Craven House – A potted History:

If you are one who likes to know the history of a building or area, I hope you will enjoy this potted history of Craven House.Plans were submitted in  1689 for premises described as one cottage, outhouses & stable west of Hampton Court Green & the King himself subsequently visited the property, approving provision of refreshments for his gardeners. By 1733 the cottage consisted of 13 rooms and had become a house of some substance. By the 1760’s it appears no longer to have been an inn and by 1784 the old house had been demolished & rebuilt.

In 1799 a coaching map of the area shows the property as a ‘gentleman’s seat’. The house passed to the Bowater family – Major General Sir Edward Bowater was equerry to Prince Albert on his arrival in England ready for his marriage to Queen Victoria. In 1843 the house was rented by the Army – still known as Bowater House – for use as the officers’ mess of the Hampton Court Cavalry detachment. In 1868 Mr JJ Ellis bought the property, rebuilding the coach house and stables and adding servants’ rooms, a harness room and a billiard room, renaming the property Craven House. The coach house and stables have now become a separate entity and are now known as The Blue House and Westfield House.

Why don’t you step back in time and enjoy a short-break at Craven House? Please contact me for availability!

No8 – available 10 September.
Court suite – available 11 September.
Upper garden – available 10 October.
Lower garden – available now.
Park suite – available 3rd September.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8614 4460
Mob: +44 (0) 7747073269