STANDEN - your local National Trust Gem

Standen is the National Trust’s Arts and Crafts Movement gem on the outskirts of East Grinstead and was built for the wealthy Beale family at the end of the nineteenth century. 

James Beale was a London solicitor who chose as his architect one of William Morris’s closest friends and colleagues, Phillip Webb. Webb built little because he built with such care and Standen is the finest surviving example of his architectural work and a testament to his love of craftsmanship and the use of vernacular materials.

Webb carefully preserved the existing 15th century buildings making them the main starting point for his new house using sandstone quarried from the garden, oak weatherboarding, and local bricks and tiles. A rendered water tower gives sweeping views over the Medway Valley.

Standen is now best known for its William Morris interiors throughout the house with some of his most famous designs in wallpapers, textiles and carpets. At the forefront of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Morris’s designs adhere to the ideals of beauty and simplicity and keep utility very much in mind.

Standen was home to James Beale, Margaret and their seven children from 1894 to 1901, when the children began marrying and setting up their own homes. Over the next 70 years Standen remained the focus of family life to which the younger Beales brought their own burgeoning families (nineteen grandchildren in all!) for summer holidays and Christmas.

When Margaret Beale died in 1936 at the age of 89, she left her spinster daughters Maggie and Helen to look after Standen. They devoted much of their time to local good works; Maggie founded a home for the mentally ill in Ashdown Forest and Helen was appointed vice-chairman of the newly enlarged Queen Victoria Hospital. During the 1940s, in association with the Queen Vic, Standen took in many hospital patients. It was also a sanctuary for Beale family members bombed out of their London homes and a storeroom for their valued possessions. Standen’s beautiful gardens were turned into a huge vegetable patch.

Standen remained in Beale family ownership until it was taken on by the National Trust in 1972.

Although best known for the house and its collection, the gardens have always played a crucial part in the enjoyment of Standen, both when a family home, and for the public who now visit. However, over the last 40 years much of the unique style and structure of the garden has been lost with its planting and layout simplified to reduce maintenance costs.

Now with funding of £500,000 over five years the gardens are being restored back to the to their former glory and vision of its creator, Margaret Beale. She was a great collector of plants and created a unique blending of exotic and colourful planting within a loose Arts and Crafts structure. Standen will then be one of England's most important Arts and Crafts gardens, alongside such renowned places as Sissinghurst.

Now with funding of £500,000 over five years the gardens are being restored back to the to their former glory and vision of its creator, Margaret Beale. She was a great collector of plants and created a unique blending of exotic and colourful planting within a loose Arts and Crafts structure. Standen will then be one of England's most important Arts and Crafts gardens, alongside such renowned places as Sissinghurst.

Now enjoyed by over 90,000 visitors a year, it is a huge effort to keep Standen open to the public. A team of about forty staff is supported by over 400 volunteers involved in every aspect of running the property.

Standen Needs You!

With major restoration projects underway and an increase in opening days and hours this year, Standen is now on the look-out for even more volunteers to join their friendly team. From being a Room Guide in the house, to visitor services, running kids events and tour guiding, there are many different opportunities for volunteers from 18 years old to seniors.

For instance, Standen’s outdoor volunteer team is playing a crucial role in the garden restoration work and there are opportunities to get involved in the Kitchen Garden, garden maintenance (yes weeding too!) or even as a garden guide, to share its story with visitors. You can mix and match the roles available from gardening to tour guide to visitor experience assistant.

Volunteering your time is a great way to learn new skills, develop your CV, get work experience, meet new people and expand your horizons. It is the people that make the place come to life and Standen wants to hear from you if you are passionate about heritage and conservation. “I love to be able to give my time to other people and in such wonderful surroundings,” says Keith Hodgson, Room Guide and Garden Tour Guide.

If you think volunteering at Standen may be for you and you would like to find out more, please call our Volunteering Administrator, Bleau Hudson on 01342 323029, or email volunteer4standen@nationaltrust.org.uk.

For further information about visiting Standen please go to:

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/standen, or call us on 01342 323029.