Greys Court

On a recent trip to an overnight stay in Reading we made use of our National Trust membership and visited Greys Court. It isn't somewhere I'd heard of and I still don't fully understand its history but it was a beautiful place.

It was recorded in the 1086 Domesday book as Redrefeld, an area that covers Greys Court and Rotherfield Greys, the nearby village.

There's lots of history linking the area to the Court of kings over many decades but the original fortification and Tower were constructed in the 1300s, part of which are evident today. 

From the early 1400s the house passed through many families and generations starting with the Lovells. Although they repaired much of the property the family estate was seized by King Henry VII and eventually passed to tge Knollys family in the 1500s as Sir Francis Knollys held a senior position in Queen Elizabth I's court.

It was Sir Francis who developed and extended the house, it was passed to his nephew Robert and subsequently damaged in the Civil War as he died with King Charles I.

Through marriage the house then passed to the Stapleton family who made their fortune in the Caribbean owning several sugar plantations which were worked by slaves.

Sir William Stapleton, 4th Baronet, resided at Greys Court but despite his mother giving him money from her Caribbean estates and inheriting money from his father he amounted many debts and did little to upkeep the house.

His son, and later grandson, did work on the house, adding the Dairy, bow windows and internal plaster decorations.

In 1934 the house was bought by Evelyn Fleming who renovated much of the house. Her children, one of her sons was Ian Femming who wrote the James Bond novels, did not like the house and so it was sold to the Brunner family and the house became a family home. 

The house and estate were given to the National Trust in 1969 but the family lived there until their deaths, Felix in 1982 and Elizabeth in 2003.  

All the rooms had familiar furniture and decor, reminding us both of our grandparents and things they had. There was nothing overly old or special inside the house but it was very interesting to look around.

The gardens were lovely, many different areas that each had a focus. The estate is over 75 hectares with two marked walks but a too hot day for us to go walking. 

Just outside the house overlooking the beautiful lawn was a very striking tree with cocoa coloured branches and bright leaves. I have never seen this tree before and have discovered it is a hybrid strawberry tree (Arbutus andrachnoides). It is known for its peeling bark and strawberry-like fruit although we didn't see any fruit.

The gardens were beautiful if showing signs of the heatwave, I imagine they have suffered more as the high temperatures have continued. One garden lead to another, each with a different feature plant. The gardens have developed over the life of the estate with some dating back to the Lovells.

Greys Court was a lovely place to visit and a great stop over if traveling south. It has a good cafe, National Trust shop and a good picnic area by the car park. We had a lovely time exploring the house and walking through the beautiful gardens.

Southwell Workhouse

A while ago we visited Southwell Workhouse in Nottinghamshire. Built in 1824 to house the local destitute it's now maintained by the National Trust.

Each parish had to pay to support their poor so in the early 1800s the local parishes got together and built the Workhouse to house everyone.

The ethos of the Workhouse was everyone worked together; gardening, cooking, cleaning, teaching te young. Men and women had seperate areas, even outside.

I expected big large dormatories but instead there were lots of smaller bedrooms, each with many many beds. Some of the larger beds had people sleeping head to toe, especially children.

There was quite a large school room, education was important as it was hoped the children would get a better life.

For such a large building the kitchen was quite small, it would have been a very hot busy place to work.

As would the laundry, certainly a more manual job than our modern push a button washing machines.

As late as the 1970s the Workhouse was used as social housing with the rooms being set up as bedsit. Some housed large families and are set up to show how cramped the conditions were.

It was an interesting place to visit, not what I expected and although life would have been very hard it did give some hope to those in hard times.

Coventry Charterhouse - National Trust

National Trust have been working on saving Coventry's Charterhouse which has had a varied history over hundreds of years. Although I lived in Coventry for a short while I didn't know about it although Hubby who was born in city did know it was there.

It is not a furnished property, National Trust have focused on the building and how it has changed with various occupants. Built in the late 1300s it was originally a monastery with cloisters and a church, both destroyed in Henry VIIIs reformation. During the reign of Elizabeth I it was home to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and later John Whittingham who built the walled garden and cultivated a nursery. The house and grounds did fall into decline after beings a children's home, an old aged pensiors house and a training centre.

Inside the house there are many examples of the various occupants and styles of the times. One of the main changes is the addition of a second floor splitting the monastery's original huge dining hall in two and making more rooms on a first and second floor.

On the first floor there remains some amazing wall paintings. They are thought to have survived thanks to subsequent owners covering them with panelling. The black and white painting is from the 1500s and depicts wealth with fruits and plants, it has had additions as it is not all by the same artist, the main figure may be depicting Robert Dudley. 

The coloured painting has been split by the addition of the second floor, this is apparent with it showing only the lower part of people, in particular Jesus's crucification being just his feet on the cross.

Outside there is evidence of the church with one wall remaining and it is hoped some archaeology be done on the site to discover more. There has already been some features of the cloisters found, these have been placed in one of the garden walls. In the far corner a apple store still survived, thought to be an 18th century folly. 

It was a great day exploring a local National Trust property with of course a coffee and scone in the cafe. With extensive parkland it's a great place to visit, a lovely green space in the middle of Coventry, I hope we visit again when the plants and flowers are in bloom. 

A weekend in Tenby

A wet November is the perfect time to look back at our holiday in Wesst Wales, although earky October it wasn't sunny when we arrived,, in fact it was a very stormy, with dy day. 

We have been to Tenby many years ago, before we were married and again when our children were young on a holiday with my Dad, so it was great to revisit. Tenby is a walled town, the medieval walls are Grade I listed and were built in the late 1200s by Llewelyn ap Gruffyydd to protect the town.

There are four gates giving access to the town and taxes charged helped maintain this impressive and important structure. The taxes provided enough income to also build a five arched entrance at the West Gate. In the late 1500s the walls were repaired with the lower sections strengthened, the walls raised by five feet and a parapet walkway added.

In the late 1700s there was less need for defences and much of the wall was dismantled leaving just the West Gate. The walls are now protected and the five way arch is an impressive entrance to the lively town that has a variety of small independent shops as well as some high street stores. 

 

Tenby has an outcrop of rock which geographically helps provide Tenby's harbour and was the perfect location for Tenby Castle. All that remains of the 12th century fortification is a tower; it's quite an exposed position with great views, the perfect position to protect the town.

In the middle of Tenby is the Merchant House, now a National Trust property this house and it's inhabitants played a key part in the  town's trading with the harbour bringing goods from all around the world. Now surrounded by other properties when built the house would have been dominant in the skyline and clearly visable from incoming boats, and with the house having a perfect view of the harbour the merchants knew exactly when a ship arrived.

Tenby is full of history and evidence of how the town has changed over centuries. There was a super Victorian post box, a rare sight and made me think about how many postcards have been sent via this red box over the decades it has stood here.

Castle Hill outcrop is also the location of Tenby RNLI's new lifeboat station, the old station is still there too. Tenby is in the far West of Wales on the Pembrokeshire peninsula and on the north coast of the Bristol Channel with Cornwall to the south. The RNLI station's location is vital for providing sea rescue on this busy channel as it leads out to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Our second day was much brighter and certainly less windy. We had previously walked into Tenby via the road but with the tide being out we enjoyed a Sunday morning stroll along the beach into the town and then along the harbour.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants in Tenby, it's a popular place for stag and hen weekends. We visited Harbwr Brewery which is located near the Merchant House. It had stopped raining and with the brewery being in one of the old alleyways it was sheltered enough to enjoy a drink outside.

We also visited Tap and Tan, this was our favourite brewery who do have a Tap Room next to the caravan site but unfortunately closed the weekend before we arrived for the winter season. There is a Tap and Tan pub restaurant in the food quarter in the town and is where we enjoyed a flight of beer, also outside as it was still dry and in a sheltered courtyard. 

Our other Tenby experience was a pot of prawns fresh from the fishmonger by the harbour. They were so fresh and far tastier than the prawns we buy in stores at home.

We had a great stay in Tenby, very different weather as you can see from our Saturday v Sunday photo. It is a place we would visit again but being the far West of Wales it's a long journey from home, however we can always have a stopover at our daughter's on the way.