Celuici, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Things to do · Northleach
Lodge Park and Sherborne Estate
John 'Crump' Dutton's seventeenth-century grandstand for deer coursing near Northleach, which the National Trust calls the only one left in England, open on a few days a year, with the Sherborne estate's walks and water meadows open daily.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
An odd and rewarding building, open so rarely that you need to plan round it. The Sherborne estate across the A40 is the everyday visit: free walks, water meadows and dogs on leads.
- Good: Sherborne estate open dawn to dusk all year
- Good: Dogs on leads on the estate and in the Bridgeman landscape
- Good: Free family trail and lawn games at Lodge Park on open days
- Worth knowing: Lodge Park opens only on selected days; check the Trust's calendar
- Worth knowing: Card only at Lodge Park, no cash
- Worth knowing: Stairs to the upper floor; a ramp to the ground floor on request
About
Lodge Park, off the A40 about 2 miles (3km) east of Northleach, is a grandstand built in the mid seventeenth century for John 'Crump' Dutton, who loved deer coursing, gambling, banqueting and entertaining. The National Trust calls it England's only surviving seventeenth-century grandstand. It was the Trust's first restoration project, in 1998, rebuilt from archaeological evidence, and in the grounds the Trust has begun restoring the landscape Charles Bridgeman designed in the eighteenth century, which was never completed.
The grandstand opens only on selected long weekends: in 2026, 13 to 15 March, the four April weekends from 3 April to 26 April, five long weekends from 31 July to 30 August, and 20 September for Heritage Open Days, from 11am to 4pm. Tickets are £9 for an adult and £22.50 for a family (2026), by card only, and free to National Trust members; the Trust lists the open days on its Lodge Park pages, and the 2027 dates were not out when we checked in October 2026. Bring a picnic: the Trust lists the Wold Coffee van on open days, but its 2026 visiting page says nothing is for sale, and the shop in Sherborne village sells drinks and deli food every day. Allow about an hour.
The rest of the year, the Sherborne estate on the other side of the A40 is open from dawn to dusk. Three waymarked walks start from the Ewe Pen Barn car park, among them a 2.5-mile (4km) family walk through farmland, woodland and Sherborne village, and a sculpture trail circles the pleasure grounds. The eighteenth-century water meadows, home to otters, water voles and dragonflies, have their own car park. Dogs on leads are welcome across the estate. Weekday mornings are the quietest.
Northleach, with its wool church and the Old Prison, is the nearest town, and our guide to Cotswold houses and castles places Lodge Park among the region's other great houses.
Opening hours and season
Lodge Park only on selected days, 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm (in 2026: one March weekend, the April and August weekends and 20 September). Sherborne estate dawn to dusk all year.
Facilities
- Ewe Pen Barn and Water Meadows car parksPay and display or JustPark; free to NT members
- Wold CoffeeCoffee van at Lodge Park on open days, 11am to 3.30pm
- ToiletsAccessible toilets at Lodge Park on open days
- Family trailFree trail, lawn games and dressing up at Lodge Park on open days
- Dogs on leadsOn the estate and in the Bridgeman landscape; assistance dogs only in the building
The details
- Time to allow
- An hour at Lodge Park; two more for an estate walk
- Features
- Parking · Picnic area
- History
- Grandstand built in the mid seventeenth century for John Dutton; restored 1998
- Parking
- Sherborne: Ewe Pen Barn (GL54 3DT) and Water Meadows (GL54 3DL) car parks, £4 a day for non-members. Lodge Park (GL54 3PP) has its own car park on open days.
- Without a car
- The National Trust names no bus or train to the estate and refers visitors to the Cotswolds National Landscape's public transport pages; most come by car or bike.
Photos
The Great Room Photo: Celuici, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 
The deer park Photo: Celuici, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 
The water meadow Photo: Celuici, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 
On the roof Photo: Celuici, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Location
Accessibility
- Accessible toilet
- Hearing loop
Lodge Park: a ramp to the ground floor on request, stairs to the upper floor, and an induction loop and Braille guide on open days. Estate paths are stone, earth and grass, waterlogged in the wet; the pleasure grounds have wide gates, but the water meadows flood and are uneven.
Places to stay nearby
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Wheatsheaf Inn
Inn · Northleach
A seventeenth-century coaching inn on West End, Northleach, with 14 bedrooms, a garden and food all day, friendly to families and dogs.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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Far Peak Camping
Camping · Northleach
A seasonal campsite with tent and hook-up pitches, tipis, bell tents, shepherd huts and glamping domes beside the Far Peak climbing centre, about a mile from Northleach.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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The Inn at Fossebridge
Pubs · Chedworth
An inn, a hostelry since the early seventeenth century by its own account, where the Fosse Way crosses the River Coln, between Cirencester and Northleach, with 4 acres of riverside gardens, log fires and seven rooms.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Lynwood & Co, Northleach 3.2 km away
- Wheatsheaf Inn 3.3 km away
- The Sherborne Arms, Aldsworth 3.4 km away
- The Old Prison Café, Northleach 3.7 km away
Sights nearby
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St Peter and St Paul, Northleach
Sight · Church · Northleach
St Peter and St Paul is Northleach's wool church, rebuilt in the fifteenth century with money from the town's woolmen: a tall tower, a vaulted two-storey porch and one of England's finest collections of brasses to wool merchants. Grade I; open daily.
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The Old Prison, Northleach
Sight · Historic building · Northleach
The Old Prison at Northleach is the house of correction William Blackburn designed in 1791 for Sir George Onesiphorus Paul's reform of Gloucestershire's prisons. A cell block and the Victorian courtroom survive, free to see, with a café. Grade II*.
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St George's Church, Hampnett
Sight · Church · Northleach
St George's is the small Norman church of Hampnett, a hamlet a mile from Northleach, built about 1125. Its chancel was painted around 1868 to 1871 under William Wiggin, later its rector, with stencilled flowers and stars, and survived a villagers' fund to remove it. Grade I.