Visiting Princess Diana's home

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This was published 7 years ago

Visiting Princess Diana's home

By Michael Gebicki
Althorp, home to the Spencer family for nearly 500 years.

Althorp, home to the Spencer family for nearly 500 years.

MY HUSBAND AND I ARE PLANNING A TRIP TO EUROPE IN 2017. I'M A HUGE PRINCESS DIANA FAN AND I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT HER HOME, ALTHORP, WHERE SHE IS BURIED. I READ THAT HER BROTHER, THE EARL OF SPENCER, OPENS THE HOME TO THE PUBLIC ONCE A YEAR. IS THIS STILL THE CASE AND HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE TO GET THERE FROM LONDON?

J. POLAK, SOUTH COOGEE

You're in luck, Althorp is open much more than once a year. In 2016 the house and grounds will be open to the public from July 4 to the end of August and briefly in September for the Althorp Food Festival, and you can expect similar opening dates in 2017. Opening hours are from noon to 5pm. The admission ticket gives you entry to the grounds, the current Spencer exhibition in the stables, the café, gift shop and a guided tour of Althorp's State Rooms. While you'll be able to see the island which is the site of Princess Diana's final resting place, you can't set foot on it. However you can pay your respects at a shrine in her memory.

In recent times Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer and owner of the house, has tended to downplay Althorp's connection with Princess Diana's life, promoting the house as a magnificent and well preserved stately home. For example the award winning exhibition, Diana: A Celebration, closed at Althorp in 2013.

Althorp is just off the M1 Motorway, signposted at Junction 16, which makes it easy to visit if you're behind the wheel. Closest railway station is Northampton, accessible from Euston Station in London, and the fastest trains take less than an hour. From Northampton Station you can either take a taxi to Althorp or else catch the Stagecoach Midlands bus number 96 or 97, although this operates only on weekdays.

For more information see the official Althorp website spencerofalthorp.com.

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