Private historic house tours
We welcome private groups who wish to have a guided tour of the house, garden and barns with the owners - with coffee and cake, and an optional cream tea, lunch or dinner in the Tudor barn or al fresco in the walled garden
We’ll welcome you with a short talk about the owners, tenants and hunter-gatherers to of Milden Hall from the Stone Age to today, and then show you around our much-loved family home where the Hawkins have farmed for over 200 years - and the seventh generation is now apprenticed! The Hawkins family are obsessive local historians and conservationists, and inveterate collectors of things, so expect passionate discussion on how to keep history, wildlife and succession going strong!
Extensive research by the family has revealed the various owners of Milden since Walter the Deacon in the Domesday survey of 1085, and the de Meldyngge family who built the Norman Castle (now Scheduled Ancient Monument earthworks), through wealthy absentee landowners and charitable families to modern day with mysteries, sad tales, strange co-incidences and much-loved characters.
Half the Tudor (or earlier) house was re-modelled in the Georgian period with large rooms, cornices, fireplaces, high ceilings and houses collections of ancient Suffolk maps, prints, paintings, books and old postcards. The other half remains late Tudor with tiny rooms, linen-fold panelling, the pantry (stuffed with home-made preserves) and two cellars.
In addition to seeing the 16th century Milden Hall farmhouse, and time and weather-permitting, the tours include what has been described as one of the finest 16th and 17th century farmyards in the country: aisled barns and cartlodges with talk on bats, beetles, moths and woodlice. Beyond, guests can walk in the walled garden with thatched gazebo, old trees and beyond ancient wildflower meadows, hedges and ponds.
Tours are approximately 2.5 hours (starting 10.30am/3pm)
Tickets £20-£50 per person depending on group size and refreshments or meals required.
Restrictions: Sorry no dogs; photography by arrangement only
Accessibility: So sorry, but the tour is unsuitable for those with limited mobility or in wheelchairs
Enquire on contact form (click on link below) with as much info as possible about group type, size, preferred dates, refreshments or meals
