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Syon House and Park Review
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Syon House and Park
- Address: Syon Park, Brentford, London | Map It
- Phone: 020/8560-0882
- www.syonpark.co.uk
- Category: Houses/Mansions
- Location: Richmond
Fodor's Review:
The residence of Their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, this is one of England's most sumptuous stately homes, and certainly the only one that's near a Tube station. Set in a 55-acre park landscaped by Capability Brown, the core of the house is Tudor -- two of Henry VIII's queens, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey, made pit stops here before they were sent to the Tower -- but it was redone in the Georgian style in 1761 by famed decorator Robert Adam. He had just returned from studying the sites of classical antiquity in Italy and created two rooms here worthy of any Caesar: the entryway is an amazing study in black and white, pairing neoclassical marbles with antique bronzes, and the Ante-Room contains 12 enormous verdantique columns surmounted by statues of gold -- this, no less, was meant to be a waiting room for the duke's servants and retainers. The Red Drawing Room is covered with crimson Spitalfields silk, and the Long Gallery is one of Adam's noblest creations (it was used by Cary Grant and Robert Mitchum for a duel in the 1958 film The Grass Is Greener). Elsewhere on the beautiful, rolling parkland is a Victorian glass conservatory that's famous among connoisseurs for its charm, not surprising as the designer, Fowler, was also responsible for the grand Covent Garden Flower Market. On certain bank holidays and Sundays you can take a miniature steam train ride in the grounds. Also within the grounds, but not part of the Syon enterprise, are a nature center and The London Butterfly House (020/8560-7272. Daily 10-3:30), with separate charges.
- Cost: £7.50 for house, gardens, conservatory, and rose garden; £3.75 gardens and conservatory
- Open: House late Mar.-Oct., Wed., Thurs., Sun., and bank holidays 11-5; gardens daily 10:30-dusk
- Tube: Gunnersbury, then Bus 237 or 267 to Brentlea stop
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