needed full renovation, which took a secondary priority in the Trust's plans after the house. The Trust have converted the buildings into an integrated and self-contained visitor centre, which opened in mid-2011 with:

  • Upper yard:
  • Demonstration area: country crafts from visiting crafts people
  • Plant centre: excess plants raised by the gardeners are sold to raise funds
  • Farm-themed play area
  • Secondhand books stall: proceeds from which raise funds for the Trust
  • Restaurant: the former two-story covered yard has been fully renovated and converted into a cafe/restaurant; it also houses the gift shop. A new-build staircase, lift and bridge walkway all in steel provide access from the upper yard
  • A separate building to the east provides power and heat to the visitor centre, using a combination of solar thermal panels, photovoltaic cells and a biomass boiler.

Park

thumb|upright=1.15|View from the eastern formal gardens looking up towards the house, April 2008

The house sits within of parkland, which the Trust gained from the auction and retained around the property to preserve the house within its environment. The wooded park leads down a tree-lined drive to balustraded terraces, and paths lead to the rose garden, summer houses, the aviary and the former concrete-lined lake, which has been empty since the Second World War.

From the latter part of the nineteenth century onwards, William Gibbs and descendants added interesting specimens to the existing trees in the two areas of parkland to the South and West of the house and gardens. The estate now has fourteen Champion Trees on The Tree Register. [https://www.treeregister.org/]

A five-year project by the National Trust, underway in 2022, to conserve ancient, veteran and notable trees, in a number of sites across Bristol, included Tyntesfield. The Tyntesfield site is of additional national significance because its many ancient and veteran trees support populations of rare, vulnerable and endangered invertebrates. [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/leigh-woods/features/conserving-bristols-ancient-and-veteran-trees]

Kitchen garden

The kitchen garden includes glasshouses and frames, the large classical Orangery and quarters for the gardeners.

Orangery

thumb|left|The Orangery

The Grade II*listed Orangery was once the architectural focal point of the kitchen garden complex. But when the Trust bought the property, the Orangery was in such a precarious state of deterioration that it was on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk Register in the highest priority category, A.

To preserve and restore the Orangery, the Trust teamed-up with City of Bath College and Nimbus Conservation Ltd in an innovative partnership, whereby 12 trainee stonemasons worked alongside professional craftsmen to hone their skills and carry out the specialist stonework needed. The Trust also introduced workshops for other restoration professionals, academics and eventually opened them to interested members of the public, where all were educated in a hands-on environment in the skills required to repair the building. For this crafts-based training initiative, in 2011 the Trust won a The Daily Telegraph sponsored English Heritage Angel Award.

The budget for the works was £420,000, with initial work focused on stabilising the foundations and lower masonry. Much of this was achieved through the injection of stabilising materials into the foundations, which needed time to cure and solidify. Works then progressed to the walls and roof, and finally the decorative embellishments. Today, while part of the Orangery is a dedicated café, the rest is used for training new craftsmen and restoration specialists.

Aviary

The aviary at Tyntesfield is situated to the west of the house, adjacent to the footings of the old conservatory. It was built in 1880 to house exotic birds, but was converted into a playhouse for Doreen, the first Lord Wraxall's daughter. The aviary is considered one of the most distinctive features of the estate, and is Grade II listed.

Sawmill

thumb|Tyntesfield Sawmill buildings, now fully restored and converted to a Learning Centre

Located on a site originally occupied by a foreman's office when the land was used for quarrying, the new sawmill building was completed in 1899, providing electricity via two enclosed steam engines and pneumatic power across the estate. The engines were housed in what is now called the Engine Room, while the Lantern Room held multiple lead acid batteries. After opening, the decision was made to relocate the estate's entire sawmill to the building, to enable better access to electrical power. The steam engines were replaced by diesel generators, and electricity was provided from the national grid post-WW2. In the 1960s, the sawmill was decommissioned and all wood sold to third party contractors to be converted into sawn wood products.

Under the Trust's ownership the sawmill has been renovated and converted into a combined learning, educational and rentable function space for businesses and members of the public. It is most often used by National Trust staff and volunteers to educate visiting school groups. The building now houses the biomass boiler for the main house, which saves 141 tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> a year over the old oil-fired boiler. Another section of the former wood shed was used as a new roost site for bat species, creating a "bat palace". The centre was opened in May 2009 by Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, who partially funded the works.

Wildlife

thumb|The stable block at Tyntesfield, the roof of which is a bat roost

Bats

Ten of the seventeen species of UK bat are found on the property, eight within the structure of the house alone. Species found include the rare and threatened lesser horseshoe bat and greater horseshoe bat. Maintenance work is timed to fit in with hibernating and mating schedules, and new roosts are created during any building work. Visitors may see some of the property's bats on a closed-circuit television system.

Visitor access

Visitor access to Tyntesfield is via the B3128 road. The nearest train station is away at Nailsea and Backwell. Bus services are available from Bristol. The grounds include six geocaching trails.

In 2002, after its purchase by the National Trust but before its opening to the public, the house and its contents were explored in the Oxford Films documentary, The Lost World of Tyntesfield, hosted by art historian Dan Cruickshank. The house was featured in the 2017 film Crooked House, an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name starring Glenn Close, Terence Stamp, Max Irons and Christina Hendricks. It also featured in the BBC television series Sherlock in the episode "The Abominable Bride" and Doctor Who in the episode "Hide".

See also

  • Grade I listed buildings in North Somerset
  • List of National Trust properties in Somerset

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Tyntesfield information at the National Trust
  • Tyntesfield photographic/panoramic tour from the BBC
  • Wikidata List of paintings at Tintesfield
  • Stonemasons working at Tyntesfield