We are delighted to have secured a booking at privately owned Mapledurham House on the banks of the River Thames near Reading, a lovely Grade 1 Listed house which has been owned by the Blount family since 1490.
Watermill at Mapledurham
As usual we aim to visit properties that have a historic connection with Lydiard Park and we are especially pleased to be visiting privately owned Mapledurham House. The name Blount will ring a bell with anyone familiar with the Elizabethan monument to Elizabeth Blount and her husband Nicholas St.John in St. Mary’s Church, Lydiard Tregoze, one of the first great series of St.John monuments in the church. You may also be intrigued to know that Mapledurham House and the surrounding village were used for the filming of the 1976 film of The Eagle has Landed.
Mapledurham House is not open to the general public so we have booked into a local golf club for a light lunch before beginning our visit. Once at Mapledurham, a member of the Blount family will be giving us a tour of the house and gardens. Within the grounds there is a picturesque water mill and a weir crossing the Thames and we can also visit the historic church. After the tours we will have teas/coffees in the main hall of the House and we are then free to explore the grounds further. We plan to leave Mapledurham at 4.00 p.m.