Sezincote House and Garden is a Grade I listed country house near Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire, built in the early 19th century in the Mughal style of Rajasthan for Charles Cockerell, who had worked for the East India Company. Sezincote House has a copper dome, minarets, peacock-tail windows and a curving orangery, and sits beside a water garden with a temple to Surya and an Indian bridge. The garden is open on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Bank Holiday Mondays from March to November, with house tours running from May to September.
- History of Sezincote House
- Colonel John Cockerell Buys Sezincote, 1795
- Charles Cockerell and Samuel Pepys Cockerell Build Sezincote
- Thomas Daniell and the Indian Design
- Humphry Repton and the Sezincote Landscape
- The Prince of Wales Visits Sezincote, 1807
- Warren Hastings, the Nabobs and an English Interior
- Sir Cyril and Lady Kleinwort Restore the Garden, 1968
- John Betjeman and the Name Sezincote
- Why Sezincote House Matters
- Visiting Sezincote House and Garden: Practical Information
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Nearby Chronicle Trails Guides
History of Sezincote House
Colonel John Cockerell Buys Sezincote, 1795
Colonel John Cockerell bought the Sezincote estate in 1795, according to the Historic England Archive, having made his fortune with the East India Company. Sezincote’s own history calls the house the whim of Colonel Cockerell, who returned to England having amassed that fortune. He died in 1798, three years after his return, and the estate passed to his youngest brother Charles, who had also worked for the company.
Charles Cockerell and Samuel Pepys Cockerell Build Sezincote
Charles Cockerell commissioned his brother Samuel Pepys Cockerell, an architect, to design and build an Indian house in the Mughal style of Rajasthan, complete with minarets, peacock-tail windows, jali-work railings and pavilions, according to Sezincote. The house says work began in 1805 and was substantially complete by 1807. Historic England’s list entry describes the house as built between 1800 and 1805 by Samuel Pepys Cockerell, Thomas Daniell and Humphry Repton for Sir Charles Cockerell, in orange ashlar limestone with a slate roof and a copper dome.
Thomas Daniell and the Indian Design
Thomas Daniell, an artist of Indian architectural scenery, greatly assisted Samuel Pepys Cockerell in conceiving the design for Sezincote, the house says. Daniell had spent ten years in India with his nephew William, making aquatints, watercolours and oils of Indian buildings and landscapes with the help of a camera obscura, which Sezincote credits with giving him an unparalleled knowledge of Indian architecture. The Indian look stops at the front door: Sezincote says the interior is purely classical, in the Greek Revival style, and that no attempt was ever made to Indianise it.
Humphry Repton and the Sezincote Landscape
Humphry Repton is named alongside Cockerell and Daniell in Historic England’s list entry for the house, and Sezincote says its south front unfurls above a Repton landscape that has remained unchanged since the mid-19th century. The garden is blessed with a series of spring-fed pools, connected by running water that tumbles into the Island Pool in the valley bottom before joining the River Evenlode. The stream is crossed by an Indian bridge adorned with Brahmin bulls, and the ornaments include a temple to Surya the sun god and a snake coiled around a column in the Snake Pond.
The Prince of Wales Visits Sezincote, 1807
The Prince of Wales, later the Prince Regent, visited Sezincote in 1807, an event commemorated in a Daniell painting owned by the family, according to Sezincote. The house’s own account is that he was so impressed that he went on to change his plans for the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, which John Nash designed in a similar exotic Indian style. That is Sezincote’s version of the visit’s influence.
Warren Hastings, the Nabobs and an English Interior
Warren Hastings is named in Sezincote’s history, alongside the Cockerells and the Daniells, as one of an 18th-century generation of British in India who loved and respected Indian culture. Sezincote says attitudes were changing by the time the house was built, with the British public mistrusting the wealth of the nabobs who returned from India, and suggests this is why the interior and the garden next to the house were kept unambiguously English. The garden beside the house did not originally share the Indian character of the water garden, and Sezincote adds that its attempt at Mughal architecture appeared grotesque to some 19th-century visitors.
Sir Cyril and Lady Kleinwort Restore the Garden, 1968
Sir Cyril and Lady Kleinwort restored the garden in 1968 after it was neglected during the Second World War, advised by Graham Stuart Thomas, according to Sezincote. Their work included the canals and Irish yews of the South Garden, which evoke a Mughal paradise garden, a curving conservatory home to many tender climbing plants, a little pavilion in Indian style, and the planting of the water garden, where many rare plants can be seen. Sezincote also says the house itself was hugely restored after the Second World War.
John Betjeman and the Name Sezincote
John Betjeman visited Sezincote as a student at Oxford, and the house says the poet captured its charm in Summoned by Bells, describing the drive under the oaks, the bridge, the waterfall and the Temple Pool before the onion domes burst into view. The name Sezincote, pronounced Seezincote, derives from Cheisnecote, from the French chêne for oak and cot for dwelling, so it means home of the oaks.
Why Sezincote House Matters
Sezincote House matters because it is Grade I listed and, as Sezincote puts it, thought to be the only Mughal building surviving in Western Europe. For more houses and heritage sites, browse our Castles & Historic Attractions guides or explore the England hub.
Visiting Sezincote House and Garden: Practical Information
Garden opening hours: March to November inclusive, on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Bank Holiday Mondays, 11am to 5pm (closing at 4pm in March and November). The garden is closed in December, January and February.
House and Orangery Tearoom hours: May to September inclusive, on the same days, 11am to 5pm. Both are closed from October to April.
This season: On 8 October 2026 the house and tearoom had closed for the season and were due to re-open next year, while the garden was open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays throughout October, 11am to 5pm.
Garden admission: Adult £9; child (16 and under) £3. Garden-only visitors do not need to pre-book and pay on arrival at the ticket office.
House tour (includes garden entry): Adult £15; child (16 and under) £9. All house tour tickets must be pre-booked and pre-paid through the Book Your Visit page on the Sezincote website.
House tour times: The first tour is at 11.30am, then every half hour until the last tour at 4.30pm. The guided tours last half an hour and are aimed at adults, and Sezincote warns that children may find them boring.
Arriving for a tour: Present yourself at the front door at or before your booked time, and allow about twenty minutes to walk from the car park in case there is a queue at the ticket office. If you miss your tour it is unlikely you can join a later one, and you will only be charged for a garden visit.
Carers: Carers go free and do not need a ticket.
Groups: Groups are welcome on public opening days; email enquiries@sezincote.com to book. Weekends are closed for weddings.
Address: Sezincote Estate, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 9AW. The front entrance is on the A44 just outside Moreton-in-Marsh, opposite Batsford Arboretum. Sat navs can bring you to the farm entrance instead, and the what3words address for the front entrance is ///motoring.ponies.upstairs.
By car: The car park is up the hill past the garden entrance. Coaches use the front drive opposite Batsford Arboretum on the A44 and drive one mile to the car park. On 8 October 2026 Sezincote’s visitor page carried a diversion notice for a road closure on the A44 in Moreton-in-Marsh, so check it before you travel.
Accessibility: Much of the garden is on a slope with steep banks, gravel paths and irregular stone bridges that make it difficult for wheelchairs and those with walking difficulties. Steps with a handrail or a grassy bank lead to the Orangery Tearoom, and there is a table on the lawn for anyone who cannot get inside. The upstairs part of the house tour is not accessible to wheelchair users or anyone who cannot climb stairs; the guide will give those visitors books and photograph albums to browse in the dining room. There are disabled parking spaces at the garden entrance and a drop-off and pick-up area near the ticket office.
Garden hazards: The garden is a ravine garden with a stream and pools, with steep banks that become slippery when wet, unfenced pool sides, stepping stones and uneven stone slab bridges. Take care, especially in wet weather.
Dogs: No dogs are permitted in the house or the gardens, except assistance dogs.
Photography: Photo shoots are not permitted in the gardens.
Food and drink: The Orangery Tearoom serves tea, coffee, cold drinks and cake, including vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options, until 4.30pm on days when the house is open.
Managing body: Sezincote Estate.
Nearby: Batsford Arboretum is directly opposite the main entrance on the A44.
Prices last checked: October 2026. Opening hours last checked: October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
The garden is open from March to November and the house and Orangery Tearoom from May to September, on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Bank Holiday Mondays. Hours are 11am to 5pm, and the garden closes at 4pm in March and November. The garden is closed from December to February.
A garden-only ticket costs £9 for adults and £3 for children aged 16 and under, and a house tour including garden entry costs £15 for adults and £9 for children. Garden visitors pay on arrival, while house tours must be pre-booked and pre-paid online. Carers go free.
Only for the house. Garden-only visitors do not need to pre-book and pay at the ticket office on arrival, but all house tour tickets must be pre-booked and pre-paid through the Sezincote website. Tours are usually fully booked, so latecomers are unlikely to be fitted onto a later tour.
No. Although the outside is Mughal in style, Sezincote says the interior is purely classical, in the Greek Revival style, and that no attempt was ever made to Indianise it. The garden next to the house also did not originally share the Indian character of the water garden.
According to Sezincote’s own history, yes. It says the Prince of Wales, later the Prince Regent, visited in 1807 and was so impressed that he changed his plans for the Royal Pavilion, which John Nash designed in a similar Indian style. That is the house’s own account of the link.
Sezincote is pronounced Seezincote. The name derives from Cheisnecote, from the French chêne for oak and cot for dwelling, so it means home of the oaks.
No. Dogs are not permitted in the house or the gardens, except assistance dogs.
Nearby Chronicle Trails Guides
- Chastleton House: a wool merchant’s Jacobean showpiece near Moreton-in-Marsh.
- Hidcote Manor Garden: an Arts and Crafts garden near Chipping Campden in the north Cotswolds.
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