Northwood House
Northwood House is a country manor house in Cowes on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. The current building dates back to 1799 and was built for the London businessman George Ward, remaining in his family for five generations. It is a Grade II listed building, said to have a ground floor area of around 15,000 square feet. In 1929, Northwood House and its 26-acre "pleasure park", known as Northwood Park, were gifted by the Wards to Cowes Urban District Council. The gift was conditional upon the house being used as municipal offices and the grounds ‘as pleasure gardens for the people of Cowes’. In 2010, after 81 years of operating as council offices, the council withdrew and handed the house and estate over to a charitable trust to administer. Today this Georgian manor house is looked after and run by the Northwood House Charitable Trust Co. Ltd. Their aim is to preserve the building and its grounds for the enjoyment of future generations. Its grounds are open to the public and its buildings are available to hire or to let by the general public as an events centre. This is typically for weddings, parties and conferences. Current usage There are currently seven main rooms in the house which are available for hire for events, conferences and special occasions. These are the ball room, the dining room, the drawing room, the morning room, the library, the rotunda and the house bar. Wedding ceremonies can be held in the first six of these rooms, with the ball room being able to seat 120 people. There are other smaller rooms available in the house to hire or to let for longer periods. There is also a converted stable block in the grounds, which is now known as The Community Hall. As well as being available for private functions, the 26-acre estate also hosts a number of public events each year and still has its original tennis courts and bowling green. The original icehouse still remains, half buried in the grounds of Northwood House. There are thought to be about fifteen icehouses remaining on the Isle of Wight. There is also a war memorial in the grounds, dedicated to those who lost their lives in the First World War. It was originally located at the junction of the High Street and Market Hill, but was itself damaged in an air raid during the Second World War. The remains were relocated to Northwood Park and it now stands as a memorial to both wars. Surrounding the original entrance-way into the house, the tarmac area has now been converted into a pay short-stay car park, for public use. History The Ward family held the estate through six generations from 1793 until 1929. The road which runs in front of the house is named Ward Avenue in their honour. However, they also owned a huge amount of land across the Isle of Wight and also resided at Weston Manor in Freshwater. The successive owners