hylands house virtual tour

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Explore Hylands Estate with a brand-new multimedia tour

13 March 2023

A brand-new complimentary  Hylands Estate  multimedia tour shares the rich history of Hylands House and its extensive gardens.

The jewel in Chelmsford’s crown

Hylands House was first built almost 300 years ago, and its gardens have been a major attraction for most of the Estate’s history. Over time, each new owner made their own mark on the house and its grounds, extending and remodelling the landscape according to the tastes and fashions of the day. Initially there were 100 acres of parkland. By the mid-1800s it covered some 4,300 acres!

Today, Hylands Estate covers 574 acres of historic parkland, all open for the public to freely explore. It is known as the jewel in Chelmsford’s crown.

Sharing the history of the beloved Estate

Now, a new multimedia tour, designed by  ATS Heritage , will take visitors through the history of the Estate, telling the story of how it came to be as it is today. ATS Heritage have more than 25,000 active devices across the UK, including at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Bletchley Park.

The Hylands History and Gardens Multimedia Tour follows past owners of the Estate, from Sir John Comyns, who established Hylands’ first formal gardens, to the last private owner, Christine Hanbury, whose memorial garden remains a touching legacy. The content reveals how the landscape we see today was shaped and remodelled by past owners, historic figures and even a celebrated architect.

It navigates an extensive trip around the Estate’s most prominent landmarks, including the Pleasure Gardens, Flint Cottage, and the One World Garden, which Prince William (now The Prince of Wales) opened in 2007.

The tour is filled with fascinating snippets of information to give visitors a comprehensive overview of Hylands’ past and its role today. What does wisteria represent? Who lived at Flint Cottage? And what pets are buried deep within the Estate’s green borders? These questions and others are answered as visitors walk around the Estate’s beautiful spaces.

Hear the experiences of historic Estate workers

The tour also provides insight into the lives of those who lived and worked on the Estate over the centuries. It draws on newspaper archives and historic film footage and photographs to reveal the social history of Hylands. Visitors can listen to the experiences of a scullery maid, a governess and a gardener as they describe what it was like to live and work at Hylands over 100 years ago.

It also touches on the many rich and varied creatures that call the parkland home today. From ducks and great crested newts to bats and golden hoverflies, the wellbeing of Hylands’ many species is an important part of the management of the Estate today.

Councillor Rose Moore, Cabinet Member for Greener and Safer Chelmsford, says the new multimedia tour further opens up Hylands’ rich and varied history to locals and tourists alike:

“ “I’m delighted to see the history of Hylands Estate being shared in this way. Hylands is for the people of Chelmsford and beyond to fully enjoy. What better way to enable people to do this than with this new tour? It offers a fascinating insight into the gardens, their history, owners, and residents.” Councillor Rose Moore, Cabinet Member for Greener and Safer Chelmsford.

Hylands House Manager, Lorraine Thorne says the guide adds new value to Hylands Estate’s existing visitor offer:

“ “With our existing Open Estate Days offering a chance to better get to know Hylands House, we’ve been missing a way to truly share the Estate’s stunning and extensive grounds with our visitors. Now, this new multimedia tour offers us a chance to do exactly that, showing us why Hylands Estate really is the jewel in Chelmsford’s crown.” Lorraine Thorne, Hylands House Manager.

Narrated by local author and curator

The guide is part-narrated by Nick Wickenden, archaeologist and former Manager of  Chelmsford Museum . Nick authored the comprehensive official guide: Hylands ‘A Remarkably Elegant… Mansion House’, which explores in more detail the history of the house itself and its incredible journey of restoration.

You can purchase the guide on the  Hylands Estate website , at The Stables Information Point, or at Chelmsford Museum.

Interactive elements for young visitors to enjoy

The tour is for younger visitors to enjoy as much as adults, with various interactive features included in the guide. Young history enthusiasts can reveal the Estate’s past life through picture rubbing activities, while nature lovers can listen to bat and owl calls. Other activities include returning horses to their stables and identifying fruits and vegetables.

How to enjoy the tour

The tour is free to explore seven days a week.  You can enjoy it via Hylands Estate’s official handheld devices, which can be borrowed from The Stables Information Point with a £10 deposit per device via a bank card. The deposit will be refunded back to your card on return of the devices borrowed. Alternatively, use your smartphone to listen to the tour by scanning the first post stop in The Stables area. Don’t forget to bring your earphones if doing the tour from a smartphone.

Handheld devices are available from 10am to 3pm Monday to Friday and from 9am to 4pm Saturday to Sunday. If using a personal device, the tour is available within normal park opening hours, which are regularly updated on the  Hylands Estate website .

Funding from the Cultural Recovery Fund

The Hylands History and Gardens Multimedia Tour is funded by the Culture Recovery Fund. The fund aims to support heritage sites and other cultural venues in recovering from the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.

If you enjoy the tour, please consider a donation to  The Friends of Hylands House . The Friends were established in 1995 and they play a crucial role in raising money to help preserve and improve the house and grounds. Your contribution will help pay for preservations and improvements that will benefit generations of visitors to come. You can make a donation in The Stables bookshop.

Cherelle writes about Chelmsford Theatre, Hylands Estate, Chelmsford Museum, the Mayor of Chelmsford and culture and events in the city.

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Hylands House

The Drawing Room

The Grand Pavilion

Hylands estate.

Hylands Estate is situated just outside Chelmsford City Centre, with 5 74 acres of Essex parkland and is our country retreat. Hylands House and the Grand Pavilion are ideal for prestigious events or everyday business occasions.  

Hylands House is a Grade II* listed man or house with stunning Georgian and Victorian interiors, meticulously restored to its former grandeur – it really is quite special and full of character. With a range of room options, Hylands House can accommodate small and intimate conferences as well as larger functions for up to 100 delegates.  

Capable of seating up to 300 delegates for a seated meal, or 300 theatre-style for a conference, the Grand Pavilion offers a contemporary alternative for larger functions. The Grand Pavilion can be hired as a stand-alone venue or in conjunction with Hylands House.  

Hire prices

Day delegate rates start at £42 full day or £26 half day. They include a full range of food and beverage options that can be tailored to suit your requirements. Alternatively, bespoke packages are also available. 

Find more information and view a virtual tour on the Hylands Estate website .

Fill in a contact form or call our Corporate Sales Team on 01245 606348, so we can talk you through the options and help you find the right solution to meet your brief.

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Hylands Estate

The perfect setting.

Imagine choosing a venue for your wedding day with a team that knows exactly how to make the magic happen. From your very first enquiry to the special day itself, we will be with you every step of the way to turn your dream into a reality.

Our award-winning Grade II* listed mansion, Hylands House, is set in 574 acres of landscaped parkland. Here, you’ll find our beautifully restored ceremony and reception rooms, plus the contemporary Grand Pavilion and outdoor wedding ceremony garden just a few steps away.

Our Pleasure Gardens provide plenty of photo opportunities to capture your day. Stunning parkland and never-ending views of the Essex skyline are all around you. All this, and only 30 minutes from London.

Our experienced, wedding expert team are here to help with planning your day at Hylands Estate. Enquire with us now.

RSVP to join us at our next Wedding Open Evening on Tuesday 4th June.

Luxury & Style

Hylands House is the vision of luxury and opulence.

The Banqueting Room provides a stunning backdrop to your wedding ceremony, with its 24 carat gold leaf decorations and silk lined walls. The Drawing Room is a remarkable space with its gilded ceiling and stunning marble fireplace. Our beautifully refurbished wedding suites create a unique link to the estate’s gardens with a horticultural theme. The Grand Pavilion offers a stylish celebration space with sparkling chandeliers and ivory drapes.

Spacious Elegance

The beauty of the venue is in its elegant surroundings and flexibility. Host your ceremony for up to 100 guests in our breath-taking Banqueting Room or the elegant Drawing Room for up to 100 guests. The light and airy open space of the Grand Pavilion can welcome up to 300 guests and is perfect for you to decorate in your own unique way.

Beautiful Surroundings

The grounds and formal gardens within Hylands Estate offer the dream setting for your wedding photos. Enjoy exclusive use of the East Terrace Garden for your confetti photo following your ceremony. Take a stroll into the Pleasure Gardens filled with seasonal flowers, including our famous wisteria, roses and lily pond.

Our new outdoor wedding ceremony garden gives couples the chance to say their vows under the graceful tree canopy of the estate’s woodland. The area includes a bespoke oak structure for couples and wooden seating in keeping with the woodland theme.

Your Perfect Wedding

Hylands Estate is a popular wedding setting for many cultures, and our award-winning team is on hand to make sure everything is place for all types of celebration. Our spacious Grand Pavilion is a perfect blank canvas for your suppliers to bring your vision to life. There are endless opportunities to make your dream reception a reality, accommodating large structures such as Mandaps with sacred fires, Nikkah staging and Chuppahs.

See for yourself and take the tour

Book a virtual tour of the elegant Hylands House, or better yet arrange to visit us and get a real flavour for the house first-hand. We would be delighted to show you around Hylands Estate either virtually or in person. Contact us to book a tour, or explore our beautiful venue for yourself below.

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Hylands Estate Essex

Let couples experience the magic of your wedding venue from the comfort of their home. Our virtual tours will help you showcase the facilities of your venue and offer an alternative to the traditional walk around. Talk to us now to find out how we can elevate your online presence and attract more couples.

Hylands Estate is an award-winning Grade II* listed mansion house with contemporary Grand Pavilion. Set in 574 acres of landscaped parkland, the house boasts lavish, lovingly restored ceremony and reception rooms. An abundance of unique photo opportunities both within the venue and around the picturesque gardens, means there really is no better setting for your wedding.

Host your ceremony for up to 100 guests within the ornate ceremony rooms of Hylands House and up to 300 guests for your wedding meal and reception inside the contemporary Grand Pavilion.

You also have the option to hold a religious ceremony for up to 300 guests within the Grand Pavilion.

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Venue hire at a glance.

• Day Delegate Rates from £25pp
• Room Hire from £80
• Max Meeting Capacity 300
• Meeting Rooms 4

Prices quoted are per delegate and are exclusive of VAT. Catering upgrades are available on request. Package A – Treetop & Team Games - £80 Minimum of 20 delegates Includes: Hylands House or Grand Pavilion between 9am and 5pm - Team building with Go Ape* - Refreshment area for breaks & lunch - State-of-the-art AV - Eco-friendly pads & pens - Water & glasses (*max 50% of delegates for the treetops are permitted) Refreshments: - Arrival breakfast - Cold buffet with fruit juice - 2 x additional servings of tea and coffee Package B – All Team Treetops – £85 Minimum of 20 delegates Includes: - Hylands House or Grand Pavilion between 9am and 5pm - Team building with Go Ape* - Refreshment area for breaks & lunch - State-of-the-art AV - Eco-friendly pads & pens - Water & glasses (*max amount of delegates is 50) Refreshments: - Arrival breakfast - Cold buffet with fruit juice - 2 x additional servings of tea and coffee Team Games Available in Package A only Divide your team in half so delegates can experience either team games, or a Treetop Challenge. Ground-based games include team building exercises using Go Ape equipment. These games encourage your team to use logic and creativity, playing to your team member’s individual strengths. Play Go Ape’s team board game Baboonzled, where your team work together in groups and compete to win points. All games will be based at Hylands House. All Team Treetops Available in Package A & B Experience Go Ape’s most popular high ropes adventure with either all or half of your team. For our Company Away Day package, sign yourselves up to the Treetop Challenge Express. This quicker route around their most challenging activity features platform-to-platform challenges, Tarzan swings and super-fast zip wires. By enjoying the experience of climbing through the treetops at Hylands Estate, you will be rewarded with excellent views of Chelmsford!

Tuesday 31, December 2024

Hylands Estate offers an impressive setting for holding Business & Corporate Events such as meetings, conferences and seminars. Surrounded by 574 acres of peaceful parkland, our opulent period interiors within the house and our crisp, contemporary Grand Pavilion can provide a perfect setting for your business event.

Hylands House has a choice of many Rooms to suit variety of styles and capacities for up to 300 guests. Our large estate is ideal for large outdoor events such as concerts, charity events and shows.

Set amongst the most beautiful surroundings, Hylands House, with it’s glorious restored Rooms, is the perfect location for photoshoots and filming's.

Our dedication, flexibility, and passion for our beautiful venue will certainly create the event you wish for.

• Rooms available from 10-300 delegates

• Excellent transport links

• Competitive delegate rates

• State of the art AV technology

• Free WiFi

• Free parking

• Team building activities

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• Wedding Reception

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Next production:

• May 31, 2024   Lythe Hill Hotel

Hylands Estate

Hylands House, London Road, Chelmsford, CM2 8WQ

Tuesday 11th June 7pm (gates open 6pm)

Book tickets online

Box office: 0333 666 3366

Enquiries: 0208 852 5761 or [email protected]

Adult £18 | Child £10 (in advance) booking fees apply

All tickets on the night £20

Venue information Built in 1730 for Sir John Comyns and spectacularly restored to its former glory, Hylands House is set in a 500 acre landscaped park.

What to bring Please bring your own low-backed seating. Picnics, sun hats, sun cream, sunglasses, raincoats and rain hats should all be considered!

Access This venue is fully accessible to people with reduced mobility. Please contact the venue directly for further information. For information about carer’s tickets please click here

Getting here Parking is very accessible at this venue. Car parking is included in the ticket price. Please note we are not able to refund parking charges.

Weather Our performances continue in all but the very worst weather! Please visit our WEATHER PAGE for more details.

Relaxed performances We believe that all of our performances can be considered as relaxed. The lights don’t go down (until the sun sets!), the performances take place in the open air where there is plenty of space for audience members and all are welcome. We believe that theatre should be as accessible as possible and will be happy to talk to you about how we can make it accessible for you. If you have specific questions regarding your attendance at one of our performances please do not hesitate to get in contact with us so that we can help to welcome you. Contact details are here .

Other information The performance will be approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes long including an interval.

Only assistance dogs are permitted at this performance.

• Membership Benefits
• The Bookshop

Friends of Hylands House Tour Guides

The Open Estate Sundays at Hylands are going from strength to strength and continue to improve and grow in popularity. Having in person guided historical tours have proven to be a hit but, as the years went by, Edd, one of the Assistant Managers, became the only staff member left who could do them. He reached out to our members to see if anyone would like to train up to become a Volunteer Tour Guide that could run the tour once a month on the Open Estate Sunday. With help from Nick Wickenden, the former Chelmsford Museum Manager and author of the Hylands souvenir book, a group of members have been trained up and are now successfully running tours. 

Related news

Volunteer opportunities are available, the hylands house official guide is launched.

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Llancaiach Fawr Manor

The Tivoli Theatre

Hylands House

We are delighted to introduce this fantastic new location Hylands House.

Hylands House was originally built in 1730, as an elegant Neo-Classical villa with opulent period interiors from both the Georgian & Victorian eras and surrounded by 574 acres of peaceful parkland.

A stunning location for the film, television, fashion and advertising industries, Hylands House offer a professional and flexible approach to achieving your vision.

Situated close to the heart of Chelmsford with excellent transport links to London & Stansted airport, Hylands Estate is the perfect location for large and small productions.

Hylands House is available to hire throughout the year with a wide range of rooms & backdrops on offer for exclusive use. Take a closer look at our venue via the following links with our online virtual tours! Hylands House Grand Pavilion

Production Managers should note that there is plenty of parking for Unit Vehicles making Hylands House the perfect Production HQ when filming in this part of Essex.

Production Designers and Art Directors will love the fantastic interiors and exterior of Hylands House

Recent filming includes: Netflix’s production; The Crown & BBC’s drama, Killing Eve. Hylands House has also featured as backdrop for several photoshoots for a number of magazines and advertising campaigns Hylands House can also double as a facsimile of The White House in the USA!

Hylands House really needs to be visited to be fully appreciated. For all filming enquiries and to organise a recce please contact:

Michelle Marwood T: 01245 605504 | Email: [email protected]

Hylands House, Hylands Estate, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 8WQ | Web: hylandsestate.co.uk

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Business & Meeting Hire

Hylands Estate offers an impressive setting for business & meetings events; ideal for holding small meetings to larger conferences.

Surrounded by 574 acres of peaceful parkland, our opulent interiors and contemporary Grand Pavilion can provide a perfect setting for your business event. Hylands House has many  rooms to accommodate up to 300 guests, some of which have been restored thanks to contributions by the Friends of Hylands House.

We offer day delegate packages, or we can tailor your event and offer bespoke rates. Please see our full business brochure below for more information. We also offer a 10% discount to registered charities

Day Delegate Packages

We have a variety of packages available to suit your meeting requirements.

 All packages include the following:

• Appropriate space between 9am – 5pm for full day hire or a choice between 9am-1pm or 1pm-5pm for half-day hire
• Refreshment area for breaks & lunch
• Appropriate technical equipment
• Pads & pens
• Water & glasses
• Arrival tea, coffee & pastries
• Additional food and beverage depending on selected package (please see menus below)

Our packages are able to be tailored with bespoke rates with a wide variety of rooms and catering menus available to suit all needs

Speak with a member of the team to learn more.

Go Ape Company Away Days

We have partnered with Go Ape, who have opened their 35th site at Hylands Park – their first one in Essex! We’re delighted to offer a tree-swinging Company Away Day package that helps bring out the best in your team.

Choose from treetop and ground based activities, savour delicious catering and enjoy the use of Hylands House or Grand Pavilion (dependant on your group size).

Sustainability

Following Chelmsford City Councils’ declaration of a  Climate and Ecological Emergency there has been an ongoing commitment to make the Council’s activities net-zero carbon by 2030. This led on to the creation of a  Climate and Ecological Emergency Action Plan .

Hylands Estate is owned and operated by Chelmsford City Council, and we are committed to our sustainability journey. Alongside our caterer, we have developed sustainable plant-based menus that are environmentally focussed for you to consider. All meeting materials provided are also environmentally friendly.

Enhance your corporate experience with a breath of fresh air at Hylands. Before or after your business meeting, explore the grounds with our Multimedia Tour. Delve into the rich history of the Estate as you stroll through scenic pathways.

There are also volunteer opportunities available where you will learn practical hands-on skills while working together with your team.

Find out more about each below.

Available Spaces

Hylands Estate has a range of elegant and versatile rooms.

The videos below showcase the different spaces that can be booked as part of your hire.

Video Production by Wave Business TV 

Virtual Tour

Save the car trip and view our virtual tour the gorgeous spaces of Hylands House and the Grand Pavilion.

Beyond Hylands Estate

If you plan on being in the region for longer than a visit with us, there’s plenty to do to continue your stay in Chelmsford and Essex. From night life and hotel stays, to events and high quality restaurants. Visit our partner websites for more information and plan your stay.

Start planning your perfect event

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