Day 165 - June 14th

Warning - very heavy photo post

Today Lara had a work conference in Birmingham and an overnight stay so we offered to drive her there and have an away day ourselves. After dropping her off at the venue we drove to Baddesley Clinton a nearby National Trust Property. 

Baddesley Clinton is a moated manor house and probably originated from the 13th century. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the house is a Grade I listed building.

We started our visit in the house and entered via the gatehouse.

The house was built and extended in different phases in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and as you walk round the house you get glimpses of the efforts made by the owners and tenants to make it more secure, comfortable and easier to run.

The Great Hall

The Great Hall

The Dining Room

The Drawing Room

Henry Ferrer's Bedroom

The house has several priest holes and the National Trist is very proud to boast that one particular priest hole, accessed from an old privy, was successfully used in 1591 when a priest and his entourage were able to sucessfully hide for several hours from the authorities. 

The Chapel

The Great Parlour subsequently used as an art studio

The Great Parlour

The Library

The Library

After looking round the house we walked round the walled garden.

The flowers in the garden were beautiful.

Beside the walled garden the kitchen garden was full of vegetables.

After a bite to eat we then walked round the lake stopping to say hello to the ducks and a squirrel.

After visiting Baddesley Clinton we decided to dive the two and a half miles down the road to another National Trust Property - Packwood House.

Packwood House is a timber-framed Tudor manor house and has been owned by the National Trust since 1941. The house is a Grade I listed building.

On arriving at the property we were invited to join a garden tour being led by the former head gardener which was due to start shortly. We were led round the garden by John who told us a bit about the history of the garden and pointed out some of the more unusal plants and features of the garden. Unfirtunately being part of a group, meant I didn't get to stop and take photos of everything I would have liked.

After our garden tour, we looked in the house. The house began as a modest timber-framed farmhouse in the 1500s but was inherited by Graham Baron Ash in 1925, who spent the following two decades creating a house of Tudor character. He purchased an extensive collection of 16th and 17th century furniture, some obtained from nearby Baddesley Clinton. 

The Long Gallery