NONSUCH MANSION

 When Samuel Farmer purchased the Nonsuch Park Estate in 1799 the existing house did not meet with his approval and two architects, John Nash and Jeffrey Wyatt, were approached.  Wyatt's design was approved and construction took place between 1802 and 1806.  It was Wyatt's first attempt at the Tudor Gothic style which he later used to great effect at Windsor.  Although the design owes much to the Tudor style, the building was designed to include most modern developments and while the exterior has the lopsided appearance of Tudor architecture, the interior lacks none of the famous Georgian symmetry. The Farmer Family owned Nonsuch Mansion until 1937 when it was sold to a group of local authorities who still manage the park today During the war the park was farmed by land girls and was a base for the home guard.  For at least part of this time the kitchen was used to provide meals for officers.  Just before D-Day Canadian soldiers camped in the grounds.  It is likely that the laundries were adapted to provide the various military personnel using the house and grounds with a place to carry out ablutions.
 

THE SERVICE WING

 During the eighteenth century building design began to include an extra wing to house the servants and the new technology that was being developed.  These were usually placed on the north side of the house and surrounded by hedges to hide them from view.  They began as rectangular additions and were added to as need arose. The service wing at Nonsuch is placed on the north east side of the house and is accessed through an enclosed courtyard.  The cellars can be entered by a ramp in one corner of this courtyard.  The original service wing was connected to the dairy by a covered walkway and comprised the inner scullery, kitchen, inner and outer larders, the laundries and the stable block.  Most of the service wing was constructed when the mansion house was erected but the remains of an earlier Georgian building were incorporated into the laundries.  The brickwork in the outer scullery is different to that of the inner scullery which suggests that it was a later addition but the date is unknown.  The pastry larder and game larder were added between the 1840s and 1860s.