Northington Grange

This morning Ann asked me if I wanted to accompany her to the auction house where she's dropping off two ivory figures for appraisal. I'm always up for a road trip and opportunity to see more of the Hampshire countryside so I said I'd be happy to go along. She grew up in this area so she's great with explaining the history and she always ends up taking me along back roads to show me quaint towns or homes where people in her family have lived (today I saw the home where her grandparents lived and a thatch-roofed cottage that she wanted to buy many years ago - her dad advised her against it).

As we drove along, Ann told me about a nearby home referred to as "The Grange", a derelict estate now used for operas. Her mother attended a party there as a young woman. We saw a little side road with a speed limit sign but nothing to indicate that it was private property so we decided to explore it. We passed some smaller homes and horses in fields, old brick barn buildings, and stopped at a gate. We weren't sure if we would be entering private property by passing through the gate so Ann pulled over and we decided to continue our exploration on foot. I told her if anyone questioned us, she could blame me because people tend to go lighter on foreigners.

We could see a large home in the distance, off to the right, and assumed it was The Grange. The dirt road eventually came to the driveway and there was nothing to indicate it was private property so we continued along. It turns out that the property is owned by the English Heritage Society, a government-run organization to preserve heritage buildings.

The house was huge and beautiful. There were a couple of workmen and the text on the side of their van indicated that they were traditional craftsmen. I went inside the building and the workmen didn't tell us to leave - they actually came up and started chatting with us and explaining what they're working on. A girl from an art school was there and she quietly told us she had called English Heritage and they told her she couldn't access the interior of the building because it was dangerous. I started walking around and figured I'd continue exploring until I was told to get out. The workmen apparently don't care about insurance because they let us explore the accessible areas - a limited portion of the first floor. The floors for the upper levels had rotted or been removed so the eaves could be viewed from the ground floor. The mess in the rooms was from the workmen repairing and replacing the beautiful sweeping staircase. The original staircase was removed years ago and purchased at an auction for £50. The buyer donated the materials back recently so the staircase could be reinstalled.

The house has a huge conservatory which has been remodeled for use by an opera company. The chandeliers are in place as the ground floor of the building is used to serve dinner to the opera company.

Northington Grange.

A large side entrance room with a wall painting and fireplace surround left by a movie company who filmed here a while ago. The fabric canopy protects people below from falling debris as the building continually falls apart.

A side room with chandeliers and little else.

The central hallway leading off the entrance styled to look like a temple (at the right in the first photo). The staircase at the end sweeps up and to both the right and left, wrapping around to a large landing above. This is the staircase the workmen are painstakingly reinstalling.

Details that still remain as the building crumbles.

The driveway to reach the house.
The clusters in the trees are mistletoe.