Your guided tour

The best way for you to get a real feeling for Hemingford Grey House and its grounds is to experience it first hand. But if you can't take time out of your busy schedule or you're simply be too far away just to call in, this tour should give you an idea of what it's like here, without you ever having to leave your desk.

There's a bit of background about the house itself, information on your conference facilities and accommodation, plus plenty of photographs. In fact, you'll walk through the house as if you were really here.

Throughout your tour, you'll also be able to link to other relevant pages on this website, from where you can return to the tour again at the same place you left it.

Let's begin ...

The first thing you'll notice as you walk up the driveway from the car park and its adjacent tennis courts is space. Hemingford Grey House is set in 30 acres, including meadowland (now planted with trees to attract local birds) on the other side of the Great Ouse River that runs past the house.

Look over to the right as you go and you'll see the "donkey field". And if you're out early enough, you'll see Malcolm, our second groundsman, giving our resident donkeys their breakfast. If they're not about, it's possible we're expecting a helicopter, as the landing pad is in this field.

As you get closer to the main entrance you'll see a gigantic London Plane tree straight ahead of you. This tree is a cross between an Occidental and an Oriental Plane tree, and is believed to have been planted in 1702. At five feet from the ground it has a girth of nearly 23 feet, and it's fantastic to sit under during the summer months.

Hemingford Grey House itself is a beautiful 300 year old red-brick building in the Queen Anne style with three storeys and a lower, linked, timber-framed service wing on the north-east side. Erected in 1697 on the site of an earlier house that was virtually destroyed during the Civil War, it was purchased and converted into a dedicated residential conference and training centre by Dr Anthony E Churchill in 1973.

As you enter the house through the panelled main door, you'll walk down a short hallway into the lounge with its comfortable armchairs and sofas. On the left-hand side as you go in you'll see the small reception desk, and on the right-hand side the cubbyholes where your messages, mail, etc will be put when you're staying here. Your tea and coffee break refreshments will be available in this room (unless you request otherwise), and you'll also find the daily newspapers here each day. It's a pleasant room to be in of an evening too, particularly in winter when you can sit in front of the open fire.

Just off the lounge is the dining room where you have a choice of hot and cold buffet at lunchtime, and a more formal table d'hôte in the evening. In addition to the main dining room there's also a smaller room that sits 8 - 10 people (ideal for groups that need total confidentiality) as well as a brand new patio area that's proving very popular after meals and during course tea and coffee breaks.

Going back in to the lounge, we'll have a look at the first of the conference rooms, that leads off from this area. This is the River Room, aptly named as it looks out on the Great Ouse. Originally the north-west or river front entrance of the house, there's a short flight of curved steps leading down on to the lawn, and it's particularly pleasant to leave this door open in summer. Sitting up to 14 comfortably in boardroom style you'll find, as with the other conference rooms, a variety of equipment as standard. Let us know what else you need in advance and it will ready and waiting for you when you arrive. What's more, as long as it's available, you won't be charged a penny extra for it. To find out just exactly what's included in your delegate rate, click here.

Leaving the River Room, we'll head up the main staircase to the first floor of the house, to look at the second of our conference rooms, the Green Room, as well as at some of the bedrooms. Although the interior of the house has been much altered over the centuries, the lower part of this spacious double staircase is original, with moulded rails and turned balusters.

On the landing where the staircase divides, you'll see a copy of a painting entitled "A Willing Accomplice". Look closely and you'll recognise the river wall in the picture, and the steps leading down to the water. The windows of the building are slightly different but it obviously depicts an early scene of the house. The artist's name was Shirley Fox, and we've not been able to discover any information about her or the picture. So if you recognise the name, we'd love to hear from you.

Like the River Room, the Green Room looks out over the Great Ouse and meadows on the other side. It has numerous windows providing plenty of natural light, and seats up to 10 comfortably in boardroom style. Again, you'll find all the equipment in here that you need, when you need it.

There are 28 totally unique bedrooms at Hemingford Grey House, of which 22 are in the main building. One of the reasons for this individuality is that when the house was converted in 1973, it was done so that  each bedroom had at least one original window. The rooms are presently being refurbished and each will retain its character in keeping with the rest of the house.

Following the hallway, you'll reach a second smaller staircase leading up to the 1920/21 additions to the house. There's a low beam where the staircase bends, so mind your head! In fact the rooms in this portion of the house are all characterised by ceiling beams (although none this low) and sloped roofs.

Back down the staircase and through another door brings you to the last of the bedrooms in the main house. We'll then go through the door marked "no admittance" to take the staff shortcut to the office, as it's quicker than returning the way we've come.

The office is where you'll find Angela and Maureen between 9am and 5pm, and where your photocopying, faxing and other work is done. Phone calls can still be received outside of these hours, as the switchboard diverts to Chris, our resident barman and groundsman, who lives on site.

Walking out through the back door, we'll turn right towards the newest additions, built when the house became a conference centre. The first building we come to is where you'll find the remaining 6 bedrooms, and the Garden Room. These bedrooms are all twin rooms (there are 2 others in the main house), and whilst being of a similar shape and size they're all decorated individually, so that no two are alike.

Past the bedrooms is the Garden Room and its 2 syndicate rooms. These are of course accessible via a different door in the courtyard, to keep the two areas of this building separate. Seating up to 22 comfortably in boardroom style, the Garden Room is surrounded on 3 sides by full floor-to-ceiling windows, and it looks out on to the area between the entrance gates to the grounds and the house. As with all the other conference rooms, this one has plenty of powerpoints and a variety of equipment available, as do the two adjoining syndicate rooms.

Coming out into the courtyard, we'll cross to the next building that houses the Main Conference Room. This is the largest, seating up to 30 comfortably in boardroom style, and it has a whole host of technical facilities as well as an attached projection room.

Heading back to the main house, we'll walk down the side of the dining room and its patio area, next to the wall that separates us from the Church of St James. A church has stood on this spot for at least 900 years, and the tower of this one has watched over the village of Hemingford Grey for 600 years. You'll notice it has no spire, as this was blown down by a hurricane in 1741.

Going back in to the main building by the door the delegates use, we'll turn left in to the bar. Drinks are available here at pub prices, and you'll find a range of good wines at very reasonable prices too. And for entertainment, there's an adjoining games room where you can play bar billiards, snooker, darts and more. Back out of the bar and past the main staircase and you're once again in the lounge, where our tour is complete.

We hope you enjoyed it, and we look forward to welcoming you here personally in the future.