Features
- Main room has magnificent wall and ceiling paintings by Antonio Verrio
- Overlooks picturesque Pond Gardens and the River Thames
- Reached via the breathtaking Privy Garden or even by boat!
- Exclusive entrance from Barge Walk by the river
- Private walled gardens on either side of the building
- Garden area excellent for marquees
Best for…
- Intimate lunches and dinners
- Receptions in the surrounding gardens
- High-end conferences
- Afternoon tea
A little history of the space…
Designed for cool and pleasant evening entertainments for the late Stuart court, the little Banqueting House was decorated with mirrors carved by Grinling Gibbons and furniture covered in green damask with gold fringes.
In later years the Banqueting House became a rather unusual home, and its paintings of naked classical characters caused controversy.
In 1864 one Miss Baly moved in, and complained about the ‘very objectionable large undressed figures in the frescoes on each side of the fireplace’.
She wanted them ‘either draped or clouded in such a manner as to render them appropriate decorations for a drawing room’!