Absolute Touring

Asthall and Swinbrook

Asthall Manor Asthall Manor

  • Asthall Manor - birthplace and home of the Mitford sisters; the family later moved to Swinbrook
  • Nancy was a famous novelist (The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate); Unity a great admirer of Hitler, and Diana - 'rated more perfect than Botticelli's Venus' - married Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists. Jessica was an ardent socialist; Pamela was happiest in the country with her dogs; and Deborah, married the Duke of Devonshire, helping to re-establish Chatsworth as one of the 'Treasure Houses of England'
  • Asthall's Maytime Inn owned for many years by May and Tim Morgan
  • In Swinbrook Church, dating from c1200, are the fine Fettiplace tombs,
    memorials to the family who lived here for over 300 years: the recumbent figures
    lean on one elbow so that they fit in the confined 'bunk-style' space!

    Swinbrook Church - Fettiplace Monuments Swinbrook Church - Fettiplace Monuments

  • Four Mitford sisters - Nancy, Unity and Diana, with Pamela a short distance away - are now buried in the graveyard

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Approx 30 minutes west of Oxford

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