Hardwick Manor with walled garden and gates

Hardwick Manor is a 'Tudorbethan' country house built between 1926 and 1928 to designs by Kersey, Gale and Spooner. It incorporates and surrounds fabric from an earlier bothy, with a substantial walled garden and gates.

The ground floor is constructed with random flint rubble walls with brick dressings, while the upper storeys are timber framed. The cross wings to the south are built of un-coursed limestone rubble with brick dressings. All roofs are pitched and covered in plain machine tiles.

The building is accessed from the east side and stands two storeys high with a large attic. The principal focus is a two and a half storey cross wing positioned off-centre on the east elevation, with four bays to the south and three to the north. This cross wing features a post-war glazed porch at ground floor with a Tudor gothic doorway and carved details above, beneath a lead roof. Large carved consoles flank the porch. At first floor, diagonal bracing appears on each side of a five-light mullion and transom window. The gabled attic storey contains close studding, a three-light casement window, carved eaves brackets and moulded barge boards.

On each side of the cross wing, the east elevation shows flint rubble ground floor work, with the original bothy boundary identifiable where the brick plinth is missing. Two oak doors with ventilation grilles and stone surrounds provide access to cellars. The jettied first floor is close studded, and the attic features flat roofed dormers flanking the cross wing. Four tall brick chimney stacks rise from the building. All windows are multi-light casements.

The gabled north elevation has flint rubble ground floor with brick dressings and timber framed upper storeys. A tall projecting brick chimney stack stands at the centre, with mullion and transom windows at first floor on each side. Two-light casements appear at ground floor.

The west elevation overlooks the walled garden. Two smaller cross wings from the original bothy sit below the principal roof, built of limestone rubble with brick dressings, plain barge boards, and 1920s multi-light casement windows. Between these wings stands a ground floor entrance: a multi-pane glazed door beneath a four-centred arch with hood mould, flanked by two side-lights, with limestone rubble walls and limestone dressings. A further single bay extends north and two bays south, their ground floor sections reusing the Victorian flint garden wall. Additional entrances occur in the northern bay and south cross wing. First floor walls are close studded with casement windows of varying sizes. No dormers appear on this elevation.

The south elevation connects to a 21st-century extension at ground floor. The first floor and gabled attic storey are close studded with carved eaves brackets and plain barge boards. Between a two-light casement at first floor and a four-light casement above is a carved cockatoo in a rosebush.

The 21st-century extension is built of red brick in stretcher bond and one bay in width, presenting a gable to the west with a canted bay window and jettied attic. A flint-walled stair turret to the east bears a date stone reading AD 2001. A chimney and dormer window appear on the south side, with a single storey link connecting to the house's ground floor. The link features a mullion and transom glazed porch on the east side.

Interior

The interior displays two distinct characters. High-status areas—the ground floor reception rooms and first floor accommodation—feature abundant small field panelling, joinery and cabinetry in oak, elm and walnut. Historic service areas such as the scullery, pantry and attic accommodation are plainer but retain well-crafted joinery and good survival of original 1920s fittings.

The dining room, south of the entrance hall, has scratch-moulded small field panelling with low skirting, frieze and cornice. While panels are fitted to the room dimensions, some features, notably frieze panels of carved lozenges in the south-west corner, appear older. The fireplace has a 1920s Tudor gothic stone surround with a Jacobean-style overmantle of three carved arches.

The principal reception room north of the hall has an irregular shape. Oak panelling features higher skirtings, frieze and cornice, though the panel rails do not appear to match the stiles. The fireplace has a Tudor gothic stone surround.

The entrance hall has a stone flag floor. Dado panelling has been removed from the side walls, with the lower staircase projecting into the room.

The staircase winds from ground floor to first floor with a separate continuation of the same details to the attic. It incorporates early to mid-17th century fabric alongside replicated 1920s additions. Newel posts, finials and balusters are all pierced with similar motifs. Splat balusters replicate the newel post profile and taper from top to bottom. Handrails are likely 1920s in date, though some show significant patination.

First floor bedrooms contain fireplaces, 1920s joinery and some dado panelling, with layouts largely unaltered despite updated bathrooms. A servant's washroom remains substantially original at first floor. The attic storey is less decorative but retains original joinery and ironmongery.

Much of the Arts and Crafts ironmongery throughout the house is by Thomas Elsley of Great Portland Street, noted for collaborations with Charles Voysey.

Walled Garden and Gates

The garden walls are set out in a roughly square plan with curved corners. Most walls are built of soft red brick in monk bond with stone copings and buttresses on the outer face. Coursing slopes to follow the hillside gradient. A long row of iron brackets runs along the south-facing sides of the north and south walls.

An ornamental gateway faces west and incorporates slightly altered iron gates originally positioned at the eastern end of the garden to the rear of Hardwick House. A second gateway on the north wall is dated 1850 on the keystone of a round arch and sits beneath a crenellated parapet.

The south-east corner has been reconstructed in the post-war period and extends south. The east wall is constructed of flint cobbles with brick piers and a tall brick parapet, surviving only on the south side of the house where it connects to the 21st-century extension. The curved north-west corner of the garden is also built of flint and brick and connects to a 21st-century gateway and drive.