Newby Hall & Gardens

Our View

Newby Hall is an elegant Georgian stately home, hidden away in the countryside. Still owned by the Compton family, it’s famous for its Robert Adam interiors, and for the superb herbaceous borders in its extensive gardens. The billiard room is particularly fine, and contains a splendid portrait of Frederick Grantham Vyner, an ancestor who was murdered by Greek bandits. There is a statue gallery, Chippendale furniture to admire, an overwhelming tapestry room hung all around with 18th-century French tapestries – and, by way of contrast, an extraordinary collection of more than 100 potties in the chamber-pot room. The award-winning gardens are extensive and will appeal as much to horticultural experts for their plantings as to those who can simply admire the beauty of their design. The credit for their creation goes to the present owner’s grandfather, Major Edward Compton, who transformed the grounds from a nine-hole golf course into gardens that offer something different in every season of the year. The Woodland Discovery Walk leads through an orchard down to the River Ure, crossing a restored rustic bridge before returning through Bragget Wood. Children will enjoy the miniature railway which runs alongside the banks of the River Ure, and nearby is an adventure garden with a timber fort, climbing frames, pedaloes, swing boats and an interactive water play area. A new dolls house exhibition has 70 exquisite houses on permanent display. As you approach the restaurant at Newby Hall, an old wooden door to the left of the entrance gates bears the inscription: ‘Through these gates Jack Sheppard, highwayman, escaped from Newgate Prison, 30th August 1724’. The doors were brought to Newby in the 19th century when the Hall passed by marriage to the Vyner family from Lincolnshire. Several Vyner ancestors had been Lord Mayor of London.