Gatcombe Park

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Gatcombe Park is the private country home of Anne, Princess Royal, situated between the Gloucestershire villages of Minchinhampton and Avening, five miles south of Stroud.

The house and farming estate were bought by The Queen in 1976 for Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips. The previous owner was Lord Butler, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a former Home Secretary, who had inherited the house from his father-law, Samuel Courtauld. Courtauld had acquired it from the Ricardo family, owners from 1814 (when the estate was bought by the economist David Ricardo) to 1940.

The house was built from 1771 to 1774 for Edward Sheppard. It features Bath stone construction, and comprises five main bedrooms, four secondary bedrooms, four reception rooms, a library, a billiard room and a conservatory, as well as staff accommodation. It was renovated and redecorated for Princess Anne and Captain Phillips, and they moved into it in November 1977. In 1978 the land was increased by the purchase of the adjoining Aston Farm. The Gatcombe Estate now covers around 730 acres (3 km²), of which 200 acres (0.8 km²) mare woodland, and includes a lake containing brown trout. There are considerable stabling facilities, including a new stable block built for The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips.

The grounds host a biannual craft fair with around 160 exhibitors, in May and October.

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