The tragic history of the estate from this year’s Austen blockbuster

Natalie Paris

November 12, 2026 — 5:00am

“I’m quite without ambition,” says Edward Ferrars to Elinor Dashwood as he skims stones across Parnham Park’s lake in the recent adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. It’s ironic, then, that ambition should now be in such plentiful supply at the stately home where the scene was filmed.

Gutted and missing a roof, the graceful Elizabethan house was ravaged by fire nine years ago, but its new owners have ambitious plans to transform it into a travel destination. And yet, this remarkable rise from the ashes is far from the most interesting – or dramatic – thing ever to have happened to Parnham.

The house, set in deepest Dorset and built by Robert Strode in around 1522, has had quite the tumultuous history. The first tragedy came during the English Civil War, when Lady Strode had to defend her house against soldiers and was killed. Some say the ghost of her husband lingers on, tormented by his failure to protect her.

In the early 19th century, the house was fortunate enough to be remodelled by John Nash, who also reconstructed Buckingham Palace. Over the years, it served as a 1920s country club, a US army base and later became a hotbed for British design, when furniture maker John Makepeace opened a craft school there.

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Makepeace sold the house to banker Michael Treichl in 2001, who again restored it. Then tragedy struck once more: in 2017, a blaze ripped through the building, leaving it a sad, blackened shell. The community was devastated, and Treichl was found dead just a couple of months later.

But now, at last, it seems Parnham’s luck may be changing. Enter James Perkins – former 1990s rave promoter and co-founder of music label Fantazia (with gold discs on the wall at Parnham to prove it). He may seem an unlikely saviour, but he and his wife, Sophie, came to Parnham with a strong track record, having successfully restored several other country manors, including Aynhoe Park in the Cotswolds.

In any case, their approach seemed to work: they opened Parnham’s beautiful walled-garden restaurant first, and it went straight into the Michelin guide this year. Now you can also stay overnight on the estate, either in the west wing of the main house or in the smaller Dower House.

“People will travel to places that are exceptional,” said James as he led me into the west wing one weekend in autumn. Perkins is a collector, and the restored wing is a fantasy world littered with eclectic objects, making it ideal for fashion shoots. Taxidermy creations – a white lion here, a unicorn there – peer out at you from beneath disco balls or beside giant amethysts, robots and paintings.

“Exceptional” does, however, come at a price. Hire of the wing’s hall, library, lavish bedrooms and grounds starts at £13,000 ($25,220) for three nights, including butlers and a private chef. Apparently, Fatboy Slim recently played down in the cellar bar, where you’ll also find a Dalek that once belonged to Robbie Williams.

The three-bedroom Dower House is humbler, relatively speaking, with magnificent arched stone windows, a vintage Louis Vuitton trunk beside its four-poster bed, shell-encrusted mirrors, cabinets filled with conches and even a heated swimming pool.

The benefit of staying overnight at Parnham is that you can roll into bed after dinner and explore the estate before day-trippers arrive. On our visit, my daughter and I gathered eggs from the hens for breakfast, then went to admire a herd of majestic white stags just steps from the house. We looked for otters beside the river and skimmed stones at the lake, as Ferrars (or, rather, actor George MacKay) did. My daughter was particularly delighted to scoop up a newt from a water tank. Later, we ate amid chandeliers, stone fountains and flower beds at the greenhouse restaurant (their popular Sunday roast is a standout, replete with garam masala Yorkshire puddings).

Parnham – much like Elinor at the end of Austen’s novel – is at last being loved as it deserves to be, hopefully marking the start of a splendid new era for this beautiful place, defined by day trippers rather than drama.

DETAILS Stays at Parnham Park cost from £13,000 ($25,220) for three nights in the five-bedroom west wing, including butlers, housekeepers, a chef, exclusivity of the house and grounds, the hall for entertaining and the cellar speakeasy. The three-bedroom Dower House starts from £900 ($1746) for a two-night stay.

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