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Stratfield Saye, Reading

Stratfield Saye near Reading was the country home of the Duke of Wellington. He bought the house in 1817, by which time he had won the battle of Waterloo and had begun his controversial career as a politician. He was happier as a soldier than a politician, and Wellington's military career is commemorated at Stratfield Saye. Wellington, like visitors today, no doubt spent time at Stratfield Saye, looking back at the old certainties of his military memories. In the Drawing Room, pictures captured at the Battle of Vitoria, which defeated French forces in Spain, can be viewed.

Stratfield Saye has the same sense of grandeur and tradition as Wellington's London home Apsley House. He was a man who spent his political career trying to block parliamentary reform, and his nostalgia for the aristocratic values of the past are clear in both houses. And yet Wellington, contradictory character that he was, also had no time for the nonsense of traditional convention. His military career was noted for his insistence on being with his men, and refusing to surround himself with a "throng of scented staff officers with plumed hats, orders and stars." In some ways aristocratic Wellington denied the distinctions between men in a way reminiscent of Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth. Wellington lived at a time when the world was changing fundamentally, and he demonstrates the typical conflict of the time, in which a vigorous hope for the future was combined with an overwhelming nostalgia for the past. Stratfield Saye also illustrates this contradiction. The house has all the appearance of a traditional aristocratic country manor. Yet Wellington installed newfangled central heating, and two of the original radiators can be seen at the foot of the staircase. There is also a romance about the house. As with Apsley House, Stratfield Saye presents both the traditional facade of a no nonsense military man, along with suggestions of a romantic, distant past. This was a past where men could be heroes, like Achilles, or the Duke of Wellington.

Opening Times: Stratfield Saye opens for Easter 20th - 24th March 11.30am - 5pm ,last admission 3.30pm. It also opens from 3rd to 28th July weekdays from 11.30am and weekends from 10.30am. Contact property for more information.

Directions: Stratfield Saye is situated one mile west of the A33 half way between Reading and Basingstoke. It is accessible from junction 11 of the M4 and junction 6 of the M3. Click here for an interactive map centred on Stratfield Saye.

Access: Disabled access to the house is possible, but contact the property beforehand.

Contact:

Telephone: 01256 882882

Web Site: http://www.stratfield-saye.co.uk/

Fax: 01256 881466

E-mail: info@stratfield-saye.co.uk