Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
Our replica of the famous motor show showcases the "cars of the future" in true Revival style
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
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
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.
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.
A 20m woodland rue, from Halnaker to Lavant, was planted by our forestry teams & volunteers, featuring native species like oak, beech, & hornbeam
A bell under each place at the table to signal if butlers can come back in to the dining room, a guests privacy is always paramount.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
Legend of Goodwood's golden racing era and Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori once famously said "give me Goodwood on a summer's day and you can forget the rest".
From 2005 to present there has been a demonstration area for the rally cars at the top of the hill
Nick Heidfelds 1999 (41.6s) hillclimb record was beaten after Max Chilton in his McMurtry Spéirling fan car tore it to shreds at 39.08s in 2022!
Sir Stirling Moss was one of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival.
FOS Favourite Mad Mike Whiddett can be caught melting tyres in his incredible collection of cars (and trucks) up the hillclimb
The bricks lining the Festival of Speed startline are 100 years old and a gift from the Indianapolis Speedway "Brickyard" in 2011 to mark their centenary event!
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
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 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
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
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
The famous fighter ace, who flew his last sortie from Goodwood Aerodrome, formerly RAF Westhampnett has a statue in his honor within the airfield.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
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 Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
The Gordon Tartan has been worn by the Dukes and Duchesses over the last 300 years.
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 Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
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!
"En la rose je fleurie" or "Like the rose, I flourish" is part of the Richmond coat of Arms and motto
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
Easy boy! The charismatic Farnham Flyer loved to celebrate every win with a pint of beer. His Boxer dog, Grogger, did too and had a tendancy to steal sips straight from the glass.
Goodwood’s pigs are a mix of two rare breeds (Gloucester Old Spots and Saddlebacks) plus the Large White Boar.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
Goodwood’s pigs are a mix of two rare breeds (Gloucester Old Spots and Saddlebacks) plus the Large White Boar.
Located just a few miles from Goodwood, RAF Tangmere was a key Allied airfield during World War II, firstly as a base for Supermarine Spitfires, and later with a more clandestine purpose.
Words by Guy Walters
goodwood magazine
goodwood newsletter
Goodwood Aerodrome
If you had lived near Goodwood during World War II, you would no doubt have become accustomed to your nights being disturbed by the sound of aircraft taking off and landing at the nearby RAF Tangmere. And if you had been particularly observant, you might have noticed that these nocturnal sorties normally took place around the time of a full moon, and – if you could have glimpsed them – that the aircraft appeared to be neither fighters nor bombers.
The aircraft were in fact Westland Lysanders, and although they were originally designed to be spotter planes and for ferrying around top brass, their role at Tangmere was far more secretive and exciting. For on board were some of the bravest men and women who ever fought in the war, and whose exploits would only be widely appreciated many years later. They were, of course, members of the Special Operations Executive – more commonly known as SOE – an organisation Churchill famously directed to “go and set Europe ablaze” by carrying out acts of sabotage and fomenting local resistance movements across Nazi-occupied territories.
Looking back to the operational supper at Tangmere Cottage with our cheerful passengers just before take-off, it was almost impossible to imagine that the group would all have such terrible fates.
Some of the most celebrated SOE agents flew out of Tangmere, including Noor Inayat Khan, the organisation’s first female wireless operator, who flew from the airfield on 16 June 1943, accompanied by two other women, Diana Rowden and Cecily Lefort, who were to work as couriers. Tragically, all three women would never make it back to Tangmere. Khan would be arrested by the Gestapo in Paris in October, and despite attempting to escape, she would be executed at Dachau in September 1944. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1949. Rowden and Lefort would also be captured and executed. As one Tangmere pilot, Hugh Verity, later remarked, “Looking back to the operational supper at Tangmere Cottage with our cheerful passengers just before take-off, it was almost impossible to imagine that the group would all have such terrible fates.”
The pilots themselves were equally brave. Attached to No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron of the RAF, they had to negotiate anti-aircraft fire, fog, perilous landing-strips and of course, hostile welcoming committees that would see their planes met with a hail of German gunfire rather than friendly words from local résistants .
Today, apart from Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, open every day from 1 February to 30 November, RAF Tangmere lies abandoned, although there is now a campaign to save the airfield’s control tower, from where so many flights were cleared on moonlit nights all those decades ago.
This article was taken from the Spring 2019 edition of the Goodwood Magazine.
goodwood magazine
goodwood newsletter
Goodwood Aerodrome