Days Out: Part Three
Aug. 27th, 2017 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitAnd so we come to the last of our days out. I wanted to see both Berrington Hall and Croft Castle, which are close to each other near Leominster. Since this is a ninety minute drive SM suggested we do both but stay somewhere overnight, which we leave us enough time to enjoy looking round both places. It would also feel like a proper end of summer trip. So we stayed overnight in Leominster.
Our first visit was to Croft Castle. This is not the original castle, which was built as one of a string of castles in the Border Marches to keep out the Welsh. That castle was replaced by an Elizabethan manor house, which was again replaced by a pseudo-castle by the Bishop of Hereford after Charles II's restoration to the throne.
There is also an old church, which dates from the 1350s, which houses memorials to some of the family. The tomb is of Sir Richard Croft, who fought in several battles including Mortimer's Cross and Tewkesbury, during the Wars of the Roses on the Yorkist side, and then managed to support Henry Tudor and became Sheriff of Herefordshire.
The flowers in the Walled Garden were stunning. In addition, there were apples in the small orchard, and the grapes growing on the vines. I shall make a separate post of the flowers in a couple of weeks, but this is just an idea.
The following day we went to Berrington Hall. This is a Georgian mansion, with the gardens designed by Capability Brown and the house designed by his son-in-law, Henry Holland.
We were less impressed with this one. However, we did go on a 'Below Stairs' tour and were fortunate to have a really good guide. Having seen the first couple of rooms we were encouraged to sit around the servants' dining table, where each one of us was allocated a role in the household (footman, governess, various maids etc). He explained to each of us what our role involved and as we continued around the lower part of the house he would explain more, addressing the relevant person 'here's where you would store the pickles you had made'. SM was the butler (who would have had a drink problem, since one of his responsibilities was decanting the casks of wine into bottles) and I was the housekeeper. I rather liked my role!
The house itself was fairly uninspiring, with the usual pictures on the wall, and a selection of period furniture. For me, the main interest was the pictures in the dining room, which showed two of the sea battles of Admiral Rodney, who was the father of the second owner of the house. There was a pond, which we walked round, but it looked rather neglected, which was sad. However, it was a lovely sunny day, so the walk was enjoyable.
Our first visit was to Croft Castle. This is not the original castle, which was built as one of a string of castles in the Border Marches to keep out the Welsh. That castle was replaced by an Elizabethan manor house, which was again replaced by a pseudo-castle by the Bishop of Hereford after Charles II's restoration to the throne.
There is also an old church, which dates from the 1350s, which houses memorials to some of the family. The tomb is of Sir Richard Croft, who fought in several battles including Mortimer's Cross and Tewkesbury, during the Wars of the Roses on the Yorkist side, and then managed to support Henry Tudor and became Sheriff of Herefordshire.
The flowers in the Walled Garden were stunning. In addition, there were apples in the small orchard, and the grapes growing on the vines. I shall make a separate post of the flowers in a couple of weeks, but this is just an idea.
The following day we went to Berrington Hall. This is a Georgian mansion, with the gardens designed by Capability Brown and the house designed by his son-in-law, Henry Holland.
We were less impressed with this one. However, we did go on a 'Below Stairs' tour and were fortunate to have a really good guide. Having seen the first couple of rooms we were encouraged to sit around the servants' dining table, where each one of us was allocated a role in the household (footman, governess, various maids etc). He explained to each of us what our role involved and as we continued around the lower part of the house he would explain more, addressing the relevant person 'here's where you would store the pickles you had made'. SM was the butler (who would have had a drink problem, since one of his responsibilities was decanting the casks of wine into bottles) and I was the housekeeper. I rather liked my role!
The house itself was fairly uninspiring, with the usual pictures on the wall, and a selection of period furniture. For me, the main interest was the pictures in the dining room, which showed two of the sea battles of Admiral Rodney, who was the father of the second owner of the house. There was a pond, which we walked round, but it looked rather neglected, which was sad. However, it was a lovely sunny day, so the walk was enjoyable.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-28 05:15 pm (UTC)I'm sorry you were disappointed by Berrington House but the tour sounds fun.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-28 05:19 pm (UTC)I suspect Berrington Hall also lost out because we'd already been to Croft, and there are certain National Trust aspects which are constant. But I don't feel it was a waste of time, just not as good as we'd hoped.