Woodchester Park boathouse

The boathouse stands on the dam of Old Pond, one of the chain of lakes along the floor of Woodchester Park, west of Nailsworth. It was built about 1820 for the first Earl Ducie, probably to designs by John Adey Repton, a generation before the unfinished Woodchester Mansion went up at the head of the valley. It is listed Grade II.

History

The boathouse belongs to the Ducies' landscape. The family had owned the park since 1631, and in 1809 Humphry Repton was consulted about it, the leading landscape gardener of the day; shortly afterwards the stream down the valley was dammed to make the lakes. His son, John Adey Repton, an architect, worked for the family too, improving their house, Spring Park, around 1830, and Historic England's listing gives him the boathouse, probably, with a date of about 1820.

The Ducies sold the estate in the 1840s, and in time the boathouse was left to the trees: when Historic England's surveyors saw it in December 1985 it was badly overgrown. The National Trust bought the park in 1994, by Historic England's register entry, and now looks after the boathouse.

What to see

The boathouse is two storeys, of coursed rubble limestone and red brick under a stone slate roof, with a boat dock on the lower level. On the north side a gabled porch stands on rustic timber posts, with shaped barge boards along the eaves. The east end has a large boat opening under a timber lintel, and above it is a canted timber oriel, a projecting bay window. From the dam path you see it close to, with Old Pond spread out below.

Visiting

The boathouse is seen from outside, from the path across the dam of Old Pond, at any time the park is open, for nothing. The inside is not normally open; for any guided visit, check the National Trust's events listings and Heritage Open Days. The paths are estate tracks and woodland paths with gates, footbridges and some steps, and the walk back out of the valley is a steady climb. Dogs are welcome on a lead, which the Trust asks for at all times. Non-members pay £4 a day to park, by card, cash or the JustPark app; members park free. The café and accessible toilets are by the Welcome Centre at Tinkley Gate car park.

Getting there

Park at the National Trust's Tinkley Gate or Buckholt car parks, both reached from the B4066 between Stroud and Dursley near Nympsfield. On foot, the Woodchester Park and boathouse walk crosses the dam of Old Pond with the boathouse beside the path on the way back from Middle Pond, after passing Woodchester Mansion on the way down.

Nearby

Woodchester Mansion, the Gothic house left unfinished in the 1870s, is at the head of the same valley and opens on set days. Woodchester Valley Vineyard has stays nearby. Across the Nailsworth valley are Rodborough Common and the long barrow of Whitfield's Tump, and on the escarpment to the north stands All Saints, Selsley.