Exhibitions

Your visit to Lydiard House Museum starts in the grand Main Hall, which was originally the impressive entrance to the St John’s family home as well as being a space for dancing and entertainment. To the right, you will find the Library, lined with bookshelves decorated with classical plaster busts of famous philosophers.

Walking back through the Main Hall to the Dining Room, you find an elegant room designed to showcase the St John family’s wealth and taste. Look up to see the ornate plasterwork decorated with shells, leaves, fruit and flowers and enjoy the table set out with the family’s fine porcelain, glass and silverware.

The Drawing Room is richly decorated with family portraits and Giltwood furniture. Some of the original 1820s red flock wallpaper is still in place and the white marble fireplace is one of the highlights of this house.

In the 18th century, it was commonplace for homes to have a grand, ground floor bedroom and accompanying dressing room that would be used only for the family’s most important and high status guests. The restored bed, complete with embroidered decorative panels, dominates the room.

The Dressing Room celebrates Diana Spencer, Viscountess Bolingbroke and it is in this room that you can find two of Lydiard House’s most unique objects – the rare 17th century painted window and the mechanical desk, made by Giovanni Socchi in the early 19th century.