Great Fosters

Great Fosters is a large house, now used as a hotel, dating to circa 1550-1600. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, and has clay tile roofs. The house has been carefully restored and altered, and is mainly three storeys high.

The entrance front is dominated by a central bay containing a porch and two storeys above, topped with a gable. Octagonal buttress towers rise from the corners, each terminating in a finial, with a similar finial on the gable apex. The doorcase is semicircular headed, featuring fluted Doric pilasters on pedestals. The entablature, adorned with triglyphs, wraps around the porch as a band course. The first floor has an eight-light leaded casement window, with a similar three-light casement on the second floor. Between the entablature and the first-floor cill are a pair of pilasters enclosing a coat of arms surrounded by strapwork motifs. Shallow projecting three-storey wings extend on either side, each with gables and pinnacles, and featuring similar gables between the wings.

The west wing has a fourteen-light casement on the ground floor, a ten-light casement on the first floor, and a four-light casement on the second floor. In a recess to the left are ground floor, first-floor, and second-floor casement windows with eight, eight, and four lights respectively. The east wing has a splay-sided bay window on the ground and first floors, featuring two-light casements in the splay and an eight-light casement in front. This bay window is topped with a pierced balustrade of woven strapwork ornament. The second floor has four-light casements, with three similar windows in a recess to the right. To the right of the main facade is a four-storey wing with four windows, followed by a two-storey wing with two windows. A hexagonal lantern rises above, with an ogee lead roof and wrought iron weathervane. Each side of the lantern has corner pilasters and a two-light leaded casement window. Single and multiple groups of brick chimney stacks are visible, constructed with moulded brick corners and oversailing cappings. To the west of the main building is a complex of two and single-storey wings.

The garden elevation comprises complex facets, mostly of three storeys, with gables, stone casement windows, bays, and other details mirroring the front elevation.

The interior entrance hall has three bays of full panelling. The west bay features a carved wood fireplace with Composite columns, a flat entablature supporting four recessed areas with ornate carving and figures. The centre bay has a full-height bay window with stone transoms, mullions, and leaded lights. The east bay has plain panelling. All ceilings are adorned with a heavy relief strapwork pattern. A massive entrance door with a porch is in the centre bay. Linen fold panelling runs the height of the wall, complemented by a ceiling of square wood panels. A stone doorcase frames a four-centred arch with a Tudor rose and Portcullis in the spandrels, leading to stone paving.