The Bee House

The Bee House is an early 18th-century building, with later 19th-century alterations. It was likely constructed as a gazebo or garden pavilion and may have been designed by Archer, who created a house design for the landowner in 1712. Currently, it functions as a three-storey dwelling, primarily due to internal modifications.

The structure is a rectangular block featuring a symmetrical facade on three sides, with a tall main storey above a basement and beneath a deep parapet. The narrow west elevation includes a circular panel in the parapet, a moulded cornice, a tall central opening with a rubbed round arch, an impost band, a ground floor band, and a later entrance in the basement. The walls are made of red brickwork in Flemish bond with blue headers, displaying flush panels of blue headers on each side of the main floor. Inside the single opening, two casements are separated by a later brick panel that conceals an inserted floor, and there is a six-panelled door topped by a large canopy on brackets.

The east elevation features two recessed panels on either side of a central wider opening, which also has two windows. The parapet has three recessed panels, and the basement contains two windows. The architectural features are consistent, but the walling above cill level is in blue headers, with red brick quoins creating vertical lines, while below cill level, it is in red brickwork in Flemish bond. The north elevation has its basement obscured by a higher ground level; above the recessed arched side panels are circular panels in the parapet, and the cornice divides in the centre into a segmental pediment with a rectangular panel above. Modern extensions and a doorway occupy the east side, which also shows the slate roofing.

The Bee House is one of two remaining structures in what was once a prominent landscaped park belonging to the Earls of Portsmouth.