depicting 24 elegantly dressed couples engaging in ‘frivolous pursuits’ in rural settings, the oil-painted screen was almost slashed during a children’s sword fight in the fifties and became degraded under centuries of accumulated dirt and tears. You can see the screen for yourself, explore the origins of artist Jean-Antoine Watteau’s inspiration for the design and learn about the conservation of this treasure in a display room on the first floor of the house.

Curator's choice: must-sees at The Vyne

Whether you want to see the house’s surviving examples of Tudor craftsmanship or admire the exquisite taste of John Chute, here are four key things to look out for.

A pair of Lattimo plates depicting Italian cities, in the Ante Room at The Vyne, Hampshire — A pair of Lattimo plates depicting Italian cities, in the Ante Room at The Vyne | © National Trust Images

Venetian lattimo glass plates

In July 1741 John Chute and his friends commissioned these hand-made plates while visiting Venice. In a time before photography, these decorative souvenirs were a way of displaying their visit, featuring different painted views of the city. Made using a technique named lattimo, tin oxide was added to the glass to give it a white appearance. The images were copied from paintings and engravings. What really makes this set special is its survival. The sets belonging to John’s friends Walpole and Pelham-Clinton were sold after their deaths and are now dispersed. The Vyne is the only place where you can see a large, intact set of these plates (16 of the original 24 survive) which are still displayed in the cabinets made for them in the 19th Century.

1 of 4

Coming up later this year

Following another successful project, uncover the unique challenges of conserving fragile stained glass.

A conservator solders a section of lead matrix on The Vyne's Tomb Chamber windows — Conserving 18th-century stained-glass | © National Trust / Karen Legg

Tomb Chamber stained glass display

Newly conserved, from 1 June 11am-3pm, follow the story of the Tomb Chamber's 'nail-bitingly fragile' 18th-century stained-glass windows in a display in two first-floor rooms in the house. The display also sheds light on other 18th-century glass items in the collection.

Close up detail of the 16th-century stained glass window in the Chapel at the Vyne, Hampshire

Discover more at The Vyne

Find out when The Vyne is open, how to get here, the things to see and do and more.

Plan your visit

A view of the lake at The Vyne in spring.

Article

Things to do in the garden at The Vyne

Discover what to see and do in the garden all year round at The Vyne. Explore the historic summerhouse, see what’s growing in the walled garden and take a walk by the lake.