Weekend extravaganza to be held at Stansted Park as house and gardens reopens to the public

After a long closure for extensive works to the site, the house and gardens is set to host a grand reopening event on July 10 and 11.

‘Stansted Unlocked’ will include a range of sports, displays, and activities.

Lucy Wood, events manager, said: ‘We’re all excited to be able to welcome the public back to a refreshed offering in the house.

‘The highlight of the weekend has got to be the Band of the Grenadier Guards performing the ceremony of the beating retreat on Saturday evening.

‘This certainly isn’t something you see every day.’

Re-enactors from the Napoleonic period will show off their cavalry and musketry skills and demonstrate what it was like to live in a military camp on the eve of the battle.

Displays will reveal the colourful history of the estate and the Ponsonby family who purchased it in 1924, including the sword that General Sir William Ponsonby used at the Battle of Waterloo.

Sporting entertainment will include cricket matches featuring the Royal Lancers, I Zingari, and Stansted Park’s very own team.

Ticket visitors can also delight in a jazz band, archery, crazy golf and garden games as well as rides on the Light Railway.

The private dining room has been returned to its former glory as a once bricked up door has been uncovered, picture rails and chandelier reinstated and new lighting and display cases prepared.

Other new rooms include a homage to cricket in the servants hall.

Find out more at stanstedpark.co.uk/stansted-unlocked.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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