The Croydon and District National Trust Centre has sent us their programme for Spring/Summer 2017:
- Lunch at Croham Hurst Golf Club
- Excursion to Highclere Castle, Newbury (see further info below)
For information about the Croydon and District National Trust Centre, please go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/Croydon-and-district-centre or contact Angela Swan (Tel: 020 8657 0158, Email : alswan1814@yahoo.com)
You do not have to be a member of the National Trust to join the Centre.
Highclere Castle: Many of you who have seen Downton Abbey will be familiar with the Castle and its grounds. Owned by the Earls of Carnarvon since 1679, it was transformed into a grand mansion by Sir Charles Barry in the period 1842 to 1878. The grounds were designed by Capability Brown.
In the late Victorian era it became the centre of political life whilst, in Edwardian times, with its house parties full of politicians, technological innovators, Egyptologists, aviators and soldiers, it epitomised the confidence and glamour of that era.
During the First World War, Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon turned the Castle into a hospital. Married at just 19, this illegitimate daughter of Alfred de Rothschild brought a stupendous dowry into the family which financed the 5th Earl and Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.
Following the death of the 5th Earl, the 6th Earl returned to Highclere and lived there until 1986. During the Second World War, Highclere became briefly a home for evacuee children from north London. The current 8th Earl and Countess live partly in the Castle and partly nearby but remain closely involved in the day to day life and future of the Castle.