On the 7th and 8th September we held our second Heritage Open Weekend, and even Sunday’s thunderstorms didn’t deter our hardy visitors. Over two days we welcomed nearly 200 people to the Park to learn more about the history of the site and the great house that once stood here.
The old stable block was open to the public for the weekend, with visitors able to see the original stalls that were home to the estate’s horses. Various exhibits were on display inside, including a look inside Humphrey Repton’s Red Book, a gallery of the house in its heyday, and a chance to find out about the lives of its residents including the Cowper family and their many servants. We also had a display of artwork by local artist Marian Hall, who recreated a view of Panshanger using materials from around the Park.
For many years the stables were also home to Miss Midd’s riding school, and her godson Charles Runcie came along to share many photos from that period. Many of our visitors were former students; they were delighted to have the opportunity to chat to Charles and also to each other, with some old friends meeting for the first time in years.
Out in the courtyard we had many activities for our younger visitors, with a recreation of the skittles alley, Hoopla, Cornhole and giant Jenga, plus plenty of colouring-in.
Around the Park our tractor tour proved popular, and our trailer was full on every run. There was also the opportunity to take a tour on foot and take a closer look at the remains of the orangery. We had several talks about the Park and the local area by both Panshanger volunteers and the Friends of Panshanger Park society. Finally we had the opportunity to meet and feed the Park’s newest residents, our Iron Age Pigs, who certainly enjoyed all the delicious crab apples they were given.
One of our visitors wrote in to say “Just a big thank you to everyone responsible for making our morning spent at the Panshanger Estate so enjoyable. The talk was very interesting and it brought back so many happy memories from the late 1950’s to early 1960’s when I rode and helped clean the stables out.”
If you didn’t get a chance to come this time, our Heritage Open Weekend will return next September. In the meantime, if you want to see more of the Park you can explore at any time from our car park at Thieves Lane, or keep an eye on our events page for future activities throughout the year: https://panshangerpark.tarmac.com/events/
This article was written by Panshanger Park volunteer Michelle Galloway.
