Warden Abbey was Cistercian, founded in 1135. Its seal bore three Warden pears, to which it gave its name. The abbey was dissolved in 1537 and a large house was built on the site by the Gostwick family.

Nothing remains of house or abbey above ground except this puzzling fragment, of which we have a long lease. It stands near a big farm, in a meadow made uneven by what lies underneath, and is an extremely perplexing building of very high quality. Clearly it formed part of the Gostwicks’ house, but it also incorporates part of the abbey; in the course of our repairs a fourteenth-century tile pavement emerged, one of the finest ever discovered, which you can see for yourselves in Bedford Museum.

The principal room downstairs seems to have been part of a gallery or broad corridor, with a large open fireplace added to one end. Occupying the entire first floor is a single room with a Tudor fireplace, an oriel window and a heavily moulded oak ceiling. It is a pleasure to lie here in bed and wonder for whom such a splendid room can have been constructed: for one of the last abbots, for his guests, or for the Gostwicks? Above is a superb attic, in which one visitor put her three aunts, uproariously sharing a room for the first time since childhood.

The surrounding country has had the advantage of belonging to large estates, and is some of the best in Bedfordshire.

View our history sheet for this Landmark

Sleeps: 5