To Osterley

Wednesday 24th March, 1944.

“… to Osterley.

What a decline since 1939! Now total disorder and disarray. Bombs have fallen in the park, blowing out many windows; the Adam orangery has been burnt out, and the garden beds are totally overgrown. We did not go round the house which has been taken over by Glyn Mills bank, but round the confines of the estate. There are still 600 acres as yet unsold. Smith and I both deprecated the breezy way in which the Osterley agent advocated further slices to the south-east of the house being sold for building development, in order to raise an endowment. It is going to be a difficult problem how to estimate figures were so much is so problematical, viz. the outgoings associated with the museum, the number of visitors and the potential building value of the land itself.” (Prophesying Peace, James Lees-Milne.)

Thursday 28th October, 1948.

At Osterley this morning I walked around the gardens for the first time for ages, never having done so with Grandy. Accompanied by Carew Wallace and old Mr Little, Grandy’s agent. Behind the cedars to the west of the house is a circuit of trees. It is sad to think of what the place is bound to become when made over to the public. The temples are all dilapidated, beds overgrown. Before the war they were immaculate, possibly too immaculate.” (Midway on the Waves, James Lees-Milne.)

Saturday 13th July, 2019.

To Osterley. The house and grounds have belonged to the National Trust since 1991. There are two lakes and parkland studded with trees and copses.

For once James Lees-Milne’s fears were not realised although, like Syon Park, ‘planes landing at Heathrow fly directly over the house. There are many loans and gifts from Lord Jersey in the house, notably a ten-year loan of portraits of the Child family including Allan Ramsay’s portrait of Francis Child and George Romney’s portrait of Francis’s brother, Robert.

https://youtu.be/udvUM7iQz-g