5
Gordon Knowles 63 months ago
I decided to visit this National Trust run, place on the 3rd August 2018. Take the A3057 out of Romsey you will see a sign for Mottisfont about 3½ miles out of Romsey. They had a large car park which was free to visitors. It was in the middle of the heat wave we were having in Britain at the time and so many people were there with the kids because it was, school holidays also. Mottisfont Abbey and with the house is a historical priory and country estate in Hampshire, England. The Abbey sections were like a cellar building below the main part of the house and was so cool in the strong heat of summer outside. Sheltering in the valley of the River Test, the property is now operated by the National Trust. About 350,000 people visit each year. The site includes the house museum, regularly changing art exhibitions, gardens and a river walk. It is a Grade I listed building and next to the house is a fantastic Cafe area.
Mottisfont Abbey has wonderful grounds to complement the house itself. There are areas of wooded shade, a walk along the River Test, enough lawned area for many picnics and magnificent and pungent rose gardens, particularly on early summer evenings. On visiting Mottisfont you will be just as likely to encounter families with small children as you will a coach party or two of tourists. On a summer's day, Mottisfont is a relaxing retreat from the hustle and bustle of the busy city of Southampton and market town of Romsey, both nearby and with their own attractions to occupy your time..
In the summer months they often hold theatre productions outside, and at different times of the year, there are specific trails, mainly but not totally aimed at children, for example at Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc. There are several places around the grounds where you can buy refreshments and drinks, a modern National Trust shop has been built here along with an ice cream parlour and exhibition space. A new Visitor Centre was finally finished in early 2016. If you are walking The Test Way, which passes through Mottisfont and around the Abbey grounds, you will see the main house from the rear as you pass through fields along the northern boundary. While walking along this river walk I managed to see a Grass snake or water snake swimming in the very clear waters of the River Test.
The Black Death struck this initially prosperous priory and so it suffered from the mid - 14th century onwards as many places did when this terrible disease attacked so many people. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under the then King Henry VIII, the priory was dissolved and the king gave Mottisfont and its grounds to a favoured statesman, Sir William Sandys a Knight of the Garter, who turned it into a country home. Sections of the original medieval church may still be seen, with the later additions built around them. This feels uneasily spooky in here being so old, damp, and a feeling of nostalgia so to speak by being in such a marvellous building that has stood the test of time.