Upton House, Warwickshire

The house was built on the site of the hamlet of Upton, which was destroyed in about 1500 when the land was cleared for pasture. The estate passed through various hands until the early 17th century when it was bought by Sir William Danvers. It remained with the Danvers family until 1688 when Sir Rushout Cullen purchased the estate for £7,000 (equivalent to £|r=-4}}}} in ). Cullen built the house for himself in about 1695. In 1757 the house was bought by banker Francis Child for use as a hunting lodge and it remained with his heirs in the Jersey family until the end of the 19th century when it was held by George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey. In 1897, the estate was bought by brewer…

Upton is a long low house built of local yellow ironstone. It was considerably expanded from 1927 to 1929 for the 2nd Viscount Bearsted by Percy Richard Morley Horder who retained the Carolean style appearance of the exterior while introducing some Art Deco elements in the interior, particularly in the bathroom for Lady Bearsted, where the walls are covered in aluminium leaf. The style of interiors at Upton has been described by art critic Osbert Lancaster as Curzon Street Baroque. A main attraction of Upton is the garden. A lawn, with huge cedar trees, sweeps gently down from the house and below is an extensive terraced garden. The garden features a kitchen garden, a series of herbaceous…