Grants 2024

SVTEC – The Stroud Vintage Transport and Engine Club

Grant for Upstairs Tour of the Mansion

Each year SVTEC hold the Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza, and are kind enough to donate the profits to a range of local charities.  We are grateful and delighted to have been awarded a grant of £1000.

We have used the grant to improve access to the upper floors of the Mansion for less able visitors, especially the elderly and disabled. There are two flights of stairs in the Mansion; one is very steep but has a good handrail, the other has shallow steps but only a partial handrail. It is difficult to find a good location for a lift, even if funds were available, and it is easy to understand why some people prefer to remain downstairs.

About 70% of the Mansion is visible from the ground floor. Visitors unable to go upstairs miss the bathroom, with its high quality stone carving (it also poses interesting points about Leigh’s building philosophy), the bat observatory, where the bats in the roosts above can be seen on CCTV, the carved owls in the courtyard, the wonderful wishbone shaped arches in the top floor south corridor (image below), and the opportunity to see how the Cotswold stone roof is constructed.

We have filmed a tour of the upper floors of the Mansion with our tour guide Sarah. Visitors unable to go upstairs can view it sitting down comfortably while the rest of their party visit the first and second floors. They thus have a chance to share the tour experience with their family and friends so don’t miss out on seeing all the features of the Mansion.

Above: Sarah in the first floor corridor

Below: The centering for the arch in the east bedroom

SVTEC are holding their 2026 Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza at South Cerney Airfield from 31st July – 2nd August 2026. More info can be found here→