Goodwood Estate
Goodwood is England’s greatest sporting estate. Seat of the Dukes of Richmond for over three centuries, the family has always welcomed their friends and guests to share in their love of sport. Hunting, shooting, cricket, horse racing, golf, flying and motor racing have all been introduced by enthusiastic family members.
Goodwood has been at the heart of the English summer season for at least two hundred years. It hosts the internationally famous Festival of Speed, The Qatar Goodwood Festival and Goodwood Revival, three of the largest events in the British sporting and social calendar. Within its 12,000 acres, Goodwood is home to one of the largest lowland organic farms in England, a famous Battle of Britain airfield, a historic racecourse and motor circuit, two golf courses and one of the oldest cricket grounds in the country, all centred around the magnificent Goodwood House.
The first Duke of Richmond, illegitimate son of Charles II, first came to Goodwood to enjoy the fox hunting with the famous Charlton Hunt, then the most fashionable fox hunt in the country. He bought the house in 1697 and his descendants have lived in it ever since. The second and third Dukes enlarged the house considerably in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The magnificent Regency interiors form the backdrop for a superb art collection, including celebrated paintings by George Stubbs and Canaletto. The third Duke was British Ambassador in Paris and while he was there commissioned a beautiful Sèvres tea, coffee and desert service as well as receiving a set of Gobelins tapestries from King Louis XV. These now grace the rooms at Goodwood along with French and English furniture displayed in the state apartments.
BY TRAIN:
The closest station is Chichester, around an hour and a half from London
BY CAR:
Goodwood Estate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0QB
