Houghton House the inspiration for House Beautiful
This is another pic I took yesterday looking across the fields from Ampthill Hill. It is thought that this is House Beautiful from the book Pilgrims Progress written by John Bunyan. It is now in ruins and I haven't walked/driven up to the house for years. Perhaps in the summer when it is warmer I will do so just to take another look. I've got a copy of Pilgrims Progress somewhere in the house that belonged to Mum. Perhaps sometime I should read it
Houghton House today is the shell of a 17th century mansion commanding magnificent views, reputedly the inspiration for the ‘House Beautiful’ in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.
It was built around 1615 for Mary, Dowager Countess of Pembroke, in a mixture of Jacobean and Classical styles: the ground floors of two Italianate loggias survive, possibly the work of Inigo Jones.
Information panels describe the house, its owners and the surrounding hunting estate.
