Fancy staying in the House of Correction in Folkingham?

A charity which rescues, restores and transforms historic buildings into stunning holiday lets – including two unique Lincolnshire properties – is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

Both The House of Correction, a former prison building, in Folkingham, and The Château, a scale model of a French chateau, in Gate Burton, near Gainsborough, have been preserved and given a new lease of life thanks to The Landmark Trust.

Founded in May 1965, it is one of the nation’s leading conservation charities, having restored more than 200 buildings including castles, forts, cottages and towers. It aims to give the properties in its care a new purpose by promoting the public enjoyment of them as well as turning them into self-catering holiday accommodation. Every penny made from bookings taken goes back into maintaining these special places in Britain’s landscape, culture and society forevermore.

The iconic properties in its portfolio include the distinctive looking Pineapple, an exotic Scottish folly in Dunmore, Gothic Temple, an 18th century temple in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and Martello Tower, in Suffolk, the largest and most northerly of a chain of towers put up to counter the threat of Napoleon.

As well as properties in England, Scotland and Wales the Landmark Trust also maintains and lets 25 properties on Lundy Island, just off the coast of Devon, as well as a small number in Italy.

Speaking about its Lincolnshire properties Dr Anna Keay, director of The Landmark Trust, said: “Our two charming Lincolnshire buildings are each delicious. In our big tapestry of Landmarks across the nations, the Chateau and the House of Correction are key anchors for us.

“We took on The Chateau after it had fallen near-derelict, unsafe to enter and with its fragmented shell including traces of its once-ornate plaster mouldings, barely hanging by a thread.

“By comparison the House of Correction was a touch more habitable when we first arrived but was reorganised and repaired to honour its origin. Landmark have nurtured both buildings now for 43 years, with two years of initial restoration for the Chateau and a little longer for the House of Correction, followed by regular upgrades periodically since.

“As with all Landmarks, iconic Old Chelsea crockery and a library of carefully selected books sits alongside comfortable furnishings inside. While they may each have grand exteriors, we hope they are warm and welcoming right from the threshold.”

To mark its sixth decade, the trust is releasing a new edition of its Handbook, as well as offering free stays in its properties for 60 charities. It’s also releasing booking availability for its latest rescue project – the Mayor’s Parlour Maison Dieu, in Dover, which began life as a monastery when built in 1200.

This year also sees the continuation of the trust’s work, with plans to save RAF Ibsley Watch Office, Hampshire, and Mavisbank House, near Edinburgh, advancing, although these will only succeed with fresh support.

Every year the charity throws open the doors of dozens of buildings to thousands of people through free open days, creative workshops and other events. In 2025 special celebrations will be held across the nations, including an open weekend at Saddell Castle, Argyll and Bute, to mark its rejuvenation.

* To find out more about the Landmark Trust and its work visit landmarktrust.org.uk

Take a break in The House of Correction

Holidaying in a prison doesn’t sound particularly enjoyable – but that’s where you’d be wrong…

Like many buildings cared for by Landmark, the House of Correction as it’s seen today is a fragment of a much larger building. This grand entrance is all that survives of a prison once capable of accommodating up to 70 wrongdoers. They were far from hardened criminals though, most were guilty of minor misdemeanours like petty theft, disorderly conduct and – idleness!

The House of Correction shares the site of the once great castle that dominated Folkingham in the Middle Ages.

First built in 1611, it was replaced in 1808 by a more imposing structure built inside the castle moat and intended to serve the whole of Kesteven. It was enlarged in 1825 – when it was given a grand new entrance.

In 1878 the prison was closed and the inner buildings converted into ten dwellings, later demolished in 1955. The property was acquired by the Landmark Trust in 1982, from Sir Arthur and Lady Peterson, who rescued it from demolition in 1965.

Today it can accommodate up to four people, in one twin and one double room. Other facilities include a dishwasher, parking and mobile phone signal.

The Château, Gate Burton

At first glance this looks like a French château, but it’s actually a clever scale model of one sitting on a hill above the River Trent, in the middle of the countryside.

It was built in 1747–8 for prosperous Gainsborough lawyer Thomas Hutton, who looked after the local business affairs of the Earl of Abingdon. Hutton bought the Gate Burton estate from the Earl and built the little Château on its wooded knoll above the river, surrounded by garden and plantations, for use as a weekend cottage.

Gate Burton Hall followed and was mostly completed by 1768 when The Château became a summer house, used for picnics or the odd night ‘in rural seclusion’.

When the Hutton family sold Gate Burton in 1907, the Chateau was used for shooting lunches and other entertainments.

After the war it stood empty with no natural uses.

The estate was sold again in 1974, when The Chateau was left to decay, on the point of collapse. In 1982 the owner, concerned for its survival but unable to afford the cost of repair himself offered it to The Landmark Trust. After extensive work it was available to let and now offers two guests a small glimpse of Georgian life.