Thornbridge Hall & Estate

“The Quirkiest stately home in the UK”

 Thornbridge Hall is a Grade II listed stately home nestled amongst the rolling hills of the Peak District. Set in 80 acres of stunning parkland, it is the family residence and private home of Jim and Emma Harrison. The Hall and its 10 acres of formal gardens have been lovingly restored and is now recognised as one of the most beautiful, quirky stately homes in the U.K. 

Visit Quackers Cafe and enjoy coffee and homemade cake or light lunch with a pint of Thornbridge beer. Browse The Emporium for plants and locally made gifts including floral creations from Thornbridge Blooms. Stroll around our formal gardens and take in the breathtaking views of the Peak District. You can also book a tour of the Hall and gain insight into the fascinating history of Thornbridge.  

A great family day out, kids can enjoy our duck fountain and garden trail and the new free Thornbridge Smallholding’s Meet the Animals area. Dogs on leads are welcome everywhere including the cafe, gardens and house tours. 

You can become a member of the Thornbridge Club which offers various benefits for Bronze, Silver and Gold Memberships. We also welcome RHS members and Gardener’s World vouchers on selected days. Find out more here

Contemporary and elegant, the estate can cater for many types of functions from weddings, corporate events, and private celebrations to product launches and filming location.  

We hold regular events and workshops throughout the year so keep an eye on What’s On via Facebook or Instagram or sign up for our newsletter.

GARDENS, EMPORIUM & CAFE OPEN
7DAYS 10AM - 4PM
(9am - 5pm over Summer)
all year round

DOGS ON A LEAD ARE WELCOME

We kindly ask you don’t bring personal picnics onto the estate, but to support our cafe. The full menu is available for you to take out and enjoy in the gardens.  This allows us to keep our garden entry fee low and our parking fee free.

Jim and I bought Thornbridge Hall and Estate in May 2002.

The excitement was immense - so much to do - so many things to restore and sort out - basics like freshwater, sewage, warmth, missing walls!

Not so long after moving in we built the original Thornbridge Brewery in a converted joiner's and stonemason’s workshop within the grounds of Thornbridge Hall. With aims "to make a small range of quality cask and bottled beers using new recipes, innovative approaches and the use of local fresh ingredients". It’s first beers appeared in February 2005 and have won many awards. Jaipur the infamous IPA was invented and brewed here - on our third attempt. The Brewery grew like hoppy and so we built an enormous brewery on the Riverside Estate in Bakewell - where we have a seriously cool Tap Room and shop. All part of Thornbridge Life.

About Emma and Thornbridge Hall

Thornbridge Hall is my home and a truly magical place that we all have the privilege of caring for and making sure it is full of life and brings new experiences and happiness to our thousands of visitors. We have been opening our gates to all manner of events from just four days after we owned it. Hummmm… we warned people to dress scruffy and bring an umbrella as it was raining inside!

2 decades and £20m later - we have nearly restored and saved every inch of Thornbridge.

Thornbridge is my Legacy.

I came here as a 15 year old with my youth worker, Donna. Yes, bet that surprises you? I was under the watchful guidance of a youth worker. She was obviously brilliant! Under the radar - we have carried on with work like this and also given away the wonderful facilities of Thornbridge to hundreds of charities to raise their much needed funds.

I would love people to help and join in so we have established the Thornbridge 4 Everyone Trust - a formalised way to support children from disadvantaged or troubled backgrounds and hundreds of charities.

So excited about the future of Thornbridge - Jim and I are so busy planning and working on setting Thornbridge up forever so it can stand on it’s own two feet. At the moment it relies on Jim and me to pay for everything. It has to become independent of us - because on a not so cheerful, but obvious note - Jim and I as the sole funders and custodians will die one day…

So, before Lockdown we presented the sustainable future of the Estate to the Peak Park and during Lockdown we all worked together to build our new 7 day a week Quackers Cafe, the Parkland Drive and car park and repair the “Clumber Quadrafoil Fountain” (now becoming a social media legend as the place to net hundreds of rubber ducks!)

If you see us about - we are always out and about! Sorting stuff, chatting - say hello.

All the best to you and your families from us, Emma and Jim Harrison, our family and all the other families who live here too.

All of this is my Legacy (oh, and Jim’s of course) - Ensuring a Forever Thornbridge - always open to the public, making a difference - and never ordinary.

Emma

Xxx

PS - come and slowly drive the new Parkland Drive - the first time in the history of Thornbridge that the parkland has ever been accessible to the public - it is beautiful - animals, bear lake and more - we are working out ways to share it more in the future - a Victorian Parkland stroll to the Boat House anyone?

History of the Estate

A Jacobean Country House

Thornbridge was the seat of the Longsdon family from the 12th century until the late 18th century. In 1790 John Morewood, a linen merchant, bought the estate for £10,000, and enlarged the earlier house.

In 1871 Frederick Craven rebuilt the house entirely in Jacobean style, but the house as we see it today is the work of a Sheffield lawyer named George Marples. 
In 1896 Marples enlarged the house, to nearly it’s present form, and laid out the gardens. He bought up much of the surrounding land and employed many servants and gardeners, all of whom addressed him Lord Marples. He also built estate cottages, lodges, and even a private railway station, now Thornbridge Outdoors.

In 1930 Charles Boot, head of a Sheffield based building firm, bought the estate. Boot's company earned the contract to demolish the stately home of Clumber Park after that house was destroyed in a fire in 1938. Boot rescued a large number of statues, fountains, and building facades from Clumber and installed them at Thornbridge Hall.

In 1945, after Boots death, Sheffield City Council bought Thornbridge at auction for £42,000 with the intention to use it as a teacher training college. Building alterations were necessary to to put this into effect. In 1948 the first 60 student teachers began their studies. The final teacher training class was held in 1975, after that the Hall was used as a multi purpose Education Centre for South Yorkshire.

In 1997 the Hall was bought back into private ownership by the Hunt family, who started restoration work to the formal gardens and removed inappropriate additions to the house to reveal its proper proportions.

In 2002 the Hall was bought by the Harrison family. As a girl, Emma Harrison was chosen to represent Sheffield in a visit to its twin City Donetsk in the USSR era. This is how Emma first saw Thornbridge - accompanied by her youth worker Donna. Astonished that places like Thornbridge existed, Emma dreamt of sweeping down the staircase in a bright red dress. Her dream came true when Emma and her husband, Jim, purchased the house. Since then extensive work has taken place, as Thornbridge was in a right old pickle. The Harrisons made a commitment to add their layer of history to Thornbridge and return many of the features back to their former glory. Completed works include, the main house and all its rooms including the exquisite music room, the Carriage House, Gardeners Cottage, North Lodge, South Lodge, the rebuilding of the Orangery and extensive new building work to link the whole estate.

Remaining first and foremost a private family home, Thornbridge is also now recognised as one of the most exclusive and exciting venues for Events and Weddings in the country.

Book onto one of out House tours to find out more…