HOLLY LODGE

Holly Lodge is a Victorian Architectural delight and one with a fascinating past linked to the life of wealthy philanthropist, Angela Burdett-Coutts.

Her mansion home and its extensive grounds (on which her husband once wanted to build a racecourse!) now make up the Holly Lodge Estate. It was here that the first woman to be created a baroness in her own right, entertained the notable figures of the day such as Florence Nightingale, Charles Dickens, the Duke of Wellington (who ungallantly rejected her proposal of marriage!) and even Queen Victoria herself.

At the foot of the estate, Angela Burdett-Coutts commissioned architect Henry Darbyshire to build a landscape village of 12 gothic houses complete with pinnacles and turrets with fretted roof tiles. According to the plaque found on the ornate porch way, these unique buildings were in fact retirement homes for all her servants and workers and are now Grade II listed.

For further information visit: http://hle.org.uk