The medieval style manor, near Haywards Heath, is not as old as it seems. Before the Messel family lived here it was a plain Regency style house, built around 1839 by George Harrington.
In 1890 the property was bought by the Messel family who changed it into a larger German looking house. They continued to remodel the house and in 1915 it was redesigned again into a mock medieval mansion.
Most of the house was destroyed by a fire in 1947 but there are still some surviving rooms open to the public. The house is now owned by the National Trust and situated in beautiful gardens.
The house always reminds me of the war artist John Piper.
Thanks George, how interesting. I'll look at this house with fresh eyes! You managed to get lots of detail into the foreground and a sense of depth with the trees in the back righthand of the image. Your mid-ground seems to have got a bit lost with all those similar greens. You have created some lovely textures in parts of this image. Great job on quite a tricky subject.