Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
Sir Stirling Moss was one of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival.
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
The oldest existing rules for the game were drawn up for a match between the 2nd Duke and a neighbour
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
4 doors in the lodge were rescued from salvage and expertly split to ensure they meet modern fire standards before being fitted.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
FOS Favourite Mad Mike Whiddett can be caught melting tyres in his incredible collection of cars (and trucks) up the hillclimb
Spectate from the chicane at the Revival to see plenty of classic cars going sideways as they exit this infamous point of our Motor Circuit.
Goodwood Motor Circuit was officially opened in September 1948 when Freddie March, the 9th Duke and renowned amateur racer, tore around the track in a Bristol 400
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
Sir Stirling Moss was one of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival.
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
One Summer, King Edward VII turned his back on the traditional morning suit, and donned a linen suit and Panama hat. Thus the Glorious Goodwood trend was born.
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
Sir Stirling Moss was one of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival.
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
Testament to the 19th-century fascination with ancient Egypt and decorative opulence. The room is richly detailed with gilded cartouches, sphinxes, birds and crocodiles.
The origins of the collection lay in the possessions of Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, and Duchess of Aubigny in France, to whom some of the paintings originally belonged.
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
A temple-folly guarded by two sphinxes, the beautiful shell house was built in 1748 with collected shells and the floor made from horse teeth.
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The oldest existing rules for the game were drawn up for a match between the 2nd Duke and a neighbour
Goodwood’s pigs are a mix of two rare breeds (Gloucester Old Spots and Saddlebacks) plus the Large White Boar.
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
For centuries, Goodwood’s mighty sweet chestnut trees have been an invaluable source of timber, fuel and food.
Words by Darren Norris
trees
nature
estate
farm
Sweet chestnut is thought to have been introduced into Britain by the Romans and has remained a much-loved feature of the landscape since then. Goodwood’s specimens don’t go back quite that far, but there are some very fine and ancient examples on the estate, as well as almost 100 acres of sustainably managed, coppiced trees.
These coppiced trees have two distinct roles at Goodwood. Because the timber is fast-growing and durable, it is ideal for fencing. Festival of Speed requires 6,000 chestnut posts each year, used to hold the bales in place on the Hillclimb. We can’t produce that many ourselves, so we supplement our own posts with some bought locally. The other main use is as biomass fuel for heating and hot water at Hound Lodge – chestnut timber is particularly suitable for this as it has a high calorific value when burned.
In contrast to the coppiced workhorse of the woods, a sweet chestnut, if planted singly with plenty of room, will grow into a magnificent tree, up to 30m tall, with a wide, spreading canopy. Within the park there are five of these ancient chestnuts with broad, gnarly trunks, deeply fissured bark and stag-headed branches. The leaves are shaped like serrated spear-heads and the bright yellow flowers hang on 15-25cm catkins that shed their pollen in late June. These aged stalwarts of the park are thought to be of 16th-century origin, when the planting of sweet chestnut as a parkland tree was very much in vogue.
By far the largest group of these standards can be found in Halnaker Park – also part of Goodwood and formerly a deer park in medieval times – which are the most impressive specimens on the estate. Many of them have died back in the crown from their former glory and now stand with great curved tops of bare wood, bleached almost white by the sun and hard as stone. These are now home to families of jackdaws and rooks, with the occasional owl hiding within their dense lower canopies. My favourite among these great trees is in Redvins Copse. This tree is surrounded by a mixed plantation of ash, oak, hazel and grand fir. It stands proudly showing its scars from the devastation of the 1987 storm, great branches ripped off to jagged stumps and only a hint of what presence the tree once held within this wood. All around it was flattened in the storm and replanted in 1990.
Time is the great healer with such ancient trees and a new lower canopy has grown from the reckage, with new limbs growing up from the base and into the crown. It is scarred but full of life, with blue tits and treecreepers using the broken bark as nesting sites and greater spotted woodpeckers creating nesting holes in the deadwood stumps.
Perhaps the greatest gift from the sweet chestnut is the nut itself. Encased in a spiky cover and nestled in a soft inner lining, these shiny nuts are the best of eating for woodland creatures and humans alike. Boiled or roasted over a fire, the flesh becomes soft and floury, adding sweet depth to any dish. They have the perfect shell for easy storage over the winter months and, for the past 2,000 years, would have played an important role in helping the inhabitants of this corner of the South Downs survive the lean months into spring.
Darren Norris is forestry manager of the Goodwood Estate.
trees
nature
estate
farm