During World War II the house was used for children evacuated from Durlston Court School that was in Dorset at the time but now in Hampshire.

[6] The outside of the house includes a walled garden as part of a wider area of parkland,[7] with substantial gatepiers at the entrance to the drive.

The oval croquet lawn where Walter Wingfield developed and tested his invention is center stage at the entrance of the house.

When Walter died in 1912 he left his estate to his first cousin Constance Combe along with the lawn tennis patent signed by Queen Victoria, and all of his possessions.

His magnificent portrait hangs above the ornate fireplace at Earnshill along with Olive Combe’s Wimbledon trophy,[11] from when she won the Singles Croquet Championship.