The History of High Elms Manor

High Elms Manor, Watford, formerly known as Garston Manor, has been described as 'one of the finest and most dignified medium - sized estates in the county of Hertfordshire'. This was the opinion of Stafford Bourne, son of one of the founders of the London store, Bourne and Hollingsworth, who lived here with his parents and siblings for ten years, from 1911.

Watford's very own country estate...

High Elms Manor is a grade II listed Georgian country house located near Garston in Hertfordshire, England. Built towards the end of the 18th century, the house was auctioned in 1813, and was originally known as High Elms Manor, but from the 1890s to 2010 it was called Garston Manor.

In the post WWII years the house was a rehabilitation centre, but it later fell derelict. In the 1990s an American named Sheila O'Neill bought and restored it and uses it as a Montessori School and Function Venue.

The estate was sold to the Bournes by a member of the Watney family. Claude Watney's wife liked to receive visitors on the steps of her home with a snake twined round her arm. She was also responsible for some oriental décor in the house. After the story of Sohrab and Rustruro, her bath had wicker caging round it. The very heavy doors of her Persian Room are of leather with metal shields and bosses, still in position.

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Follow this article from 'The Country Seat' Country House Rescue: School's out - High Elms Manor, Herts