Sudbury Hall is a fine Jacobian mansion and estate, created by the wealthy George Vernon. It has long included a Museum of Childhood and in 2022 was rebranded ‘The Children’s Country House at Sudbury’. This includes the museum, focussing on the experience of childhood, the hall and garden. The hall is now specifically aimed at younger visitors, with over 12 rooms created with and for children.
Boscobel House – ‘Boscobel’ comes from ‘bosco bello’, or ‘beautiful wood’, possibly a secluded site where Roman Catholics could feel relatively safe – is a 17th century farm, extended and refurbished in the 19th century. Its fame is as a hiding place for the future King Charles II following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Charles hid in one of two ‘priest holes’ in the house, having first (and more famously) escaped detection by climbing an oak tree in the grounds.
Oliver Cromwell, once the most powerful man in the land and leader of the only republican government in Britain’s history, had a family house in Ely for 10 years. This is it.
Oliver Cromwell’s House Read More »
Ashby St Ledgers is a small, attractive, village between Daventry and Rugby. The largely Jacobean manor, remnodelled in the 20th century, was owned by the Catesby family from 1365 to 1611 and the gatehouse is famous for being the place where the Gunpowder Plot was planned. Neither gatehouse nor manor is open to the general public, but the manor is available for private hire. Also in the village is a wonderful medieval church, dedicated to St Leodegarius, a pub (the Olde Coach House) and a series of attractive thatched estate workers’ cottages designed by Lutyens.
York’s Treasurers’ House, once occupied by the Treasurer to the adjacent Minster, is a gem. It was vastly refurbished in Edwardian style by a wealthy industrialist and is reputedly haunted – including by Roman soldiers.
Treasurers’ House, York Read More »
Dunham Massey is a 17th century estate, packed with treasures, used as hospital during WW1 and training facility in WW2.
Historic Christchurch Greyfriars, destroyed in the Great Fire and again by German bombs, is now a tranquil, haunted, garden.
Christchurch Greyfriars Read More »
