Goddards

Goddards is an Arts and Crafts house and garden in Dringhouses, a suburb of York. Built in 1927 for Noel and Kathleen Terry of the Terry’s chocolate family, the house was designed by local architect Walter Brierley and the garden by George Dillistone. The National Trust now owns the property, using it as regional offices while opening the garden to visitors. The house is Grade I listed, and its carriage entrance is Grade II* listed. Brierley, who died before the house was finished, had designed his own home just a kilometre away on the same street. The house retains many original features, including Arts and Crafts wallpapers, panelling, and an oak-carved staircase. Its exterior shows handmade bricks in geometric patterns and decorative chimney stacks typical of Brierley’s style. The garden, designed by Dillistone, spans four acres and is divided into distinct areas such as a terrace, herbaceous borders, and enclosures for tennis and croquet. A cruciform lily pool with a reflecting pool forms the centrepiece, surrounded by a rose garden. Beyond the formal areas, the garden slopes down towards York Racecourse, with paths leading through a rock garden at the far end. Inside, the house displays period furniture arranged to recreate the 1930s atmosphere when the Terry family lived there. Exhibits include decorative chocolate packaging, a scale model of the Terry’s factory, and chocolate-inspired dishes served in the dining room. The garden once housed exotic pets like axolotls and green lizards, and a colony of midwife toads still lives there. The carriage entrance lodge, designed by Brierley, remains in residential use. The National Trust has restored the garden and reopened the house to show the Terry family’s life and the Arts and Crafts style at its finest.