Audley End House

We had a wonderful family day out here. As lovers of English heritige this will not disappoint. Gorgeous Jacobean mansion with lots to see. The children were given an activity sheet to find various items and they liked that. The dairy, kitchen and laundry rooms were great, informative and the kids could touch things.
The lawns were so green and the gardens lovely to walk around. They had a short re-​enactment going on for the children that day and they thoroughly enjoyed the large wooden play area.
We took a picnic as the café was as usual overpriced food and drinks. There so much space to sit, eat and take in the surroundings. Ample parking too.
Look forward to going back.

Since becoming an English Heritage member, I have been dragging my husband to several of these sort of places and they always make for a lovely day out. Audley End is very similar to Hatfield House in the sense that is an absolutely ginormous house that used to be home to disgustingly rich people. Though the home is gorgeous, I found the house itself rather boring, but only because it was so like Hatfield House. You wander through the house on a self-​guided tour by following the path they have roped off for guests. You wander through the fancy rooms to look at the books and furnishings, the dead animals stuffed and mounted on the walls and the hundreds of unnamed portraits of people. Meh. My complaint with the house (and with English Heritage in general) is that there is absolutely no information provided to you on the tour. Sure there are employees here and there throughout the house that will answer questions for you, but… there are no signs or plaques or anything that lets you know just what the signifance of that old lopsided bed is or who those fancy dresses belonged to. If you want that info you have to buy it in the form of a book or a headset to carry around with you. If you are a paying member of English Heritage that all should be included right? Right?
The best parts of this sort of place (in my opinion) are the grounds. There are always big fancy gardens and other fun stuff that you can spend hours wandering through. Audley End has a beautiful organic garden with tons of fruit and veggie plants and they also have newly restored their stables and filled them with horses. There are also little cafes around the grounds and playgrounds for the kids.
For non-​English Heritage people it’s £11. Not so bad! But bring your own food because their prices in the café are redonk.

This is the place to go for the perfect day out in my opinion!
The house itself is amazing wonderful architecture and an authentic step back in time. Guides are knowledgeable about the house and the area and provide excellent information.
However, to me, it is the grounds that are worth the visit! Beautifully landscaped, with amazing features, i could wander here for days, losing track of time!
The walled organic garden is an absolute must, growing the most amazing fruit and veg to be found!
Pack a picnic and make a wonderful day of it!

Audley End House has beautiful grounds, perfect for a walk at any time of year, as well as an organic garden, and of course the house itself. The new service wing is very much worth a visit, showing how much work ordinary people had to put in to running such a grand home.
The tea room is a little disappointing — overpriced, and prone to run out of soup at busy times.

I have loved this house since I was a child. In recent years it was starting to show its age but English Heritage are ploughing money back into his historic house. There are new interative exhibitions where you can see live in the kitchens with the servants. There are plenty of special events. The gardens and grounds are always worth a visit.

As the others have said it’s a lovely place. But did they mention the home grown organic apples, english apples you’ve never heard of.

We visited the miniature railway in the grounds. It’s just perfect for those ‘Mini Anoraks’! It was built as a private toy railway by one-​time owners of Audley End House.
It’s a narrow-​guage line which runs in a loop around a couple of miles of the park. There are lots of soft toys hidden in the woods, there’s also a little tunnel and some bridges to go over.
The engines are very smart coal-​fired steam engines, I think they have about four different ones. You can buy single tickets or a day ticket in the small ticket office/​shop.
It’s not a grand day out, but is just perfect for two to five years old and doting grandparents, it only runs at weekends and bank holidays.

English Heritage, lovely people they are, run a series of summer concerts every year at Kenwood, and at Audley End in Essex.
I’m a big fan of Audley End. The house itself is lovely with great gardens, and taxidermy fans will be in heaven. Glass cases line the walls with everything from ferrets to pheasants, preserved in action poses.
But this review is of The Music of Dirty Dancing. What utter, cheesy fun. Singers, dancers (obviously), a great band, picnic food on the grass and chilled champagne. Although not affiliated with the West End show this was still a quality evening with a rip-​roaring cast, an up for it audience and Thank the Lord — dry weather. That hill leading from the house to the Parthenon style folly can get mighty chilly in the rain, although it provides a great view of the post concert fireworks, which are spectacular. .
Parking is plentiful and well organised and the stewards are partial to a boogie like the rest of the crowd. The house is well signposted from the major routes and departure is a simple, stress free process.
Your £30+ ticket will only get you a grass spot on the hill, and a freebie from whoever’s sponsoring this year’s do. Thank you Jacques cider! Despite this the music is always of fine quality and the party atmosphere makes these concerts some of the most enjoyable evenings available. Certainly, I can think of worse ways to spend time than listening to great music at a stately home.
Recommended.

Absolutely beautiful Jacobean mansion in stunning grounds. The Cam runs through the front garden at a reasonable distance from the house. Artificial lake in 18^th century parkland with wonderfully manicured lawns. Walled Victorian kitchen garden. Picnic concerts held in gently sloping hill at the back of the house during Summer months. Great little tearoom with fabulous cakes or cream teas if you have a mind for it.
The service wing has been renovated and opened recently, which in terms of social history is almost more interesting than the mansion itself. Great displays of how life was for the workforce that kept things running smoothly in such a large country house in Victorian times.
Really friendly and informative staff.
Visit this place — it’s food for the soul!