Houghton House is a Grade 1 listed building surviving as a ruined house located near Houghton Conquest in Bedfordshire and owned by English Heritage. With an enviable setting above the surrounding countryside, it commands excellent views, and can be visited during daylight hours.

The house was built in approximately 1615 for the writer, translator, and literary patron Mary Sidney Herbert, Dowager Countess of Pembroke (born 27 October 1561), but she died of smallpox on 25 September 1621, not long after its completion. It is said that the house was the model for House Beautiful in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and functioned as an elaborate Hunting Lodge of striking design.

Houghton House fell into disuse during the nineteenth century before being bought by English Heritage who started conservation work in 2006, which continues to this day.

Sadly, the brick-built building has more recently been the target of vandals as well as suffering exposure to the weather in its elevated location.

Solvent Solutions gained the contract to remove the graffiti and generally restore the stonework to pristine condition contacted ESL, the industrial cleaning equipment company, to provide the specialist cleaning equipment required.

“We have worked with ESL and their Torbo dustless blasting systems on the Houghton House contract.  We have been delighted with the results achieved. The graffiti and weather damage was quickly removed and the quality of the surface finish was up to the extremely exacting standards required. The Torbocar was flexible, efficient and clean and ESL provided first class service and support. I would strongly recommend Torbo systems and ESL for exacting building restoration work” (Solvent Solutions).