Michelham Priory House & Gardens

Michelham Priory House & Gardens

Michelham Priory House & Gardens
4.5
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Explore 800 years of history at Michelham Priory House and Gardens – a Tudor house set on a picturesque moated island, complete with medieval gatehouse. Michelham Priory House and Gardens is set on a private island within England’s largest medieval moat. Inside the Tudor house you can discover the history of the site from medieval times right up to its use during World War Two. Hands on activities, trails and dressing up keep the children amused! Many special events run throughout the season, please check the website for details. Pre-booked group visits and private hire is available. Contact the team for details.
Duration: 2-3 hours
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  • Travelwise207
    London, United Kingdom366 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful experience, glorious grounds.
    Wonderful experience. Even on a cold day, this was well worth the visit. The guides were wonderful, full of knowledge and love for the place. After all, there is nearly 1,000 years of history here. They made our visit so much more fulfilling. Glorious grounds, the gift shop should be more packed with goods. BUT, take your own food and coffee. We had the worst sausage roll EVER and the coffee was pretty bad too.
    Visited March 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 22 March 2024
  • Nigel S
    Winforton, United Kingdom374 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great Slice of History
    Moated Priory with fantastic history dating back 800 years. Fascinating place to visit and interesting stories over years from history of Augustinian canons to later years as a country house. seven acres of grounds include kitchen herb gardens sculptures historic watermill -forge and tower gatehouse.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with friends
    Written 16 June 2024
  • ninettejohnson
    Woodford, United Kingdom333 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Place to chill out
    Peaceful and beautiful house to spend a day. The place is very well kept with various gardens including wild areas. Surprisingly not busy considering it was school holidays. There were people dressed up in Middle Ages outfits who were competing in archery. I highly recommend this priory for groups and family days out. There were adequate facilities for light meals and refreshments and you can take your own picnic as well.
    Visited August 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 12 September 2024
  • katrina l
    16 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful
    What a wonderful and fascinating little place. And the cafe is a treat, compared to the usual NT or EH sites, real cakes and i strongly recommend the Cornish Pasties (and I'm Cornish). Only down side, the loos could do with a bit of a spruce. NB. it is so sad the the Environment Agency have killed the moat.
    Visited September 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 14 September 2024
  • Tony C
    62 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Very well worth a visit to see the old furniture and enjoy the gardens and a cup of tea.
    Excellent visit to the Priory and enjoyable gardens. The furniture inside is well worth seeing again, if you're into old (16C) furniture. The refurbishment in the early twentieth century might not be to everyone's taste but was done to a very good standard. Enjoyed the visit to the gatehouse too There's a small cafe which serves a good cup of decaf tea. We had lunch at the Yew Tree in Arlington which was also very good (see my review for there)
    Visited September 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 17 September 2024
  • ArthurWonder
    Uckfield, United Kingdom22 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A wonderful day out!
    We have driven past the brown sign for this place so many times and always said we must go there, and we finally did! We spent the whole day exploring and chatting to the very knowledgeable guides, including Anne from the Michelam Bowmen who was set up in the dining room and parlour, from whom we learned so much information that this became the highlight of the day. The house is amazing and seeing the various parts of the building from different times all mashed together into what we see today really spells out the history of the place. When walking up the main stair, all of a sudden the medieval and Tudor parts are spectacularly revealed. The cafe serves a very good hot chocolate, vegan bean rolls and the best gooey chocolate brownies (gluten free)! Highly recommended for everyone!
    Visited September 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 28 September 2024
  • EESW1
    Lincolnshire, United Kingdom5,673 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    A delightful moated priory in the depths of teh Sussex countryside
    This is a delightful place - and a joy to visit. It has a long and complicated history and not much of the original priory still exists apart from the undercroft and the gatehouse and moat. The priory building has been altered and extended many times over the years. It was badly damaged by fire in 1927 which left just the walls of much of it still standing. The interior had to be completely rebuilt and the Beresford-Wright's did an amazing job. The splendid Tudor dining room, parlour and kitchen are reconstructions of what they may have looked like as is the Prior’s Chambers. It is difficult to relate many of them to the original priory building and it can be quite a confusing. The guide book does a good job of trying to put it all into context. I loved the outside and the grounds but have to admit I came out of the building some what bemused - possibly as I tried to link everything up rather than just enjoy it for what it is. Allow plenty of time to explore the grounds. I didn’t use the cafe so can’t comment on that.
    Visited October 2024
    Travelled solo
    Written 9 November 2024
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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles406 reviews
Excellent
254
Very good
108
Average
24
Poor
9
Terrible
11

Julie P
United Kingdom2,027 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2023 • Couples
A fascinating house built up from monastic beginnings to more modern extensions, set in it's own grounds surrounded by a moat. There's a large car park and you enter via a gatehouse tower which you can climb up to the first floor.

The gardens are well maintained but nothing special, but the house is lovely. A guide greeted us and gave us a potted history, then there were panels and information in each room, taking you through history from a monastery, through the dissolution up to being a centre for evacuees during WW2. Outside, the shop is in the dovecote, there's a small second hand bookshop in an outbuilding and there is a blacksmith shop and ropemakers exhibit in other buildings, together with a collection of waggons. The small cafe serves light meals and snacks but terrible mocha!!! it also has a large tithe barn which serves as a wedding venue.
Written 4 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

rosshenson
Canterbury, UK11 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2022
Considering we visited in December, was surprised by how much there was to see. Have Historic Houses membership. Some of the land including childrens play area was inaccessible due to the rain we have had. As well as the house/priory, there is a large ?Weald barn, a building housing a forge and a small rope museum, gardens and a cafe.I had soup and an enormous, delicious cheese scone and my husband had flapjack and tea for a very reasonable price. Inside the house there were 3 kitchen displays: tudor, victorian and WW11 with original machinery and replica food, a display manned by the Home Guard of their weapons in WW11, display of flower paintings/drawings by local ladies from early 20th century, an old dolls house fully furnished, 4 ?mediaeval tapestries in the Prior's room.All the decor and period furniture was well maintained and there were stewards in every room who made us welcome.
Would like to see the forge working and have demo of rope machinery.
Written 6 December 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sussexkim
Hailsham, UK281 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
Wasn’t sure where to take my 11 year old granddaughter for our last day together this summer holiday so I decided on Michelham Priory & I must say I’m glad I did. The grounds are beautiful & the house is so interesting, we spent an hour going round the house alone then another 2 hours in the gardens we also visited the cafe which is very reasonably priced, I would definitely recommend the coronation chicken baguette. If you go into the gift shop you can buy a bag of duck food for £1, we ended up getting 3 bags because it’s so much fun having the ducks eat out of your hands & following you around as soon as they see you with the brown paper bag. The watermill & the blacksmiths forge were closed but we knew this before going. We will definitely be visiting here again in the near future.
Written 31 August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kayla S
6 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
We go to all the Craft Fairs and yesterday was again a really wonderful experience apart from the cafe food and drink and the dodgy toilets. We've been visiting Michelham Priory events for about 20 years. it's a fabulous place to visit, the grounds are stunning as is the history and the information provided. The planting is superlative. The exhibitors are always of the highest quality.

We usually bring a picnic but yesterday we decided to eat in the cafe instead. We bought a £9.50 ham Ploughman's which came in a box with a teeny paper container of coleslaw and pickle, a bit of lettuce, one slim slice of tomato etc The ham was delicious but overall, very disappointing for the price. The Quiche at £8.50 was a fair sized chunk and delicious, but again , came with a teeny container of coleslaw ( size of a 50p piece) and a bit of lettuce served in a box. The cold drinks in the cafe weren't great - plastic bottled water, cans of coca cola and other unhealthy options. There were bins but no re-cycling ones.

The ladies loos. As so often, huge queue's with just 4 loos, one with an out of order sign, another wasn't flushing so unusable and the other two
did trickle flushes as embarrassed users warned as they left. We'll continue to visit this wonderful place but will go back to bringing our own food and drink and take a chance on the loos!
Written 30 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Susie51
58 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2024 • Couples
We enjoyed the gardens and house on a lovely sunny day which heightened the beauty and stillness of this place.

However we were disappointed that in the restaurant the price of the cheese scones was not apparent and although warmed and tasty thought £5.50 was significantly overpriced
Likewise the plants were lovely - we chose several as the suggested they £3.50 however on going to pay we were informed they were £4.75 - on asking we were told that price was just for herbs- however the sign indicated plants! Disappointing
Written 14 September 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Penny A
Storrington, UK91 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2021 • Friends
Saw a flyer for this place and thought we’d visit to explore both its grounds and house. It was evident this place has a wealth of history and we paid to visit both the gardens and house. As it was rainy we opted to see the house first. How we due to the Covid 19 Pandemic you’re restricted on when you can go into the house - however we were not told you only had a 30 minute spot. I challenge anyone to be able to read the copious information boards absorb them and view the numerous items in the display cabinet in such a time frame. We’d just reached the second floor when we were rather unceremoniously told we had to leave. Yes we could have returned to the ticket office got another time slot to go in but by then we’d lost the impetus! We were obviously the first visitors of the day as we were held up by the staff member on duty didn’t know how to light some of the exhibits.
Having been evicted from the house we started to walk the grounds. There are some lovely garden areas however the advertised kitchen garden appeared inaccessible so we missed this. We crossed the moat with a view to go through the turnstile (one way route) to the water mill, however in reaching sod turnstile discovered it was padlocked so missed seeing the mill.
As it was late morning we headed to the cafe for coffee and all I can say is do t bother. All food and drink was offered in paper cups and my cake was dropped into a cardboard box more suited for a jacket potato. And as for the cider despite staff having the all singing all dancing coffee machine it’s clear they don’t know how to use it. Our cappuccinos had no froth whatsoever.
Then to top off the visit we went to the shop and having found some delightful notecards the shop staff couldn’t get them to come up on the till system and after 3 attempts we gave up and left them behind. Overall this place could do so much better or has enough history and architecture and grounds and yet it was marred by 3 poor experiences.
Written 25 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

w0tcha
Ampthill, UK581 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2022
This house and grounds are worth visiting. The house itself is quite small but has a number of rooms displaying periods in the building's history, including the kitchen, dining room, evacuees room and the old chapel. The volunteer guides were friendly and helpful. When we visited there was an exhibition of wildflower watercolour paintings.

Outside there are a number of formal gardens and quite a lot of grounds, all surrounded by a long moat making the place into almost an island. There are also other buildings with a few different displays including rope-making, blacksmiths and few wagons and carts.

The Priory cafe has a limited menu for snacks, but the sandwiches were good in terms of quality and value. There are toilets and a small gift shop. There is a large car park near to entrance. Everything seems fairly accessible.

Remember if you are a member of Historic Houses, entrance is free, so even better value visit, but definitely worth a few hours regardless.
Written 31 March 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Bramejat51
Hove, UK17 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2023 • Couples
Lovely house, well furnished and stocked with an atmospheric range of artefacts, photos etc. Very pleasant gardens, farm area and cafe. The experience was made all the more memorable by the incredibly friendly staff-from the young women in the ticket office and the cafe, and the older lady in the shop, through to the very engaging house guide.
Written 10 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

sunflower189
West Sussex, UK219 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
I visited the Priory with my two very young granddaughters and their mum. It was a great success. We all enjoyed going round the Priory itself even though there were limited things to see in some rooms. The guide was very informative and helpful. The kitchen was fascinating; the girls liked putting on aprons and mob caps to use the pestles and mortars. They were fascinated by the bedroom for the evacuees and the knitted clothing on show. The gardens weren't at their best because of the lack of rain but they were still worth seeing. There were picnic tables in the grounds where we were able to eat and the staff in the cafe were very helpful in telling me what one of my granddaughter's could have because she has food allergies. The children enjoyed spending time in the play area and using the games and building blocks on the grass at the back of the cafe. Dotted around the grounds were a number of interesting sculptures. The reconstruction Bronze Age roundhouse was the only disappointment. It was fenced off so there was no access, even to walk round the outside.
Written 18 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kevin S
Ampthill, UK32 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2022
Very little of the priory remains. What you see is mostly much later, but the site is attractive and the story it tells is quite interesting.

Unfortunately the catering on our visit left much to be desired. There was a wedding reception onsite, as a result of which the cafe had limited access to the kitchen. But some cold food was on offer, including sandwiches and baguettes advertised as coming with salad and coleslaw. I paid for my baguette before I got it. When I got it there was no salad and no coleslaw. "Sorry we can't do those today." I was charged the full price.

I got the impression that the cafe staff felt intimidated by the wedding caterers.
Management need to sort this out.
Written 19 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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MICHELHAM PRIORY HOUSE & GARDENS (2025) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

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