In 1970 we installed a small flock of black sheep to graze the park.
Four 'Snowdrop Sundays' a year have been a feature of the Park since the 1970's with proceeds going towards the upkeep of the church. More than £100,000 has been raised since we started this initiative which sees hundreds of people enjoying drifts of snowdrops which have never been cultivated in any way. I do remember a Sunday when the driver of one car, which had queued patiently to enter the car park, wound down his window to ask what it was that they had come to look at!
In 1976 the Hambledon Hunt organised a grand Country Fair. Events not mentioned on the front cover of the programme included archery, bale tossing and gumboot throwing!
The following cutting from the Portsmouth Evening News in 1935 predates my father's ownership of Warnford. The Park's owner, Charles Woods had put up notices advising that legal access to the church was restricted to parishioners only. Visitors from outside the parish were allowed to visit the church provided that they called in at North Lodge to obtain consent and agreed to "behave in a reasonable manner".
The following extract from the sale particulars of 1935 describes the "stately gardens and grounds", the "formal Italian garden" and the "delightful woodland walks" that surrounded the Georgian house which stood in Warnford Park until after the war.
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