Greys Court

Now more restored and with lovely gardens, near Henley on Thames, this NT place is well worth a visit. Interestingly for me, it was bought by  Heinrich  Brunner, in 1926, who was the technical partner who started the company with humble soda ash production,that became  the giant ICI.

The house itself is not on the scale of Rothschild mansions , but more homely. Brunner went on to champion ‘open spaces’ for public use and his wife developed the gardens. It was all donated to the NT in 1969. The lovely yellow and red dahlia below is called 'Pooh'! Camera images of flower beds don't seem to do justice to the scene, unfortunately.

Parts of the house date back to the 1400’s and had it’s hey-day in the Tudor period.