Columbine Hall

About this place

Columbine Hall stands at Stowupland near Stowmarket in Suffolk, a timber-framed manor house more than 600 years old.

Hew Stevenson and his late wife, the journalist Leslie Geddes-Brown, bought the house in 1993 and have spent three decades restoring it and its five acres of gardens.

The house and grounds change every year, with new planting schemes and shifting displays of furniture inside.

Visitors can see it on guided tours and open garden days by appointment.

History

The house at Stowupland dates back more than six centuries, making it one of the older timber-framed halls surviving in this part of Suffolk. It passed into private hands in 1993 when Hew Stevenson and Leslie Geddes-Brown took it on, and they began opening it to visitors by appointment from 1999.

Architecture

Columbine Hall is a timber-framed medieval manor house, with the surrounding estate developed over centuries rather than built to a single design.

Worth knowing

Leslie Geddes-Brown, co-owner of the hall until her death, was a well-known interiors and gardens journalist, and her writing helped shape the house's public profile.

Gardens & grounds

The five acres of grounds include a walled garden, a formal parterre, a bog garden, woodland and a wildflower meadow, tended by head gardener Kate Elliott for nearly three decades.