Gulliver visits Osterley Park

 
Osterley House

I have blogged about Osterley Park before, you can see beautiful images on this link – images from a different part of the park. Links will open in a new window.

Twentieth Century Fox movies started with the shooting of Gulliver’s Travels and some of the scenes will be shot in this grand mansion in Osterley Park. It is not the first time this extravagant mansion is used in a movie. I think it is Pride and Prejudice  where it was used too. The crew were at “rest” on Saturday, as you can see on the images down in this post. They’ve put up notices to apologise for the inconvience they cause visitors to the park whilst shooting, but I think I will enjoy watching them, but guess I will have to camp in front of the mansion!

In the out buildings, you will find the history of Osterley Park and the house, a small restaurant selling also delicious scones and the National Trust Gift shop.

Follow this link to see who else stars in this movie.
History:

Sir Thomas Gresham, commercial agent and financial adviser to Elizabeth I, bought the manor of Osterley in 1562 and by 1576 replaced the existing farmhouse with ‘a faire and stateley brick house’.  

For a man of the city, Osterley not only represented somewhere green and tranquil, but also a source of income. Described as ‘a most fertyle place for wheate’ the estate had ample water. Gresham established one of the first paper mills in England here.

Nicholas Barbon acquired Osterley in 1683. An opportunist, he used Osterley as security to raise a large sum of money. He died in debt and in 1713 Osterley went to Sir Francis Child in payment of his loan.

Apprenticed to a London goldsmith at the age of fourteen, by a judicious marriage Sir Francis found himself the partner and then sole owner of the firm. By 1698 he was Lord Mayor of London and had expanded his business into banking with the creation of Child’s Bank.

The flowering of Osterley
Over the next two generations, the family’s wealth and position grew. In 1761 Robert Adam, the most fashionable architect of the day, was commissioned by Sir Francis’s grandson, another Francis, to modernise the house. He transformed it into what you see today, remodelling the outside and designing the interiors and a great deal of the furnishings. His vast portico makes a particularly grand statement of classical refinement.

The unity of design was carried through into the park by Francis and, on his death in 1763, by his brother Robert Child. They redirected rivers to form a chain of sinuous lakes through the Park, and created a drive which brought people in a tantalising loop before finally arriving at the House.

Not active as an MP or in running the bank, Robert Child spent a great deal of time at, and money on, Osterley. His wife was equally involved and she lived on at Osterley for 10 years after his death.

By the beginning of the 19th century, Osterley was no longer a main residence and, apart from a few brief periods of occupation, would not be so again. In 1923, the 9th Earl of Jersey inherited Osterley at the age of 13.  He opened the house to the public in 1939 because he said, ‘he did not live in it and …many others wished to see it’.  In July 1939, the Georgian Group held a great ball at Osterley.

During the War, the house was occupied by Glyn, Mills Bank to whom Child & Co had been sold in 1924.

In 1949, Lord Jersey achieved his aim of ensuring that Osterley ‘will be maintained and shown off in the way I consider it deserves to be’. He gave the house and the central core of its landscaped park to the National Trust. The house remains, in essence and detail, much as it was in the middle of the 18th century.

Continue reading on this link –of the National Trust- more about the house and see some beautiful images in their gallery about the house!

Family-outing on the pond!

Fox movies’ notice to apologise

 The stairs are covered to prevent damage by the crew.

Beautiful architecture – read on the National Trust-link more about it.

A watchful eye!

 

 

 
History: a sneak peek

Restaurant with delicious tea and scones

 
National Trust Gift shop

Osterley House – from a different angle

Paradise for walkers and bikers or even if you want to fish!

Quiet during the day or when the weather is cooler, this part of the park is my favourite as you can sit and relax with the twitter of the birds around you without your thoughts being disturbed.

From here you’re heading  to a pleasant spot where you can enjoy the peaceful, undisturbed views on the following images.

Sometimes you’re lucky to see some water birds diving into the water to catch a fishy meal.

Or playful doggies after their balls!

This tree has almost been “up-rooted” by wind and weather – Birds love this tree.

From here you can go left/right, but both ways take you back to the front of the park – only if you want to go, you can always take another turn off  to the right and follow a path which you will see on the link of my previous entry.

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