Look ahead for a tall, grand red-brick Georgian house with extra-large white windows and a neat white doorframe, sitting just behind a patch of green grass-this is the Hollytrees Museum.
Imagine yourself standing here nearly 300 years ago, with the smell of fresh-baked bread wafting from the kitchens and the echo of carriage wheels crunching across gravel. This house, Hollytrees, was once a very lively home-oh, and its family drama could easily have filled a soap opera! The first home on this spot was actually called “Symnells”, owned by a man named Mr. Symnell-until the Shaw family stepped in. If you think your family has complicated traditions, the Shaws would pass the house from one John Shaw to another like an endless relay race, until young John Shaw IV, sadly, passed away too soon. The house slipped into the hands of the law, and finally Jane Lessingham, John’s mother, bought it-only to hand it over to someone else after her own story ended.
Enter Elizabeth Cornelisen, a woman with her own vision! She looked at the aging house and said, “Nope, not good enough!” Down it came, replaced in 1718 with this sparkling new mansion, built for about £2,000-a fortune at the time (imagine the number of cups of tea you could buy). Though Elizabeth didn’t get to enjoy her new digs for long, her niece Sarah moved in, followed by her husband Charles Gray. Laura Ashley, eat your heart out-by 1729, Charles had planted two holly trees in the garden, giving the property its forever name: Hollytrees.
Through twists, turns, and several rounds (literally, the Round family!), the house changed hands, until it was bought by Colchester’s town council in the 1920s, thanks to a generous donation from Viscount Cowdray. Today, it’s no longer just a house-it’s a museum full of Colchester’s stories, and even home to the town’s Visitor Information Centre. So, as you gaze up at those brilliant sash windows, remember: behind each one, there’s a secret or two whispering from centuries past. Fancy stepping inside and making some stories of your own?
