Newark Park

On our journey from Bath back to Cheshire, we stopped at Newark Park near Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, intrigued by its position on the edge of a 40-foot cliff. It began to rain just as we arrived, so we started our exploration with a tour of the house.

Newark was built by Sir Nicholas Poyntz around 1550 as a hunting lodge, intended to act as a resting place after a full day's hunting with the hunting party returning the following day to the Poyntz family home at Acton Court near Bristol. The lodge was built on four floors with a flat roof, with the basement containing the kitchens, the ground floor reception rooms, the first floor a banqueting hall, and the second floor the bedchambers. Today only the ground floor and basement are open for viewing. In the 18th century it was converted into a castellated county house by the architect James Wyatt.

The house is managed by the National Trust and it is also occupied, which proved interesting as we made our way around, taking in not only the beautiful views, stunning architecture and antique furniture, but also the very personal trinkets and mementos of the current tenants. Perhaps most interesting to us were the views, such as the one below, which grants the onlooker a rare sight these days: a landscape virtually untouched by technology.

The rain had stopped by the time we finished our tour of the house, which sits in 700 acres with far-reaching views to the south west. We managed a short trail or two down the side of the cliff among fragrant and colourful chives and leeks and other late-blossoming spring flowers.

Date of Our Last Visit: May 2004