FLOOR SANDING TADWORTH

Now owned by the Children's Trust for brain-damaged children, Tadworth Court was built between 1694 and 1704. This yellow brick mansion has eleven bays - and a staircase leading up to the doorway with its big Corinthian columns. Inside, the two-storeyed hall has panelling and Rococo plasterwork from the mid 1700s. In 1927, the children's hospital at Great Ormond Street in London needed to expand. The Court was bought with a legacy and the first children with respiratory problems were welcomed in 1929. During the war, it proved a useful country haven away from the bombing. By the early 1980s, the number of admissions had fallen and there was a danger of closure. A local and national campaign (taken up by several newspapers) raised enough money to keep it going. The Trust is now a registered charity totally independent of the NHS. Ironically, the grade one listing of the Court means that the building cannot be structurally modified in any way for the specialist needs of the children...

Also known as: The Tadworth Floor Sanding Company

Primary location: Tadworth United Kingdom