Aynhoe Park

Aynhoe Park (alternately known as Aynho Park) is a 17th-century country estate consisting of land and buildings that were rebuilt after the English Civil War on the southern edge of the stone-built village of Aynho, Northamptonshire, England. It overlooks the Cherwell valley that divides Northamptonshire from Oxfordshire. The core buildings represent four architectural periods: Jacobean, Carolean and both the early 18th and 19th centuries.

Up to 1954, it was the family home of the Cartwright family. Since then, it was used for fifty years as a retirement apartment complex.

Since 2020 the estate has been owned by RH as the site of their retail and hospitality experience "RH England, The Gallery at Aynho Park", and the location of a white deer farm producing high-end venison.

It has been listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England since September 1953. Its wider grounds form part of a Grade II listed 'Park and Garden'.

The estate was purchased in the 17th century by John Cartwright, but the house he built in 1615 was seriously damaged during the Civil War by Royalist forces following the Battle of Naseby. It was rebuilt after the Civil War to the design of Edward Marshall, master mason in Charles II's Office of Works. In 1707, Thomas Cartwright employed Thomas Archer to enlarge the Jacobean building. At the beginning of the 19th century, the house was embellished by Sir John Soane.

Aynhoe Park is a pedimented main block with lower service blocks on each side forming a courtyard. The arrangement dates from the early 18th century when Thomas Archer was commissioned to enlarge the Jacobean house. Archer, who had visited Italy, added unusual late-Baroque detailing, such as the concave surrounds to the central doorways of the service blocks. The middle of the garden front remained largely unchanged since it was built in the 1660s.

The interiors, created by Archer with the exception of the main staircase, have been remodelled. Aynhoe Park has, however, retained the rooms designed by Soane. He was instructed to prepare designs for a thorough remodelling of the interior in 1795—drawings for this work can be seen in the Sir John Soane's Museum in London; but these interiors were never built. Soane did redesign the reception rooms along the garden front in a modest style in 1800–5 and, with the exception of the French Drawing Room, these interiors have survived and illustrate the architect's exploitation of curved surfaces. Soane also created the top-lit staircase with its iron balustrade in the south wing and the "triumphal arches" which link the main block to the service wings. There is an exhibition of Soane's work at the estate, a collaboration between RH and the museum.

The surroundings represent an early formal garden with landscape park. Gardens were laid out by Mr Guilliam 1701–14, and the park laid out 1760–63 by Capability Brown.