Welbeck Abbey State Room Tours

The State Rooms are decorated with objects and artworks from the world-class Portland Collection. Works on show at Welbeck Abbey include pieces by Sir Peter Lely, John Wootton and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Highlights include:

• The Gothic Hall, with its soaring intricate plasterwork ceiling and imposing full length tudor portraits, including pieces by Daniel Mytens
• The Red Tapestry Drawing Room, where you’ll see bright pink tapestries from the Gobelin workshops – as vivid as when they were woven over 200 years ago
• The glamorous Swan Drawing Room, with Aubusson carpet and floor to ceiling gilt framed Rococo mirrors that reflect the gaze from dozens of family portraits
• The curving Print Corridor lined with paintings including works by Godfrey Kneller, Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, and Cornelius Jonson. The Print Corridor is joined by a Library and Chapel which were described by Architectural Historian Michael Hall as the 'greatest Arts and Crafts decorative ensemble in any aristocratic house in Britain'

Welbeck Abbey has been home to the Dukes of Portland and their families since 1607.

Welbeck is one of the great traditional landed estates. It spans15,000 acres, much of which sits within Sherwood Forest, with Welbeck Abbey at its heart. The Abbey was founded as a monastery in 1153.

Bess of Hardwick’s youngest son, Sir Charles Cavendish, acquired Welbeck in 1607, and since then the estate has continued to be handed down through the family.

Successive generations of the family have developed and redesigned Welbeck Abbey - from its monastic beginnings to William Cavendish 1st Duke of Newcastle's Civil War stronghold, Henrietta Countess of Oxford's extravagant Georgian country house, and the 3rd Duke of Portland's Prime Ministerial residence.

The State Rooms you see today were remodelled by Ernest George for the 6th Duke and Duchess of Portland.

The 6th Duke inherited Welbeck from his cousin the 5th Duke of Portland, who is famed for his extravagant building and eccentric lifestyle. The 5th Duke was part-way through building works in the Abbey when he died. When the 6th Duke and his family arrived, they found "The front drive was a grass-grown morass covered with builders rubble, and to enable the carriage to reach the front door they had to put down temporary plants. The hall inside was without a floor" (Ottoline Morrell, the 6th Duke's step-sister).

The 6th Duke continued "We found stacked here most of the pictures that had been collected or had come down from generation to generation. Many of them were without frames and stood two or three deep".

The 6th Duke and Duchess embarked on a period of work that would turn this faded beauty into an Edwardian power palace. The 6th Duke also appointed the first Curator for the family art collection, Richard Goulding, who began the process of cataloguing, caring for, and understanding this world-class collection - a process which continues today.

Tours last 2 hours. All tickets are non-refundable unless cancelled by us, for example due to changes in Covid restrictions.

On arrival, please park in the main car park and check in for your tour at the Portland Collection museum. Tour visitors will be collected from the museum by coach and taken, through the 5th Duke of Portland’s Victorian village, to Welbeck Abbey. The coach will depart promptly, please arrange to arrive in good time. Unfortunately, latecomers cannot join the tour.

The journey to Welbeck Abbey takes approximately 5 minutes.

We strongly advise that visitors wear comfortable footwear as there is limited seating available on the tour. We kindly ask that stiletto shoes are not worn in the house. There are no toilet facilities at the Abbey.

The route includes a number of staircases. A stair free tour will take place at 10am on Thursday 7th September.

Toilets, refreshments, shopping and exhibitions can be found at The Harley Gallery and Portland Collection. Please also be aware only small handbags are permitted but we do provide lockers for secure storage.

The Welbeck Abbey State Room Tours are managed by The Harley Foundation which was set up by Ivy, Duchess of Portland in 1978.

Host or Publisher The Harley Foundation