Elmore Court – A Historic House Saved from Dereliction
Monday 10th July 2.30 – 4.00pm
Full details available by clicking here
Now fully booked
by kind permission of Anselm Guise
Elmore Court, down by the River Severn, is a Grade II listed mansion. Originally built between 1564 and 1588, it was considerably altered and extended in the 18th and 19th centuries.
It has been in the ownership and (at times) the home of the Guise family for over 800 years. One of the oldest families in Gloucestershire, the Guises at one time owned numerous estates which included Highnam Court and Rendcomb, but gradually over the years only Elmore Court remains.
Sir John Guise (Baronet) died in 2007 and just before his death, Stroud Civic Society visited Elmore Court. We met him and his wife and had a conducted tour of the house. The heir, Anselm Guise was then a young DJ living in New York. By this time, both the house and the estate were rather rundown and Anselm had to face up to the challenge of rescuing the estate.
Our visit will show how he successfully achieved this triumphant rescue. Elmore Court was first featured in an episode of Channel 4’s Country House Rescue with Ruth Watson, when she advised him to start a Cookery School. Click here to watch. Also, well worth watching, this short documentary film shows his battles with Stroud District Council to get planning permission for the Gillyflower, now a popular wedding and events venue.
Anselm will be giving us a tour of the transformed house and the Gillyflower, a sound proofed rammed earth party venue. We might catch a glimpse of the recently installed tree houses and the on-going re-wilding of the estate grounds, including the new wetlands.