Moggerhanger House, England
Present : The house is now used as a conference and training centre for most of the year but opens as a tourist attraction from mid June to mid September during which time public tours are conducted twice daily. Free access to the grounds is available throughout the year. There is a spacious tea room and children's play area within the grounds. The house has become a centre of local community activities and its successful restoration has been a triumph for the local village and for Bedfordshire.
The Moggerhanger House Preservation Trust a registered charity is currently trying to secure funds to restore Humphrey Repton's 33 acre (130,000 m2) parkland surrounding the house.
Restoration : The house for 1 in 1994 when it was noticed by neighbour Isabelle Hay Countess of Erroll who lives at nearby woodbury Hall. Though the house was crumbling it retained its original features. Its listing was upgraded from Grade ll* to Grade l. All the original woodwork the doors bits of decorative ceilings mantels flags and fireplace surrounds remnants of wallpapers were all still there the countess said. It is such a fine example thereisn't another like it. Lady Erroll formed the Moggerhanger use Preservation Trust along with the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire Sam Whitbread and architect Peter Inskip.
The Heritage Lottery Fund donated 3.5 million toward the project and by 2005 the expenditure had approached 7 million. We keep finding new wonderful things which cost money to restore Lady Erroll said in 2005. We have had to make sacrifices which is why the car park hasn't been restored and we have no furniture. Soane's lengthy relationship with the house provided a backdrop for him to experiment said Isnkip the architect who oversaw the restoration. In the records you could see a friendship develop between architect and client over 40 years Inskip said. This allowed Soane to experiment so there are things here that tell us about aspects of some of the buildings that were lost. Through the depth of research and unpicking we have revealed a great work of art which has been ignored for 100 years. Soane is up there with the great British architects Inigo Jones, Wren, Hawksmoor. The restoration project took 10 years to complete and members of the local village and local churches volunteered help and support to complete the work and maintain the site whilst building contractors were working.