Charlecote - A Victorian home

Reopening and celebrating 75 years

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Charlecote being handed into the care of the National Trust.

When we reopen during June, we'll be celebrating this birthday and looking at all the work that goes into keeping history alive for future generations.

As the house has been closed for over 12 months, we will be opening gradually to trial a new way of viewing the downstairs rooms. So your experience as a visitor may feel a little different to if you've been before. Please check back soon for more information about reopening.
 

The Heating and Inventory projects

We have started work towards a major and important project to replace our central heating system throughout the house. This is running alongside an on-going 'inventory project' which aims to enhance the information we hold about the items in our collection. 

This means that some objects and furnishings might be packed away to protect them, or other items have been moved to give you a unique chance to see some of the work that's being done. 

Grand designs in Tudor style

Explore some of the downstairs rooms in the centre of the house and discover the Victorian interiors created by George Hammond Lucy and his wife Mary Elizabeth.

Enter the house through the porch built to impress Elizabeth I when she visited, and begin your visit in the Great Hall surrounded by 400 years of Lucy family portraits. 

Now find out how the Lucy family lived in Victorian times as you wander at your own pace through the Drawing Room, Library, Billiard Room and Dining Room - all with stories to tell. 

There are limited rooms open to the public as the Lucy family still lives in one wing of the house.

Chat to our friendly room guides about the artefacts you see - many of the objects were brought back from the Lucys' European spending spree of the 1840s.

Mary Elizabeth and George Hammond Lucy wanted to make Victorian Charlecote conform to their fashionable idea of ‘Merrie England’ in the reign of ‘Good Queen Bess’. They spared no expense and spent lavishly on items from the Fonthill Abbey sale of items from the dissolute William Beckford.

If you'd like to know more about the paintings and artefacts that you see in the house, why not explore the National Trust Collections site?

For children

Our room guides will help children find all the Cuddly Critters hidden around the house if you can’t spot them all. Follow our children's trail around the house and discover some fascinating facts.

Please note: Buggies and rucksacks don't mix with fragile artefacts and you will be asked to leave these in the porch (limited space on busy days). Hip slings available to borrow.

Constant conservation

We'll never run out of conservation work! Whatever you find us working on when you visit, do stop and chat to discover more.

Limited opening on Wednesdays and during the winter means we can get some of this important work done more easily.

Still the Lucy family home

 Our visitors sometimes wonder why it’s not possible to see the whole house. This is because the Lucy family still live here in one wing. Many of the items you see are kindly loaned to the National Trust by the family.

Part of the upper floor is also taken up with our self-catering holiday flat, The Turret. Formerly the servants’ quarters, this is now a delightful place to stay, with glorious views of the Warwickshire countryside.

Learn about the Library

We have one of the best libraries in the National Trust's care and our room guides can tell you more if there's anything you want to know.

The books in our historic library are prone to mould and damp, due to the house's proximity to the river.

We use the funds raised by our second-hand bookshop to help with repairs and conservation work on the books in our library. If you have any second-hand books to donate, please bring them along and leave them with our friendly Visitor Reception team.