About Overtown Manor
Overtown Manor Farmhouse has been in the same family for over 4 generations and is now available to be enjoyed by you.
Set in the heart of the North Wessex Downs the original house was built in 1690 and extended again in the 18th century. Five acres of farmland and gardens provide a quiet oasis. Nancy sources most of the seasonal ingredients for the home cooked food from the garden. We prefer food steps from the garden, farm and village to food miles.
Overtown Manor is versatile as a venue. The whole house is available exclusively along with additional accommodation in the newly renovated garden cottage. We also provide B&B, corporate hospitality, retreats and cookery courses.
We are always keen to discuss any ideas you may have, so please don't hesitate to get in touch with us to discuss your requirements.
Meet Our Team
Nancy Lawson
Nancy is passionate about locally produced food that not only tastes fantastic and is healthy but is also environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially just.
Her simple back-to-basics approach is about eating foods that people living 100 years ago would recognise.
Nancy’s happy place is her kitchen, but when she’s not there she can be found doing anything she can to avoid the paperwork in the office!
Lucile
Lucille is our wonderful gardener. Almost all the amazing seasonal fruit and veg Nancy cooks with has been lovingly produced by Lucille. In all weathers she is out stomping the grounds and working her green-fingered magic, all with a smile and a laugh to hand. Not only is she an artist in the garden, but she is also an artist with a paintbrush and loves to create artwork in her spare time.
Charlotte
Charlotte is the queen of the rooms at Overtown Manor. She spends her days making sure everywhere is looking its best and is ready for our guests. Be it changing linens, or clearing up the aftermath of cookery courses in the kitchen, Charlotte is there to keep us on the straight and narrow. Her eye for detail and cheery smile really make all the difference.
Holly
Holly is our administrator. She can usually be found hunched over the keyboard in the office with a large cup of tea in hand, or sneaking out to fuss the dogs! Outside of the office, Holly’s favourite hobby is embarrassing her 3 daughters by any means possible.
The History of Overtown Manor
Overtown Manor was built in 1697, with the Victorian wing added in 1879 following a fire.
The White family arrived in 1916, when Nancy’s great-grandparents, Fred and Louise White, came from Somerset after Fred was injured at Gallipoli during the First World War. They purchased the farm and manor in 1921.
During the 1930s, when cheap imported wheat made farming difficult, Louise famously stopped the farm from being sold. Instead, the family bought 2,000 chickens, creating a thriving poultry business that helped secure Overtown’s future.
During the Second World War, RAF officers were billeted at the manor, where Louise, her daughter Pat and the household staff cooked for them despite wartime rationing.
Nancy’s parents moved to Overtown in 1974, with her father farming the land and her mother running a racehorse training yard while restoring the house over the following decades.
Nancy inherited Overtown Manor in 2010, transforming it into the luxury bed and breakfast, cookery school and meeting venue it is today.
After the challenges of the pandemic temporarily forced the family to leave their home, they were delighted to return and reopen, continuing more than a century of family history at Overtown Manor.
A photo of my Grandparents outside the main entrance in the 1960s