The Vyne estates near Basingstoke in Hampshire dates from the 1500s, and it is open to visitors as it is owned by the National Trust. Despite living and working in Basingstoke for just shy of a decade, I had never visited The Vyne until recently when I went with friends. Like many properties, the estate changed hands a lot and was once visited by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The estate is linked to J.R.R. Tolkien's inspiration for the "Lord fo the Rings" books. I'll explain more about this later.
The estate contains the 16th century house and large grounds with woodland and riverside walks, and the autumn colours were starting to appear when I visited in mid-October.
One of the owners of the estate was Speaker of the House of Commons. The building was then a girls' boarding school int he 1920s, and it was also used by a boy's school who left Kent in World War 2 to shelter in the building. In the mid-1950s, the estate was left to the National Trust. Visitors can walk around the estate and visit the house.
The most detailed room, without a doubt, is the staircase and entrance to the upper floor. The staircase and the ceilings are intricately-designed.
One of the other rooms is a long gallery with a fireplace, hanging portraits, and busts of important historical figures.
The library was one of my favourite rooms. The National Trust is busy cataloguing the books.
The trees were starting to turn colour at the Vyne. I am sure it will look its best at the end of this month.
J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired to write "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" due to the estate. A Roman ring, known as the Ring of Silvianus, was discovered in the late 1700s nearby in a field at Silchester, which was a ruined Roman town (you can see my visit of Silchester here: Pub Lunch at Mattingley's "Leather Bottle" Pub and a Visit to Silchester Ruins). The ring became the property of the Vyne. In the 1920s, a tablet with a curse was discovered in Gloucestershire, cursing the person who stole the ring. Tolkien, then a professor in Anglo-Saxon history at Oxford, became aware of it because he was asked to study it. A few days later, Tolkien was inspired to write a similar story about a stolen/lost ring. The ring can be seen at the property.
I enjoyed my visit to the Vyne in Basingstoke. I always enjoy getting out to enjoy nature, and the Vyne has some good walks.
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