Basildon Park

Basildon Park is a magnificent Palladian mansion set in 400 acres of parkland overlooking the Thames Valley near Pangbourne in West Berkshire — one of the finest 18th-century country houses in the south of England, and a building that achieved global fame when it doubled as Netherfield Park in Joe Wright's acclaimed 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

The house was built between 1776 and 1783 to designs by John Carr of York — the leading architect of the north of England — for Sir Francis Sykes, a Nabob who had made his fortune in India working for the East India Company. Carr's design is a textbook example of Palladian classicism: a central block of fine Bath stone, perfectly proportioned, flanked by wings and set on a piano nobile above a rusticated basement. The south front, facing across the parkland towards the Thames, is one of the most harmonious country house facades in England.

In the late 19th century the house fell into decline and was divided into flats, its contents dispersed and its state rooms stripped bare. The rescue and restoration of Basildon Park is one of the great heritage achievements of the 20th century. Lord and Lady Iliffe purchased the house in 1952 and spent decades painstakingly restoring and refurnishing the state rooms with appropriate period pieces, commissioning new work in the Georgian style and finding original pieces from the Sykes collection. The National Trust took over the property in 1978.

The state rooms today are furnished with exceptional care and quality. The octagonal room, the drawing room and the library are among the finest Georgian interiors in National Trust care, combining architectural quality with furnishing choices that honour the original character of a great house. The Anglo-Indian decoration in some rooms reflects the Sykes family's East India Company connections, giving Basildon a distinctive cross-cultural dimension.

The parkland, with views across the Thames towards the Chilterns, provides a setting of great natural beauty, and the walled garden, pleasure grounds and woodland walks make Basildon a destination for countryside lovers as much as for lovers of architecture and the decorative arts.