DiCamillo Companion
England

Joyce Grove House

Nettlebed, near Henley-on-Thames

Oxfordshire

England

Circa Date: 1908 w/late 20th century alterations

Status: Fully Extant

House Open to Public: No

Country House: Yes

This house has been used for TV and Film

The house from a circa 1912 postcard

  • Earlier Houses: There was an earlier 1725 house that was demolished in the early 20th century and replaced by the current house.

    Built / Designed For: Robert Fleming

    House & Family History: Joyce Grove is a Jacobethan style house built in 1908 of red brick with Bath stone dressings; it once had 44 bedrooms. Robert Fleming (1845-1933), who founded the merchant bank Fleming & Company in 1909, purchased the Joyce Grove Estate in 1903, which included 2,000 acres, cottages, kilns, and clayworks. Robert's grandson, Peter Fleming, donated Joyce Grove House to St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in 1940 for use as a convalescent home; in 1979 Sue Ryder purchased Joyce Grove from St. Mary's and opened a palliative care center in the house. In November 2011 Sue Ryder announced that it was putting Joyce Grove up for sale, with the intention to vacate the building in 2013; ultimately, the restructuring of the NHS put this plan on hold. In 2014 Sue Ryder announced that they would maintain Nettlebed Palliative Care Facility at Joyce Grove until 2020. In 2022 Joyce Grove House and 27 acres was sold for £20 million by Sue Ryder to Beechcroft Developments, who intend to convert the house into a retirement community. Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond and author of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," was the brother of Peter Fleming and the grandson of Robert Fleming; he spent much of his childhood at Joyce Grove. The current members of the Fleming family live locally and still run the Joyce Grove Estate.

  • Chapel & Church: Many members of the Fleming family have been laid to rest in the Nettlebed churchyard.

  • Architect: Charles Edward Mallows

    Date: 1908
    Designed: House for Robert Fleming

    View all houses

  • Title: Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, The
    Author: Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus
    Year Published: 1974
    Reference: pg. 715
    Publisher: London: Penguin Books
    ISBN: 0140710450
    Book Type: Hardback

  • House Listed: Grade II

    Park Listed: Not Listed

  • "Jeeves and Wooster" (1992 - TV series, in the episode "Right Ho, Jeeves" [aka "The Mating Season," aka "Bertie Takes Gussie's Place at Deverill Hall"], Joyce Grove was Deverill Hall). "Agatha Christie: Poirot" (2003 - TV series, as Mrs. Welman's country house in the episode "Sad Cypress"). "Midsomer Murders" (2008 - TV series, as Bledlow Manor in the episode "Blood Wedding"). "Agatha Christie: Poirot: Cat Among the Pigeons" (2009 - as the exterior of Meadowbrook School). "The Imitation Game" (2014 - as Bletchley Park).

  • Past Seat / Home of: SEATED AT EARLIER HOUSE: John Toovey, 19th century. H.H. Gardiner, 19th century. SEATED AT CURRENT HOUSE: Robert Fleming, 1903-33; Fleming family here until 1940.

    Current Ownership Type: Corporation

    Primary Current Ownership Use: Retirement Home

  • House Open to Public: No

    Historic Houses Member: No

New Search