House, Gardens & Cafe Open Tuesday - Sunday 10.30 - 17.00

Gilbert White’s Birthday

Please be cautious when visiting us today. It is extremely hot. Please bring refillable water bottle with you. You can get them re filled at the café, the pod on the lawn and at reception. Please stick to shady areas of the garden where possible and come indoors when you are feeling too hot. 

Join us in celebrating Gilbert’s 302nd birthday

Free admission on the day!

Book your place on a tour at Reception (£5)

(Due to the extreme heat on Sunday, we have taken away the meadow tours as it will be too hot to spend an hour in heat of the mead which has very little shade.)

Morning House Tour: 11:30

Afternoon House Tour: 14:30

 

All tours meet on the lawn next to the refreshment pod. 

BOOK TOURS ONLINE

    Gilbert Whites House

    Gilbert White was aged 7 or 8 when the White family moved from the Vicarage on Selborne’s Plestor, to this house, called ‘The Wakes’ (named after the Wake family who had lived here previously). At that time the property would have been no more than a ‘two up, two down’  but over the subsequent years lots of extensions and additions have been made, creating the long sizeable house you see today.

    The rooms have been restored following descriptions in White’s own correspondence and include a chair he used at Oriel College, Oxford (loaned from the College), items of contemporary furniture, family portraits and bed hangings embroidered for him by his aunts.

    On display is the original manuscript of his book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, which was purchased with generous help from English Heritage and others.

    Learn more