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Osterley Park House, set in 357 acres of garden, parkland and farmland just off the A4 in Hounslow, west London, was originally built by Sir Thomas Gresham, Queen Elizabeth I’s financial adviser, in 1562. In 1683 it was bought by Nicholas Barbon, who used it as security to raise a large sum of money, but the house fell into disrepair and Barbon himself died in debt. In 1713 the house was acquired by Sir Francis Child, the founder of Child and Co. bank, in payment of the loan, and it became the Child family’s country house. In 1761 Sir Francis’s grandson, also called Francis, commissioned leading architect Robert Adam to transform it into the elegant neo-classical villa that can be seen today.

The ghost at Osterley is known as ‘the lady in white’. She is a beautiful lady in a white flowing dress who appears near the left-hand arch under the main stairway leading to the entrance of the house. She then moves towards the doorway and disappears. She usually makes her appearance at 4.30 in the afternoon and has been seen by both estate workers and visitors to the house.

The lady’s identity is not known for certain, but it is possible that she is the ghost of Sarah Anne Child, the family’s sole heir, who eloped to Gretna Green in 1782, when she was 18, with John Fane, son of the ninth Earl of Westmorland. Her father was so angry at the marriage that he changed his will so that the estate did not pass to the Westmorland family. Eventually it was inherited by Sarah’s daughter Sarah Sophia Fane and passed down her family until it was given to the National Trust in 1949.

Today the house and grounds are open to the public. There is a tea room, shop, farm shop and educational facilities, and the property may be hired for weddings and private functions.

Osterley Park House, Jersey Road, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 4RB; Tel:020 8232 5050 (visitor services), (01494) 755566 (info line); Fax:020 8232 5080; Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk