Things to do · Moreton-in-Marsh
Sezincote House and Garden
A Mughal-style house of 1805 and its water garden near Moreton-in-Marsh, privately owned, with the garden open from March to November, midweek.
A garden for a midweek visit: it opens only Wednesday to Friday and on bank holiday Mondays. When the house reopens after its 2026 closure, book one of the half-hour tours.
- Good: Garden-only visitors pay on arrival, no booking needed
- Good: Carers go free
- Worth knowing: House and tearoom closed for the 2026 season
- Worth knowing: Open Wednesday to Friday and bank holiday Mondays only
- Worth knowing: No dogs except assistance dogs
- Worth knowing: Steep banks, gravel and unfenced pools: hard going for wheelchairs
About
Sezincote is a country house begun in 1805 in the Indian Mughal style, with a copper onion dome, minarets and a curved orangery, on a 3,500-acre estate just west of Moreton-in-Marsh. Samuel Pepys Cockerell designed it for his brother Charles. The Prince Regent visited in 1807, and the house is said to have shaped his plans for the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. It is still privately owned and run as a family business. The front drive leaves the A44 opposite Batsford Arboretum.
The grounds are a Repton landscape. Spring-fed pools linked by running water step down the valley to the Island Pool, and the stream is crossed by an Indian bridge decorated with Brahmin bulls. The canals and Irish yews of the South Garden, which follow the Mughal garden tradition, came with Sir Cyril and Lady Kleinwort’s restoration of 1968. It is a ravine garden: the banks are slippery when wet, the pools are unfenced and there are stepping stones.
The garden opens from March to November on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and bank holiday Mondays, from 11am to 5pm (4pm in March and November); pay at the ticket office. In a normal year the house is shown by guided tour every half hour from May to September and the Orangery Tearoom serves tea and cake, but both are closed for the 2026 season. Only assistance dogs are allowed. Groups visit on open days by arrangement. Historic Houses members book through the website and must bring their membership cards.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Wed 11, 11:00
| Mon | Opening | Gardens | House |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Closed | Closed | Closed |
| Tuesday | Closed | Closed | Closed |
| Wednesday | 11:00 to 17:00 | 11:00 to 17:00 | 11:30 to 17:00 |
| Thursday | 11:00 to 17:00 | 11:00 to 17:00 | 11:30 to 17:00 |
| Friday | 11:00 to 17:00 | 11:00 to 17:00 | 11:30 to 17:00 |
| Saturday | Closed | Closed | Closed |
| Sunday | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Gardens: March to November, and bank holiday Mondays; closes at 4pm in March and November.
House: Half-hour tours from 11.30am to 4.30pm, May to September, booked online. Closed for the 2026 season.
Garden open March to November; closed December to February and at weekends, which are kept for weddings.
Facilities
- Car parkUp the hill past the garden entrance; disabled parking at the garden gate
- Orangery TearoomWhen the house is open, May to September; vegan and gluten-free cakes
The details
- Features
- Garden or terrace · Café · Parking · Guided tours · Views
- History
- Begun in 1805 in the Mughal style, largely finished by 1807; a Repton landscape
- Parking
- Car park up the hill past the garden entrance, reached by the front drive off the A44 opposite Batsford Arboretum or from the Longborough road. Disabled parking at the garden entrance.
Photos
The Indian bridge 
The temple pool 
The water garden in autumn 
Sezincote in snow
Location
Accessibility
- Assistance dogs welcome
Much of the garden is sloping, with steep banks, gravel paths and uneven stone bridges. The house's ground floor takes wheelchairs but not powered scooters; upstairs is by stairs only, with photo albums shown instead. Disabled parking at the garden entrance.
Places to stay nearby
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Moreton-in-Marsh Club Campsite
Camping · Moreton-in-Marsh
The Caravan and Motorhome Club's site on Bourton Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, open all year, with 184 touring pitches, ten pods and a dog walk.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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The Swan Inn, Moreton
Inn · Moreton-in-Marsh
An inn with eight rooms in a Grade II listed nineteenth-century building on Moreton-in-Marsh's High Street, with pub food five days a week.
Verified Oct 2026
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The Manor House
Hotel · Moreton-in-Marsh
A Grade II listed hotel on Moreton-in-Marsh's High Street with 34 bedrooms, a walled garden and a two-Rosette restaurant, dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly · Car-free · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Coach and Horses 1.4 km away
- Bourton House Garden 1.7 km away
- The Horse and Groom 1.7 km away
- Batsford Arboretum 2.7 km away
Sights nearby
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Pineapple Spa, Lower Swell
Sight · Historic building · Stow-on-the-Wold
The Pineapple Spa is a row of cottages beside the B4068 between Lower Swell and Stow-on-the-Wold that began as a spa over a mineral spring found in 1807, with a front in the Indian style of Sezincote and a stone door hood crowned by a pineapple. Grade II*; private.
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St Mary's Church, Batsford
Sight · Church · Moreton-in-Marsh
St Mary's is the estate church of Batsford, near Moreton-in-Marsh: rebuilt in 1861 and 1862 for the Mitford family in a neo-Norman style, with a spired tower, an apsidal chancel, Kempe glass and monuments to the Freemans and Mitfords. Grade II*.
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Redesdale Hall, Moreton-in-Marsh
Sight · Historic building · Moreton-in-Marsh
Redesdale Hall is Moreton-in-Marsh's market hall of 1887, standing in the middle of the High Street: designed by Sir Ernest George for Bertie Mitford of Batsford, later Lord Redesdale, with an arched ground floor, a clock turret and a tall chimney. Listed Grade II.
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Curfew Tower, Moreton-in-Marsh
Sight · Historic building · Moreton-in-Marsh
The Curfew Tower is a small sixteenth-century stone bell tower on the corner of Moreton-in-Marsh's High Street and Oxford Street, perhaps the town's oldest public building, with a bell of 1633, a clock of 1648 and a past as the town lock-up.