Godfrey Thornton Garden
The main walled garden, lovingly restored. Its iris collection is the reason to come in June, when the beds are ablaze.
Visit the park
Over seventy acres of Repton's park, two walled gardens, a woodland trail, a playground and a tearoom in the orchard, with the Thorntons' house at the centre of it all. Come for twenty minutes with the dog or for the whole afternoon with a guided tour.
At a glance
Plan your day
Guided house tours
Our guides take you through every part of the house: the principal rooms and the great stair, the bedrooms, the servants' quarters below, and the hospital wards that once filled the park. You will hear about the Thorntons and the Clapham Sect, their part in ending the slave trade and reforming Britain, and about the people who brought the house back from near-ruin.
Tours run from April to October on selected afternoons. Meet your guide at 1.45pm in the Museum beside the tearoom; tours begin at 2pm prompt and last about an hour. Occasional winter tours are announced to Friends first.
Tickets
Entry to the grounds is free; the ticket is for the guided tour of the house. Add the guidebook on the day to read the full history afterwards.
Book a tour dateGood to know
What to see, when
The park changes week by week. Choose when you are coming and we will tell you what to look for.
The Orchard Tearoom
The tearoom sits in the orchard, just past the walled garden and beside the woodland playground. Tea, coffee, cakes, ice cream and a light lunch, served by a team of volunteers from the villages around us. The orchard was replanted in 2013 with traditional Bedfordshire varieties of apple and pear; the grass is kept long as a summer meadow and cut short in winter for the wildflowers.
Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome. The Museum next door is where house tours begin.
The gardens
The landscape is being restored piece by piece by our head gardener and a team of volunteers, following the park's conservation management plan.
The main walled garden, lovingly restored. Its iris collection is the reason to come in June, when the beds are ablaze.
The old kitchen garden beside the car park, laid to grass for now and first in line for the market gardens of the estate plan.
Being recreated at the entrance to the orchard, where a rose garden stood in the 1860s.
A smaller, secluded walled garden at the side of the orchard, with the old aviary and a building long known as Tudor Cottage.
Woodland walk & playground
The woodland playground sits just past the tearoom and offers something for every age. Beyond it the woodland walk begins: a loop of about twenty minutes through Top Wood, with snowdrops in January and February, a carpet of bluebells in April and May, and in autumn a remarkable range of fungi, including some rare ones. Keep to the paths, keep dogs on leads, and look up now and then: the trees are Repton's.
Groups & schools
Pre-booked groups can tour the house on any day by arrangement, with a talk in one of the principal rooms and a table kept for you in the orchard. Garden clubs are welcome in the walled garden with the head gardener; schools can follow the story of the Thorntons and abolition through the rooms where it happened.
Arrange a group visitA guided tour, a talk, and tea afterwards.
Georgian life, the abolition story, the hospital years; a walk in the woods to finish.
The walled garden with the people restoring it. June for the iris.
The park, the woods and the lanes beyond; coffee waiting in the orchard.
Getting here & access
Moggerhanger is on the A603, two miles from the A1 at Sandy. In the village, follow the brown Historic House signs. Free car park by the walled garden.
Sandy station is about three miles away on the East Coast line, an hour or so from King's Cross. Taxis meet most trains; tell us if you are walking and we will send the footpath route.
The park, tearoom and ground floor are mostly wheelchair accessible; the upper floors are reached by the historic stair. Carers accompany tour visitors free of charge.
Moggerhanger Park, Park Road, Moggerhanger, Bedford MK44 3RW
01767 641007
Volunteer
In the house, in the grounds with the head gardener, or in the tearoom. No experience needed, a friendly team guaranteed. Write to us or call 01767 641007.