Kelmarsh Country Fair

The noted antiquarian William Hanbury completed the current Kelmarsh Hall in 1732. The Hanbury Family were residents of the estate until the Liverpool banker Richard Christopher Naylor purchased it in 1864. The Naylor’s owned the estate until 1902 when George Granville Lancaster bought the hall and grounds. Although the Lancaster family were not always in residence, the estate remained in the family’s possession until, on her death in 1996; Miss Lancaster left the entire estate to the Kelmarsh Trust.

Despite the fact that the Kelmarsh Estate no longer has a resident family, in many ways the land is still managed as a traditional country estate. While seven tenant families farm the majority of the 3,500 acres, an in-house team cares for the many small spinneys and coverts that dot the landscape, a reminder of the areas foxhunting heritage.

Despite the Eighteenth Century setting, the gardens were largely inspired by the society decorator and former resident, Nancy Lancaster. With her instinctive panache, Nancy Lancaster extended her interior style of “shabby chich” charm into the gardens and drafted in the garden designer of her day, the talented Norah Lindsay to help. Around the Hall the landscape architect Geoffrey Jellicoe laid out a formal terrace and horse chestnut avenue leading down to the lake.

Kelmarsh Hall benefits from exceptionally good access from the A14 and A508, and is only a short distance from the M1 (Junction 19).

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