Gainsborough Old Hall

Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire is among the best preserved Tudor manor houses in the country; it now reopens to the public after a major revamp. Visitors are invited to learn about the property’s long and varied history – as host to wealth and power in its early years (Henry VIII and John Wesley each passed through its doors), and later as a theatre, masonic temple, pub and soup kitchen. The hall’s kitchen is recognised as one of the largest and most complete kitchens of its time to survive in England – and for the opening weekend only (3–4 July), a selection of ‘Tudor picnic boxes’ will be served in the new cafe. Other highlights include a series of 15 newly conserved portraits of the Hickmans, a Puritan family who acquired the hall in 1596. Find out more from English Heritage’s website.

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The Great Hall at Gainsborough Old Hall. Photo: Christopher Ison; courtesy Immediate Media and English Heritage

The medieval kitchen at Gainsborough Old Hall. Photo: Christopher Ison; courtesy Immediate Media and English Heritage

The Royal Picnic Box, served at Gainsborough Old Hall