Fenton House: relive Hampstead's village past (Hampstead)

Member Name: caro

Product:	Hampstead
Date:	13/04/01 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fascinating piece of Hampstead's village past

Disadvantages: Limited disabled access

Fenton House is a vivid illustration of life in Hampstead in the eighteenth century. More than just another historic house, this National Trust property is a remnant of semi-rural Hampstead which brings the area’s former village past to life.

HAMPSTEAD

Until the seventeenth century, Hampstead was a small rural village a little way out of the city. However, local well-water was believed to have health-giving properties because of its high iron content, and from the mid-seventeenth century, visitors came to the village. By the eighteenth century, there was a Pump Room and the village expanded substantially. Among the new residents were writers and artists (notably Keats). It is now of course fully absorbed into London.

Fenton House was built in the late seventeenth century, as part of Hampstead’s expansion. It belonged to professionals including a lawyer and a series of merchants and importers. Similar large houses continued to be built nearby until the mid-nineteenth century. As you walk to the house up Windmill Hill (the route from Hampstead tube station), you pass several other similar houses, and still get a sense of Hampstead’s village past.

THE HOUSE

As you climb Windmill Hill, Fenton House comes into view. You can walk to the house through the front garden, up its gravel drive. This was the original main entrance of the house. However, if you do so, walk around the house to the right: during the nineteenth century, the entrance was moved to what used to be the side of the house, and this remains the entry in use.

You may need to knock on the door to get into the house; don’t let this put you off! I found the staff really friendly, and best of all, you can safely leave coats and bags in the hall and tour the property unencumbered. Admission is £4.30 for adults, free for National Trust members. You can join on site, and I would recommend membership for the London p
roperties alone (including the nearby – but very different – 2 Willow Road, a modernist house built in 1939 by Erno Goldfinger).

As soon as you enter the house, you may notice something special about this property. It houses a collection of historic instruments, the Benton Fletcher Collection, and a number of musicians have permission to play them. If you are lucky, your visit will be accompanied by music – there were three people playing during my visit. Should the house be quiet when you are there, you can hire a tape of music played on the instruments to listen to as you walk around.

The other major theme of the house is porcelain: a collection spanning Chinese, European and English porcelain is on display throughout its rooms. It was left to the Trust along with the house itself by Lady Binning, the last private owner. If this is of particular interest to you, borrow the guide to the collections. For the general visitor, there is a choice of two guides to buy: the very cheap short guide, or the more expensive (£3.50) but comprehensive and colour-illustrated full guide.

Your tour begins in the dining room – this was originally two rooms, with the old front door between. You will immediately see musical instruments – including a 1770 harpsichord – and ceramics (Chinese vases and English earthenware). The view over the garden is also something you will have an opportunity to appreciate from most rooms as you tour the house.

I don’t propose to comment on every room – that would make for a long and rather boring opinion! However, highlights include the two cabinets in the Porcelain Room (an impressive array of figurines, albeit not my taste); the seventeenth-century needlework pictures in the Rockingham Room and Green Room; and the cow creamers on the South-West Room mantelpiece and flock of pottery sheep in the adjacent South-East Room.

The East Room is fi
lled with drawings and toys relating to a series of children’s books, the Odd and Elsewhere books by James Roose-Evans. They are featured here because they are set in the house. You can purchase these books, as well as postcards and CDs, in the South-West Room.

THE GARDEN

The front garden, through which the house is approached, is pleasant but no preparation for the back garden. You walk into it through a little yew arbour, and emerge to see a terrace walk, with below it a lawn and a sunken garden. Visiting at the tail end of winter, there were few flowers but the structure of the garden is itself very impressive and appealing. The different levels and the hedges and paths separating different sections give a relatively small area a lot of interest and a sense of discovery as you walk around. In summer, there are apparently roses, catmint, fuchsias and more – I’m definitely planning a return visit!

Further into the back garden is a kitchen garden with espaliered fruit trees and a greenhouse – still very much a working greenhouse, which makes it much more interesting to the visitor. At the time of my visit, there was a small plant sale, offering the chance of a living souvenir for visitors with gardens.

I’m not a gardener, but really enjoyed walking around these gardens. They are more intimate than those at many National Trust properties, and give a strong sense of being working gardens on a very human scale.

CONCLUSION

Fenton House and its gardens are a marvellous way of appreciating Hampstead’s history as a village, rather than an urban suburb. The relatively intimate scale of the property is very appealing, and a visit is enhanced by the friendly and helpful staff.

There is no shop, although postcards, guidebooks and CDs are on sale. There is also no café, but this is not a problem given the number of cafes and restaurants in Hampstead. You could v
isit the Buttery at nearby Burgh House, which has delicious home-made cakes as well as light meals; the house itself is a museum of local history and worth a visit in its own right.


Nearest underground station: Hampstead (a short – but uphill – walk)

Open April – October, 2-5pm Wednesday to Friday, 11am – 5pm weekends and Bank Holiday Mondays.

Wheelchair access to ground floor and to upper walk of garden only

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