Sackville House was rescued from decay in 1919 by Geoffrey Webb, a stained-glass artist and uncle of Sir Aston Webb, the architect. His daughter left it to us, with the wish that it be kept as a dwelling.

It stands on the south side of East Grinstead’s broad High Street. Timber-framed, like most of the older houses here, and roofed in thick Horsham stone, it was built in about 1520 as a hall with chambers at one end, but remodelled 50 years later to form a substantial house running back from the street with a yard at the side.

What is really exceptional about Sackville House lies beyond. East Grinstead was laid out in the thirteenth century, a street of houses each with a long plot of land behind, called a portland. Most of these have since been divided and built on. Only in one small area, opposite the church, do they survive in anything like their original form. The garden here, some 630 feet long, slopes to the south, passing through several stages from formal terrace to wild nuttery. On leaving the sometimes lively High Street and entering the yard, you find yourself with a view of several miles across a wide valley to Ashdown Forest. The contrast, and combination, are delightful.

View our history sheet for this Landmark

Sleeps: 8