Guidebook: Audley End
Product Code: 02180Audley End has a long and varied history in which episodes of spectacular building have been followed by periods of severe decline. Originally one of the great Jacobean 'prodigy' houses, surrounded by formal gardens, it was built in 1603-14 by the first Earl of Suffolk with the intention of providing accommodation for the visiting king. Over the following centuries the house was gradually reduced and the gardens modified, but in the second half of the 18th century they were given a new lease of life by Sir John Griffin Griffin, who created an elegant suite of reception rooms, and an outstanding park and gardens in the 'natural style'. He was helped by the celebrated architect Robert Adam and landscape designer 'Capability' Brown. Above all, however, the interiors that can be seen today represent the taste of the third Lord Braybrooke. His antiquarian interest in the early history of his house led him, in the 1820s, to create a series of opulent rooms in a romantic 'Jacobean' style.
