Ashridge is opening its doors for Easter visits

There aren’t that many chances to take in the historic splendour of Ashridge House, so don’t miss out now that the landmark building is opening its doors over Easter for the first time.

Guided tours will be held from tomorrow, Monday, until Thursday and again from Tuesday next week until Friday, April 5, starting at 2pm each day.

These tours proved more popular than ever last August and there has been a clamour for more chances to see the house since it appeared on the BBC’s popular Flog It! show.

Ashridge has a history that stretches back more than 700 years and takes in tales of the Crusades, its time as home for King Henry VIII’s three children, its emergence as the ancestral home of the Bridgewater and Brownlow families and its role in more recent years as a wartime hospital and a business school.

House tours last for about 90 minutes, and there is also the chance to explore the beautiful gardens, designed by Humphry Repton. Guided tours of the gardens are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays only.

For more details visit www.ashridge.org.uk.

Music lovers will also be heading for Ashridge on Saturday for a concert of iconic works performed by a string quartet in the beautiful setting of the ancient chapel.

There will be performances at 3pm and again at 6.30pm, with Haydn’s Seven Last Words and Purcell’s Fantasia both on the programme.

An additional feature of the concert will be readings by the poet and writer Ruth Padel.

The Haydn work was originally composed to accompany the Good Friday meditations in Cadiz cathedral in 1785, and is considered one of his most original and important compositions.

Tickets for the Tring Chamber Music concert are £15, U18s free, visit tringchambermusic.co.uk.