Sternfield House
Formerly the rectory, Sternfield House was built in the second half of the eighteenth century beside Sternfield’s parish church, probably for the Revd Montague North who was rector between 1767 and 1779. It had a small park of woods and pastureland and an in-and-out drive. Pleasure gardens lay mainly to the south of the house with a small walled garden beside the churchyard accessed by staff through a walkway hidden from view of the house and gardens by a high brick wall. Attached to this wall is a surviving nineteenth century hexagonal summerhouse. Unclear if executed, plans for the gardens for the Revd North included an ornamental garden canal bordering the walled garden. However, by 1838 this was absent from the site. Little change took place to the grounds and house until it ceased to be the rectory and became a private residence in 1938. In the 1960s Sir Eric and Lady Prue Penn made alterations to the house and developed the grounds so they were fit for royal visitors, including the Queen. Today the walled garden, staff corridor and basic park and basic garden layout remain much as they were at the beginning of the nineteenth century, although the parkland is now more wooded and the southern gardens developed and formally planted.
Not open to the public
