About
Stoneywell is one of the National Trust's most intimate and architecturally significant properties — a small Arts and Crafts cottage of extraordinary beauty designed in 1898 by Ernest Gimson for his brother Sydney and nestled into the rocky hillside of the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire. Built from local granite and roofed with Swithland slate, the cottage appears to grow organically from the landscape itself, its irregular plan, cascading roofline, and rough stone walls embodying the Arts and Crafts philosophy that buildings should be rooted in their natural and cultural environment rather than imposed upon it.
Ernest Gimson was one of the most gifted designers of the English Arts and Crafts movement — a contemporary and collaborator of William Morris, William Lethaby, and Sidney Barnsley, and one of the founders of the Cotswold school of furniture-making. Stoneywell was a personal commission, designed with the intimate knowledge of a gift to a brother and reflecting Gimson's deepest convictions about how domestic architecture should work. The cottage is modest in scale but profound in its attention to materials, craft, and the relationship between interior and landscape.
What makes Stoneywell uniquely remarkable is its extraordinary state of preservation. Unlike many historic houses that have been repeatedly updated, redecorated, and adapted, Stoneywell passed through only three generations of the Gimson family and arrived in the care of the National Trust with its original character largely intact. The furniture, textiles, ceramics, and personal objects that furnished the cottage when Sydney Gimson and his family used it are still in place, creating an atmosphere of inhabited domesticity rather than museum display. Visiting Stoneywell is like entering a time capsule of Edwardian Arts and Crafts domestic life.
The terraced garden, carved into the rocky hillside by the Gimson family over generations, is a paradise of informal planting — stone walls draped with alpines, cottage garden plants in sheltered terraces, and the dramatic rocky outcrops of Charnwood Forest forming a backdrop that makes the boundary between garden and landscape almost invisible. The garden perfectly expresses the Arts and Crafts ideal of the cultivated natural, where human creativity enhances rather than conquers the character of a place.
Access to Stoneywell is managed carefully to protect both the cottage and its setting. There is no car park — visitors must pre-book timed entry tickets and travel by a National Trust shuttle from a dedicated pick-up point. This controlled access is essential to preserving the tranquil, intimate character of a cottage designed for one family, not for thousands of visitors. Numbers are strictly limited, and booking well in advance is essential, especially in summer.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- BOOK IN ADVANCE — timed entry is strictly limited and popular slots sell out weeks ahead, especially in summer. National Trust members must also pre-book.
- Do not drive to the cottage — there is no car park at Stoneywell. Park at the designated shuttle pick-up point (details provided with your booking confirmation).
- The cottage and garden involve significant steps and uneven rocky terrain — wear sturdy footwear with good grip.
- Bring refreshments — there is no cafe at Stoneywell itself. Picnicking in the grounds is permitted and encouraged.
- The timed entry means your visit is relatively short — make the most of the room stewards' knowledge, as they are exceptionally knowledgeable about Gimson and the Arts and Crafts movement.
- The garden and surrounding Charnwood Forest are as rewarding as the cottage — allow time to explore both before and after your timed slot.
- Stoneywell is particularly beautiful in spring (when bluebells fill the woodland) and autumn — try to visit in these seasons if possible.
- Children are welcome but the cottage's low beams, steep stairs, and fragile contents require close supervision — the visit suits older children and adults best.
Highlights
The Arts and Crafts Architecture
Stoneywell is a consummate expression of Arts and Crafts domestic architecture — small in scale but immense in quality and conviction. Ernest Gimson designed the cottage in 1898 with an intimate understanding of the rocky Charnwood Forest site, using local Charnwood granite for the walls and Swithland slate for the distinctive cascading roof whose planes follow the irregular contours of the hillside.
The cottage appears to have grown from the rock rather than been placed upon it, the fundamental achievement of the Arts and Crafts philosophy of building 'of the place.
' Every detail — windows, chimney stacks, door frames, the relationship of interior to garden — reflects Gimson's mastery of form and material.
The Time-Capsule Interior
Stoneywell's interior is its most extraordinary quality — a domestic space that has remained largely unchanged since the Gimson family furnished it in the early 20th century. Furniture, textiles, ceramics, books, personal objects, and household equipment accumulated by three generations of Gimsons are still in place, creating an atmosphere of profound authenticity.
Nothing has been recreated or restored to period; what visitors see is what was here, in the arrangement the family left it.
This rare integrity makes Stoneywell one of the most affecting historic house visits in England — less a museum than a moment of time preserved in stone, wood, and fabric.
Ernest Gimson's Furniture and Craft
Ernest Gimson was one of the greatest English furniture designers of the Arts and Crafts era, and examples of his work furnish the cottage alongside pieces by his collaborators Sidney and Ernest Barnsley. The furniture — in oak, elm, and ash, with distinctive joinery and decorative inlay — represents some of the finest craft production of the period, combining traditional English country workshop techniques with the sophisticated design sensibility of the Arts and Crafts movement.
For students of design history, Stoneywell offers an unparalleled opportunity to encounter Gimson's furniture in the domestic setting for which it was made.
The Terraced Garden
The garden at Stoneywell is as carefully conceived as the cottage itself — a series of terraces cut into the rocky hillside, planted with an informal profusion of cottage garden flowers, alpines, herbs, and fruit that reflects both Arts and Crafts horticultural philosophy and the specific character of the Charnwood Forest site.
Dry-stone walls, natural outcrops of granite, and the drama of the wooded hillside create a garden that feels simultaneously cultivated and wild. The Gimson family tended and developed the garden over generations, and the National Trust has maintained its essential character — a working domestic garden rather than a showpiece, filled with the plants and planting traditions of the Arts and Crafts domestic ideal.
Collections
Stoneywell's collection consists primarily of the original domestic contents of the cottage — furniture, textiles, ceramics, books, and personal objects accumulated by three generations of the Gimson family from 1898 onward. The furniture collection includes significant pieces by Ernest Gimson and his Cotswold workshop collaborators Sidney and Ernest Barnsley, making Stoneywell one of the most important sites for encountering Arts and Crafts furniture in its original setting.
The architectural fabric of the cottage and garden is of outstanding national significance as the finest intact domestic work by one of England's greatest Arts and Crafts designers.
Ernest Gimson and the Arts and Crafts Movement
Interpretation throughout the cottage exploring Gimson's life, design philosophy, and place within the English Arts and Crafts movement, presented in the context of the building he designed.
Three Generations: The Gimson Family at Stoneywell
The story of the Gimson family's occupation and stewardship of the cottage from 1898 to its transfer to the National Trust, told through family photographs, documents, and the objects they left behind.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.