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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
Saint Hill Manor sits in 59 acres of parkland on the
edge of the Ashdown Forest a couple of miles from
the little market town of East Grinstead. It is one of
the finest sandstone manors in Sussex.
You can enjoy a tour of the newly restored manor
house on our Ashdown Forest Explorer day and
now for Christmas 2012 your group could enjoy
their Christmas lunch here as part of a City & Village
Tours Christmas Lunch Special available weekdays
from 15 November to 14 December 2012.
On the day you’ll meet our guide in East Grinstead
at 10-30am where we’ll start the day with time to buy
coffee and visit the old church. This is the gateway to
the Ashdown Forest so we are going to work up an
appetite for lunch with a sweeping coach panorama
of beautiful winter landscapes and far reaching views
before arriving at Saint Hill Manor at 12-30pm to be
welcomed with a small glass of sherry before lunch.
Christmas lunch with all the trimmings is served in
a beautiful room decorated with a mural painted by
a nephew of Winston Churchill. The tables will be
dressed for the season and as Saint Hill is not
licensed you are invited to bring wine for the tables,
but soft drinks can be purchased. If you would like to
have a raffle or make a speech after lunch let us
know – it’s your Christmas lunch.
Usually after lunch, just when you are relaxed and
ready to settle down for a good chat the venue rather
want you to go. Not today. The afternoon is yours.
After lunch you can stay at the table and chat the
afternoon away ( there are also a couple of armchairs
for anyone tempted to close their eyes for a little
while) before coffee or tea with mince pies is served
at 3-45pm before heading home at 4-45pm. There’s
also time for a tour of the house. And what a house!
A tour of Saint Hill Manor is rather like being shown
around with the estate agent’s keys.
Although undeniably grand, the property is built on
a very pleasing and human scale - far more homely
and intimate than a stately home. It is not
uncommon for visitors to proclaim “Oh I could be
very comfortable here”. On a good lottery win
maybe! We can but dream.
Before I explain more about the exciting opportunity
for your group to celebrate Christmas 2012 in some
style let me tell you about some of the remarkable
people who have lived here and of the marks that
they have left on the house.
Saint Hill Manor was built in 1792 by Sir Gibbs
Crawfurd MP to replace a house that had been
built here by his father, a Scottish barrister.
The Crawfurds stayed for just three generations
and in the following 200 years the house attracted
a rather eclectic succession of owners.
Edgar March Crookshank was the first, a doctor
and pioneering microbiologist who had worked
with Joseph Lister. He would become the first man
to photograph bacteria, a quite astonishing
achievement when you factor in that the date was
1887. Dr. Crookshank added the wings to the house,
some 12
th
century tiles to a fireplace in the study and
had the lake dug out in the park. After lunch you can
have a stroll out on the terrace to enjoy the view.
Christmas To The Manor Born