Visiting Stowe House

Come and explore Stunning Stowe

Stowe is set in the beautiful countryside of North Buckinghamshire, 3 miles outside the old county town of Buckingham. Click here for map and transport information. For opening times please click here and for admission prices please click here.

All visitors to Stowe House enter through the National Trust visitor entrance, New Inn. For more information, please read below.

The restoration work of Stowe House, which began in 2000, has not only returned certain areas of the House back to its former glory, but has also increased disabled access and thus improved the visitor experience. This work does, however, at times impede on our usual tour route.

In addition to our guided tours, visitors are able to learn more about the origins of the House, the people who owned it and the recent restoration in the visitor reception at the House. This is a mixture of interactive, audio-visual and pictorial information designed to enhance your enjoyment and understanding of Stowe House. A range of Stowe House products are available for sale in visitor reception during opening hours.

Visitors to the House will see some or all of the eight State Rooms on the Piano Nobile, taking the route that eighteenth-century visitors to the House would have experienced.

Please note that since all the furniture and House contents were sold off in the sale of 1922, there is very little original furniture in the House. The House is known for its spectacular neo-classical interiors and the magnificent views from and towards the House.

New entrance at New Inn

With the exciting opening of New Inn by the National Trust in February 2012, the orientation of the estate has changed from the north side to the south side. This means that the estate visitor entrance, New Inn, is by the Corinthian Arch, seen in the distance as one drives towards Stowe from Buckingham. The New Inn is a £3 million restoration and rebuild of a coaching inn that was built by Lord Cobham in 1717. Initially used to house servants of overflow guests it became the entrance onto the Stowe estate for tourists in the 1730s. Guidebooks from the period helped the visitor to understand the meaning behind the monuments and temples, and later, listed the contents of the state rooms of the House.

The New Inn and Stowe Gardens are open 7 days week and the House is open from Sunday to Thursday. Please note the all visitors, except pre-arranged groups, will enter the Stowe Estate via the New Inn (with the restaurant, shop, welcome room and ‘dressed’ coaching inn to explore). Please allow time to look around the New Inn, catch the land train or walk from New Inn to Bell Gate (garden entrance), explore the Gardens and visit the House. It will be necessary to pay the Gardens admission fee to get to the House.

Approximate timings (walking at a leisurely pace)

New Inn to Stowe House

New Inn to Bell Gate (downhill) 10–15 minutes (land train available)

Bell Gate to Stowe House entrance via the Rotunda and the Grotto (gradual incline) 20–30 minutes

Stowe House to New Inn

Stowe House entrance to Bell Gate via the Temple of Ancient Virtue and Elysian Fields (gradual decline) 20–30 minutes

Bell Gate to New Inn (uphill) 15–20 minutes (land train available)

Please allow a minimum of an hour and a half to explore the Gardens and one hour to visit the House (see House opening times). To get the most out of your visit to Stowe we suggest that you allow a day.

Tours

During term time, from November through to February, there is a 2pm public guided tour every day that the house is open. From March through to October, there is an additional 3pm guided tour.

The guided tours provide an aspect of the history of the House and family, lasting approximately 45 minutes.

During Stowe School Easter and summer holidays the house is open from 1.00pm -5.30pm with a tour departing on the hour.

There is no extra charge for guided tours and no pre-booking is required. Tickets for the House can be purchased either at the National Trust Visitor Centre (New Inn), Bell gate (Garden entrance) or at the House entrance on the day.