About
WOODCHESTER MANSION is a unique and amazing Grade 1 listed Victorian Gothic house hidden in a beautiful Cotswold valley.
It is an unfinished masterpiece. Building started about 1857, but stopped in ...
Tour Guides
Scan me or visit www.govolunteerglos.org/o/Woodchester-Mansion-Trust/opportunities/Tour-Guides/60536 to join
Contact person
Summary
We are looking for enthusiastic, reliable and flexible Tour Guides for our Open Days and events.Detailed description
Tour Guides show visitors around the house, inside and out. They’re expected to point out the architectural features and explain a little of the Mansion s history. They also need to be prepared for questions. Full training will be given by experienced volunteers and a set of guide notes. You can take as much training time as you need before doing an independent tour. We open on Fridays to Sundays, Bank Holidays, some school holidays and for some pre-booked private tours during the week. We have a flexible online rota – so you can sign up for the days that suit you. OVER 18S ONLY. DUE TO THE REMOTE NATURE OF THE MANSION, YOU WILL NEED YOUR OWN TRANSPORT TO GET HERE. SADLY NO TRAVEL EXPENSES ARE RE-IMBURSED.
Getting there
About Woodchester Mansion Trust
It is an unfinished masterpiece. Building started about 1857, but stopped in the mid-1860s so floors and ceilings are missing, walls not plastered and windows unglazed. All the secrets of the construction of the Mansion are visible - something visitors will never see in another country house.
The Mansion was designed by a young local architect, Benjamin Bucknall from Rodborough. He produced a unique Gothic Revival house which blends the local traditional work in limestone with the ideas of the French architectural thinker Viollet-le-Duc.
If you are interested in the Mansion and its history we have a book.
The quality of the stone carvings in the Mansion is outstanding: some are inspired by the plants in the surrounding valley and others are life-like images of animals. There are also real mammals to be seen as the Mansion houses breeding colonies of Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bats.
Owned by Stroud District Council, the Mansion is managed by the Woodchester Mansion Trust (it is not a National Trust property). On Open Days visitors can see how the house was built, admire the fine carvings and look at the bats on CCTV. Refreshments are available, we have a gift shop and the surrounding Woodchester Park (National Trust) can be explored. It is also possible to arrange private tours and hire of the Mansion.