Greys Court opens free from 14 to 16 September, normally £19 an adult. Nine district sites open for the festival, and three are missing from its own list.
Greys Court opens free of charge from Monday 14 to Wednesday 16 September. The National Trust normally charges £19 for an adult and £47.50 for a family of two adults and up to three children to get in.
It is one of nine places in South Oxfordshire opening for Heritage Open Days, which runs from 11 to 20 September 2026. The festival calls itself England’s largest festival of history and culture, and every opening in it is free.
Three of those nine are hard to find, because the festival files them under the wrong district. More on that below.
Every free opening in the district
| Place | Where | When |
|---|---|---|
| Greys Court | Rotherfield Greys, RG9 4PG | Mon 14 to Wed 16 Sep, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm |
| Nuffield Place | Nuffield, RG9 5RX | Fri 18 to Sun 20 Sep, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm |
| Henley Masonic Lodge | Thames Lodge, 61 Reading Road, Henley, RG9 1AB | Sat 12 and Sun 13 Sep, 11am to 2pm |
| Kings Arms Barn | Kings Road, Henley, RG9 2DG | Wed 16 Sep, 10am to noon and 2pm to 4pm |
| Henley Quakers exhibition | 45 Northfield End, Henley, RG9 2JJ | Sat 19 Sep, 2pm to 5pm |
| St Helen's Church | Church Road, Benson, OX10 6SF | Sat 12 Sep, 11am to 3pm |
| St Mary's Church | Church Lane, Chalgrove, OX44 7SD | Sat 12 Sep 10am to 4pm; Sun 13 Sep 11am to 4pm |
| Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum | Drayton St Leonard, OX10 7BG | Sat 12 Sep, 10am to 4pm |
| Girlguiding Oxfordshire | Jubilee House, Horton Road, Stanton St John, OX33 1AQ | Sat 12 Sep, 10am to 2pm |
Every one of them says pre-booking is not required. Nuffield Place is the single exception, and only in part, which is covered below.
Saturday 12 September is the crowded day
Five of the nine open on that one Saturday. Nothing at all opens on Friday 11 September, the first day of the festival.
The three you will not find on the district list
The festival publishes a printable list for South Oxfordshire. It carries seven entries. Three of the nine openings at South Oxfordshire addresses are not among them:
- Greys Court (RG9 4PG) and Nuffield Place (RG9 5RX) are filed under West Oxfordshire
- the Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum (OX10 7BG) is filed under Oxford
We checked all nine postcodes against the Office for National Statistics postcode directory, which returns the local authority for any address. All three sit in South Oxfordshire.
The error runs the other way too. One entry that is on the South Oxfordshire list, a solicitors’ office at 1-3 Ock Street in Abingdon, has an OX14 5AL postcode, which is Vale of White Horse. So a resident who reads only the district list gets seven places, one of which is in another council’s area, and misses the two National Trust houses on Henley’s doorstep.
What is actually open
Greys Court, Rotherfield Greys. The whole site opens free, house, gardens and parkland. A team from the National Trust and the South Oxfordshire Archaeology Group will be running an archaeological dig into medieval Greys Court, on site from 11am to 3.30pm each of the three days. The shop and café trade as normal.
Nuffield Place, Nuffield. This was the home of William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, who founded the Morris Motor Company. The house and its contents are kept as he and his wife Elizabeth left them. Read the booking note before you travel:
- mornings are guided experiences for up to eight people, bookable on the day only
- the house opens at 1.30pm for you to walk round at your own pace
- the whole site is free from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September
Kings Arms Barn, Kings Road, Henley. The entry describes it as Grade II listed. It opens for two two-hour slots on the Wednesday, and this is the town’s own Heritage Open Days date.
Henley Masonic Lodge, 61 Reading Road. RTTV Lodge 9697 is opening Thames Lodge, a building it says is usually closed to the public.
45 Northfield End, Henley. An exhibition on the working lives of Henley Quakers through the ages, one afternoon only, and the organisers are asking visitors to add their own memories of bygone Henley.
St Helen’s Church, Benson. A village history day with two timed extras: a bell tower tour from 11am to noon, and a war graves tour at 2pm.
St Mary’s Church, Chalgrove. The draw is the medieval wall paintings. A short video runs every half hour, guided tours are available on request, and the church says it has an app and special guide materials for visually impaired visitors.
Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum, Drayton St Leonard. The trust says its collection includes A3, the oldest surviving Aston Martin in the world, along with Stirling Moss’s overalls and Roy Salvadori’s helmet.
Girlguiding Oxfordshire, Jubilee House and Campsite, Stanton St John. A chance to find out about Girlguiding’s history in the county.
What it means for you
If you only do one thing, put Greys Court in the diary for the Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. It is the biggest cash saving on the list by a wide margin, the archaeology dig will not be repeated, and a weekday visit avoids the Saturday crush.
A few practical points:
- Check before you set off. The festival’s own advice is to check entries for last-minute changes, and some of these are run by small volunteer groups.
- Two sites open once and briefly. The Quakers exhibition is three hours on Saturday 19 September. Kings Arms Barn is four hours on Wednesday 16 September, split over two slots.
- Free entry does not mean free parking. The National Trust says general car parking at Greys Court is included in membership or the daily admission fee. It does not say what happens when admission is waived, so ask at the gate rather than assume. Henley’s own car parks charge as normal.
- The rest of September is busy. Thame’s September Fair closes the High Street from the Wednesday of that same week: see our roadworks and travel page before driving across the district.
For what is on the rest of the year, including which Henley attractions are currently open, see things to do in Henley.
Sources
- Heritage Open Days, festival dates and the free-entry principle
- Event entries for Greys Court, Nuffield Place, Henley Masonic Lodge, Kings Arms Barn, the Henley Quakers exhibition, St Helen’s Benson, St Mary’s Chalgrove, the Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum and Girlguiding Oxfordshire
- National Trust, Greys Court for the normal admission prices
- Henley Town Council events for the town’s 16 September date
- postcodes.io for the local authority behind each postcode
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