Visit to Lowicks at Frensham in Surrey
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Applications are now invited for our second visit to Lowicks at Frensham in Surrey on Saturday 4th February 2023. This event has been arranged at very short notice as the house has been put on the market.
Lowicks
Lowicks (now known as Lowicks House) was designed by Voysey in 1894 for the businessman, politician and philanthropist Emslie John Horniman. Subsequently he also designed alterations in 1898, further alterations and additions in 1904, alterations to the stable, the entrance and the garden in 1907, and a new summerhouse with additions to the main house in 1911. Horniman sold the property in 1914 and Voysey designed a new system of drainage and enlargement of the garage for the new owner, C. Kerr, in 1916.
Listed Grade II, Dr Wendy Hitchmough describes Lowicks as "one of Voysey's most successful early houses". Pevsner (2022) comments, "A simple and very typical Voysey house ... . Exactly like an enlarged lodge". It was Horniman's country retreat. Voysey also worked on Horniman's London residence, Garden Corner on the Chelsea Embankment (1906), and on the public garden known as Horniman's Pleasance in Kensal (1913).
The house displays features typical of Voysey's architecture: battered chimneys and corner buttresses, Westmorland slate roofs with deep bracketed eaves, roughcast walls and horizontal bands of windows. The garden is an early example of Voysey's treatment of garden layout, retaining some original features: garden walls, the summer house of 1911 and a brick-piered pergola leading to an ornamental bridge crossing to an island in the lake.
Programme
All times after the start are approximate.
- 13.30: arrival and registration begins
- 14.00: welcome
- 14.15: guided tours of the exterior and interior of the house by Alan Johnson and Richard Havelock
- 16.00: conclusion of visit
Light refreshments will be available and visitors are welcome to walk in the garden near the house.
Charges
The fee for this visit will be £15 per head. The number of places is limited to 20 and we encourage members who have not visited Lowicks before to express interest this time. We are unable to accept non-members on this occasion.
Directions
Lowicks is set in Sandy Lane, a turning off Tilford Road in the small village of Rushmoor. The postcode is GU10 2EX. The lane is very narrow and subject to flooding in wet weather. Parking will be available on site.
The nearest railway station is Farnham, about five miles away.
How to apply
This event is now fully booked, but we are maintaining a reserve list in case of cancellations. Please complete our online application form.
Photograph of Lowicks, reproduced by courtesy of John Trotter.
Emslie John Horniman MP (1863-1932).
Some other things to see nearby
- Watts Gallery Artists' Village. An insight into the life and work of the artist George Frederic Watts and the designer and artist Mary Watts. 12 miles away.
- RHS garden, Wisley. About 22 miles away, just off the M25 near Woking.
- The Rural Life Living Museum. About three miles away. Many aspects of village and rural life displayed in realistic individual settings.
Page last amended 20th January 2023