Tyntesfield: Heritage and Beauty (Nabhan Al Barwani, Oman, ITP 2025)

Written by Nabhan Al Barwani, Head of Collection, Oman Across Ages Museum (Oman, ITP 2025)

 At the end of the second week of the International Training Programme, on Friday 18 July, our visit to Tyntesfield near Bristol was a landmark, combining the splendour of the place with its architecture. The house and its gardens are designed in Victorian Gothic Revival style. Upon arrival, we were impressed by the views of giant trees with lush shade, instilling a sense of calm and peace of mind. We arrived at 10:30 a.m. in a pleasantly cool and cloudy climate, and were greeted by Simon Lawrence, the General Manager.

We then proceeded to the Sawmill for coffee, and Simon introduced us to the National Trust and Tyntesfield management team. He gave us a presentation about the Bristol Portfolio and the work of the National Trust. He also told us about the Gibbs family, the former owners of Tyntesfield, who made their money by importing guano fertilizer from Peru and used it to develop this Estate. In 2002 the National Trust purchased and took over the Estate. Simon also mentioned that there are 170 people who work at Tyntesfield, and around 470 volunteers who work across the Bristol portfolio.

After that, Annie Kamkaran, Curator of Cultural Content, spoke about the National Trust’s strategy for the period 2025–2035, which is based on three main goals: Restore Nature, End Unequal Access, and Inspire Millions.

At 11:30 we split into two groups for the tour activity and I was in the group who first visited the House and Chapel.

The House and Chapel

The house is very large, with many rooms filled with beautiful art and impressive furniture. The chapel was also amazing, with lovely architecture and colourful decorative windows. During our visit, we were glad to have the chance to see part of the costume and textile collection stored on the second floor. The items were carefully kept in acid-free boxes and tissue paper to help preserve them. We also enjoyed hearing live piano music played by one of the volunteers, which added a special touch to the visit.

Then we returned to the Sawmill for a lovely lunch and desserts before starting the second tour activity, which was a visit to the garden.

The Gardens

Tyntesfield has variety of gardens which show the richness of a real British garden. The rose garden was incredibly beautiful, featuring over 140 rose plants. We decided to pause there for a while to take some photos and capture the memories.

The kitchen garden complex had glasshouses where a wider variety of vegetables and fruits were grown, a flower garden that provides flowers for decorating the house, an overwintering garden for citrus trees like oranges, and a vegetable garden which is used for growing crops like tomatoes and potatoes.

The staff in the garden include seven full time workers and thirty five garden volunteers, who are responsible for taking care of all the gardens, the Head Gardner’s office, the weighing room which they use to pack fruits and vegetables, and the apple store where they store apples and other fruits over the winter.

Then we returned to the Sawmill to learn about visitor services and collection and house management. The visitor services team informed us that Tyntesfield welcomes around 400,000 visitors annually, with the highest number of visitors in a single day recorded on Easter Monday, reaching nearly 4,000 people. Visitor numbers are tracked using a digital clicker system at the front entrance.

In accordance with the fire evacuation policy, the estate allows a maximum of 100 visitors inside the house every half hour during peak occasions such as Christmas and Easter. Access to the house is limited to the ground floor, so to ensure a more inclusive experience for all visitors, and the team places a strong focus on offering a wide range of outdoor activities and experiences around the estate.

It was also interesting to learn that the house was opened to the public right after the National Trust took ownership, and that the conservation team started their work while visitors were present.

It was a wonderful and informative visit that gave us a better understanding of how Tyntesfield is cared for and shared with the public. Many thanks to the National Trust team for their warm welcome and valuable insights.