Welcome to Wimpole

We’re excited to start work on our vision for Wimpole which will bring the house, gardens, parkland, farm and wider landscape together for you to enjoy through a brand new gateway into the estate.

We’re updating and expanding much needed facilities for our growing number of visitors. We’re also conserving and protecting this much loved estate for future generations.

A new gateway

Wimpole opened its doors to the public in the 1970s and today we welcome over 300,000 visitors a year. In the last 20 years investment in upgrading services and facilities for the estate has not kept pace with visitor growth, so we’re improving Wimpole to make it even better for you.

The car park in particular has outgrown its current location and we can’t rely on grass car parks to cope with our busier days in wet and wintry weather.

You’ve arrived

We’re building a new car park, visitor welcome hub and creating a whole new way to arrive at Wimpole.

This will mean more car parking which can be used all year round to better manage our busier days. We’ll also be adding cycle parking, coach parking and accessible spaces as well as electric vehicle charging points.

Walk this way

From winter 2019, things will look a little different as you enter Wimpole. You’ll soon be making your way along a new footpath, taking in views of the estate (as originally intended), without seeing rows of parked cars. You’ll experience the feel of beautiful parkland rather than a crowded car park.

It’s a slightly longer path to enter the estate and mobility vehicles will be available for visitors, staff and volunteers to take them into the rest of the estate.

Restoring our parkland

Wimpole Estate is one of just a handful of Grade I Registered Parklands in the country with landscape works being carried out by notable designers such as ‘Capability’ Brown and Humphry Repton.

We’re returning the current car park back to its historic roots to once again become part of the parkland and complete another chapter in Wimple’s history.

A seamless transition

We’ll be working away behind the scenes to build the new car park and visitor welcome building. You’ll carry on using the current car park until the new facilities are all finished and ready to go. Around winter 2019 we’ll welcome you to Wimpole through the new car park and visitor welcome hub.

When will the new visitor welcome building and car park open?

The new car park and visitor welcome hub will open in winter 2019 and the landscaping needed to return the current car park back to parkland is likely to finish around spring 2020.

Thanks to you

We love Wimpole as much as you do and without your support, none of this would be possible. Every time you visit you’re helping to conserve and protect Wimpole for future generations, so thank you.