Ditchingham Hall is a country house and estate, near the village of Ditchingham

Ditchingham

Ditchingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located across the River Waveney from Bungay, Suffolk near to The Broads National Park.- Overview :...

 in south Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is the country house of Earl Ferrers

Earl Ferrers

Earl Ferrers is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for Robert Shirley, 13th Baron Ferrers of Chartley. The Shirley family descends from George Shirley of Astwell Castle, Northamptonshire....

. The current owner is Robert Shirley, 13th Earl Ferrers

Robert Shirley, 13th Earl Ferrers

Robert Washington Shirley, 13th Earl Ferrers PC , styled Viscount Tamworth between 1937 and 1954, is British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords as one of the remaining hereditary peers...

 and former Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 leader of the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

. It is a private house not open to the public.

Location

The Hall is about 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Ditchingham off the B1332 road between Bungay

Bungay, Suffolk

Bungay is a market town in the English county of Suffolk. It lies in the Waveney valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at the neck of a meander of the River Waveney.-Early history:...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

 and Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

.

History

The house is set in parkland landscaped by Capability Brown

Capability Brown

Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...

 and and is about 2000 acres (809.4 ha) in size. The house dates from 1710 for Revd John James Bedingfeld and replaced an earlier one. The hall was enlarged in 1910 and reduced in size in the 1980s.