Ditchley Park

Ditchley Park
Type	House
Location	Charlbury, Oxfordshire
Coordinates	51°53′16″N 1°26′04″W / 51.8879°N 1.4344°W / 51.8879; -1.4344
Built	1720; 304 years ago (1720)
Architect	James Gibbs exterior / William Kent, Henry Flitcroft interiors
Architectural style(s)	Palladian
Governing body	Ditchley Foundation
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Ditchley House Including flanking pavilions
Designated	27 August 1957
Reference no.	1251422
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Rotunda 600M NW of Ditchley House
Designated	27 August 1957
Reference no.	1251530
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Entrance Screen, gates and balustrading to forecourt of Ditchley House
Designated	30 August 1988
Reference no.	1262725
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Steps and flanking statuary 20M NW of Ditchley House
Designated	30 August 1988
Reference no.	1262763
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens
Official name	Ditchley Park
Designated	1 June 1984
Reference no.	1000463
Location of Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire

Ditchley Park is a country house near Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. The estate was once the site of a Roman villa. Later it became a royal hunting ground, and then the property of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. The 2nd Earl of Lichfield built the present house, designed by James Gibbs, in 1722. In 1933, the house was bought by an MP, Ronald Tree, whose wife Nancy Lancaster redecorated it in partnership with Sibyl Colefax. During the Second World War Winston Churchill used the house as a weekend retreat, due to concerns that his official country house, Chequers and his private country home, Chartwell, were vulnerable to enemy attack. After the war, Tree sold the house and estate to the 7th Earl of Wilton, who then sold it in 1953 to Sir David Wills of the Wills tobacco family. Wills established the Ditchley Foundation for the promotion of international relations and subsequently donated the house to the governing trust.

Ditchley is a Grade I listed building. The park is listed Grade II*.