Audley End and Saffron Walden

Published 9 November 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

Audley End is an easy day trip: trains from Liverpool Street take 53 to 61 minutes, an Off-Peak return was £24.90 in November 2026, and the house is 1¼ miles from the station. Give it a whole day with Saffron Walden, a mile beyond the house, or half a day combined with Cambridge, 19 minutes further up the same line. From November to mid-February the house opens at weekends only.

Audley End House was built in the early 1600s on the scale of a royal palace, then cut down to a third of its size over the next 150 years. What survives is still enormous, with rooms by Robert Adam, a Victorian service wing, working stables and a park laid out by Capability Brown. It belongs to English Heritage.

Saffron Walden is the market town it was built beside. It has the largest surviving turf maze of its kind, a restored Victorian hedge maze in a free public garden, and some of the most elaborate pargeting (decorative raised plasterwork on the outside of timber-framed houses) in England. Our list of the cheapest day trips from London has more on this budget; this page covers both places in one day.

A palace for a king, cut down twice

The site was Walden Abbey, a Benedictine house founded in 1139. Henry VIII closed it in 1538 and gave it to his Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, who turned it into a mansion. His grandson Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, rebuilt it in about 1605-14 as the most ambitious house in Jacobean England, a palace in all but name with matching state apartments for the king and queen. James I visited twice in 1614. English Heritage's historians call it one of the greatest houses of early 17th-century England.

It ruined the family. Suffolk was convicted of embezzlement as Lord Treasurer, and in 1667 Charles II bought the house, mainly because it was close to the races at Newmarket. It went back to the Suffolk heirs in 1701. In the early 18th century they reduced it to its inner court, using John Vanbrugh as architect, and in the 1750s the Countess of Portsmouth demolished the long gallery range on the east side. That is the second cut. What you see now is one court of a house that once had two, and the scale is still startling.

Her nephew, Sir John Griffin Griffin, inherited in 1762 and called in Robert Adam, who designed a new suite of reception rooms on the ground floor of the south front. At the same time Capability Brown swept away the formal gardens and remodelled the grounds, until a quarrel with Sir John ended his work and Joseph Hicks took over.

What you see inside and outside

The house holds the Adam rooms and the later state apartments, arranged around the great hall. Downstairs is the 1880s service wing and coal gallery, presented as a working Victorian household below stairs. English Heritage keeps resident horses in the Victorian stable block, with an interactive exhibition on the estate at work.

The gardens are the other half of the day. Brown's landscape runs down to the River Cam, crossed by a bridge designed by Adam, and there are garden buildings including the Temple of Victory to the east of the house. Near the house are a restored parterre, a walled kitchen garden run on organic principles, a new play area at the Cart Yard and a Cedar of Lebanon planted in 1762. The house itself is listed at Grade I, and the park and garden are registered at Grade I too.

Allow three to four hours if you want the house, the service wing, the stables and a walk to the river. In winter, when the house closes at 15:00, arrive soon after opening.

Tickets, Gift Aid and the car-free discount

English Heritage sells cheaper tickets online than at the gate and adds a voluntary 10% Gift Aid donation by default. Winter weekends count as off-peak. These were the prices in its published calendar in November 2026.

Peak and standard days cost more: an adult peak ticket online was £27.20 with Gift Aid. English Heritage members get in free, and if you plan several English Heritage and National Trust houses in one trip, our comparison of the heritage passes for visitors does the arithmetic.

From Audley End station to the house

Audley End station is in Wendens Ambo, not in Saffron Walden, and the house is 1¼ miles away. English Heritage notes that the footpath runs along a busy main road and is not lit, so it does not recommend walking to its evening events. By day the walk takes about half an hour; in rain or with small children, take a taxi from the rank at the station.

Several bus routes pass within a quarter of a mile of the entrance, including services from Cambridge seven days a week and from Bishop's Stortford, Stansted Airport and other towns except on Sundays. Whether one calls at the station when you arrive is another matter: check on the day rather than counting on it. The station is step-free to all platforms.

Trains run from Liverpool Street, which our guide to Liverpool Street station covers. On weekdays the Off-Peak return has morning time limits, set by the restriction code printed on it; our page on reading a British train ticket explains how to look the code up.

Saffron Walden's turf maze and hedge maze

Walk east through the park and into Saffron Walden, about a mile. The turf maze on the Common is the town's oldest curiosity: a path cut into the grass and laid with brick, winding through 17 circuits. Four bastions around the edge give it an overall diameter of 132 feet, and following the path to the centre is close to a mile. The Town Council, which owns it, calls it the largest example of its type in the world and one of eight surviving turf labyrinths in England.

Nobody knows exactly how old it is. Restorations are recorded in 1826, 1841, 1859, 1887 and 1911, when the path was first laid with bricks on edge, and it was last re-cut in 1979. Historic England registers it as a garden of historic interest at Grade II. It is open grass, free and always accessible.

The hedge maze is in Bridge End Garden, on the other side of the town centre. The garden was created around 1840 by Francis Gibson, a local Quaker businessman, on a garden his father had begun, as a series of garden rooms including a Dutch garden replanted to a design sketched by Gertrude Jekyll in 1912. It is registered at Grade II* and free, open all year except Christmas Day. The yew maze had become a thicket by 1983, was replanted with more than a thousand yews from 1984 and reopened on 13 July 1991. Its opening times vary, so ring the Tourist Information Centre on 01799 524002 before you count on it.

Pargeting on Church Street, and the biggest church in Essex

The best pargeting in Saffron Walden is on the buildings at 25 to 31 Church Street, once the Sun Inn, at the corner of Market Hill. Historic England lists them at Grade I. The timber frames are 14th-century; the plasterwork is late 17th-century and covers the whole front. Look for the scrolls, the birds, a stocking, and a pair of fighting men, one with a club and one with a sword, said to be the Wisbech Giant and Tom Hickathrift, a carter from East Anglian legend.

A short walk uphill is the parish church of St Mary the Virgin. The church describes itself as the largest in Essex, 183 feet long, with a tower and spire 193 feet high. The nave was rebuilt from 1485 into the early 16th century by Simon Clerk and John Wastell, and the spire was added in 1831. The church is open every day from about 10:00 to 16:00, with services on Sundays.

The town museum and the ruins of Walden Castle are also in the centre. If you only have an hour in town, do the turf maze, Church Street and St Mary's, which are a short walk apart.

Combining it with Cambridge

Audley End is 19 to 23 minutes from Cambridge on the same line, which makes this the third kind of day trip: half a day here, half a day there. Spend the morning at the house and take an early afternoon train on to Cambridge, or the reverse. Our Cambridge day trip covers the colleges.

For the ticket, an Off-Peak return from Liverpool Street to Cambridge was £39.30 on our sample date. Most Off-Peak tickets let you break the journey at a station along the way, so one ticket can cover London, Audley End and Cambridge, provided the restriction code does not exclude it. Ask at the ticket office or check the code before you travel. If you are carrying on into the Fens, Ely is further up the same line.

A day that works

Take a train from Liverpool Street at about 09:00 and you can be at the house soon after opening. Spend the morning there, walk through the park into Saffron Walden for lunch, then do the turf maze, Church Street and Bridge End Garden. Return trains on our Saturday sample left Audley End at 16:17 and 17:17, each taking under an hour; a taxi from the town back to the station saves the main-road walk in the dark. Later trains are in our guide to getting back to London in the evening.

For a similar house further afield, Hatfield House is another Jacobean prodigy house close to London, and Lavenham has more timber-framed Suffolk towns. For a complete change of scenery, try the New Forest by train or the shingle of Dungeness and its miniature railway.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get from Audley End station to Audley End House?

The house is 1¼ miles from the station. You can walk, which takes about half an hour, but the footpath runs beside a busy main road and is not lit. There is a taxi rank at the station, and several buses pass within a quarter of a mile of the entrance.

Is Audley End House open in winter?

Yes, but at weekends only for most of the winter. In the 2026-27 season English Heritage opens the house on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 to 15:00, daily over New Year and the February half-term, and from Wednesday to Sunday from late February. Check the calendar before you go.

How much does it cost to visit Audley End?

On a winter weekend in 2026 an adult ticket bought online was £22.10 including Gift Aid, or £20.06 without, and a family ticket £55.25. Gate prices are higher. Arriving by train earns 20% off a walk-up ticket.

Is the Saffron Walden turf maze free?

Yes. The turf maze is on the Common, open grass owned by the Town Council, and you can walk it at any time. Bridge End Garden, which has the hedge maze, is also free, though the hedge maze itself has varying opening times.

Can I visit Audley End and Cambridge on the same day?

Yes. Cambridge is about 20 minutes further up the line. An Off-Peak return from London to Cambridge normally lets you break the journey at Audley End, so one ticket can cover both if the restriction code allows it.

Sources

• English Heritage - History of Audley End House and Gardens (checked November 2026)
• English Heritage - Audley End prices and opening times (checked November 2026)
• English Heritage - Audley End directions and car-free discount (checked November 2026)
• Saffron Walden Town Council - The Turf Maze (Labyrinth) (checked November 2026)
• Saffron Walden Town Council - Bridge End Garden and the Hedge Maze (checked November 2026)
• Historic England - 25 and 27 Church Street, Saffron Walden, list entry 1196155; also 1205611, 1196237 and 1000741 (checked November 2026)
• National Rail - Audley End station (checked November 2026)