Shaded, Faded Elegance

 Bishton Hall in Colwich, Staffordshire is a grade two listed Georgian house and gardens.  The present house dates from around 1750 although the estate has much earlier origins and is mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086.

From the 1770s the house belonged to the Sparrow family. John Sparrow bought the house and it eventually passed to his daughter Charlotte who added to and enlarged the mansion and built the gardens over the years.

Charlotte Sparrow was known as an educational pioneer and philanthropist.  She founded the Colwich Primary School in 1827.   She never married and lived at the hall until her death in 1876.  The Hall passed into the hands of Edward Harland, Vicar of Colwich and then Major Charles Wood who lived there until 1945.  In 1946 it became St Bede's Preparatory School.

The Orangery

The Temple Garden was probably designed and built in the 1830s, possibly by local architect James Trubshaw . It was certainly completed by 1838 when it was painted by Thomas Peploe Wood who came from nearby Great Haywood. 

 

It is thought to be one of the finest Doric screens in the country.

There is also a woodland walk and fairy trail.

In the courtyard there are several shops and Sparrow's Tea room.  As we walked around we saw many butterflies especially around the Buddleias, all too busy to sit still for photographs. 

In 2019 the hall was bought by Charles Hanson and it is now the headquarters of Hanson Auctioneers.  There are two salesrooms in the gardens, one of them in what looks like a WWI hut.

It really is a gem of a place to visit and wander around.  Both garden entrance and parking are free.  There are plenty of shady areas to both sit and walk, much needed on the day we visited.

The Ha-Ha Walk

 Last week's visit and walk took us to Biddulph Grange Gardens.  It was raining when we arrived so we decided to stop for coffee and a scone first and by the time we came out of the café the rain had petered out and there was a watery sun in the sky.

The Fuchsias in the urns down each side of the steps were looking wonderful.

We wandered down the Lime Avenue and discovered at the bottom that the Ha Ha Walk was open again.  We'd walked it once but then it seemed to close for quite a while .

The walk runs along between the sunken wall of the Ha-Ha and the metal fencing belonging to the country park.

The wall is a great haven for plants and wildlife.

Everywhere was leaf strewn.

About halfway along is a small diversion into a wildlife area.

Bird feeders and insect hotels

Lots of fungus too on fallen trees

The Ha Ha Walk comes out on to the Wellingtonia Walk.

When we first visited Biddulph Grange these were small saplings that had just been planted.

Look at them now after nearly thirty years of growth.

The steps and walk up to the Geological Gallery.

Above is the area where James Bateman's Music House stood.

Below, inside James Bateman's Geological Gallery.

All for now.  Take care.

Busy

 The first three days of September have been busy with work on the conservatory taking up to two or three days of each week.  All was completed yesterday and now we are getting back to normal and things are finally finding their homes again.

In between the work and also the rain we've had a couple of days out and about.  

When we visit the Peak Wildlife Park we always head straight for the Red Pandas.  There are two sisters Esha and Riya.  They are both gorgeous.

We also always look for the Red Squirrels and this one was spotted scampering about.

I've realised that I'm drawn to 'Red'  animals and our Red Fox garden visitor is always welcome.  Having said that I'm also fond of cats and hares.

A few days ago we visited Little Moreton Hall in our quest to visit all the nearby National Trust properties at least once this year.  We've now done all three local ones.  It's time to venture further afield.

I've taken you to Little Moreton Hall, a moated manor house, many times on this blog, usually for special events at Christmas or Midsummer.

I've added a few more photos of things that caught my eye during our visit which included lunch of a cheese scone in the tiny tea shop.

All for now.  Take care.

Monday

 On Monday we visited Ilam (pronounced eye-lamb) Park, in the Staffordshire Village of Ilam.  It is a 158 acre site which sits on either side of the River Manifold. It's managed by the National Trust.

  It seems ages since we last walked there.  I'd have to search back through my photos to see when it was.  I searched on here and came up with a post of November 2021, so possibly that was the last time.   

Ilam Hall, which was re-built and re-designed in the 1820s by the Watts-Russell family, was donated to the National Trust in 1934.  The main hall is leased to The Youth Hostel Association.

How the hall used to look before part of it was demolished in the 1930s.

Above The Church of the Holy Cross. 

The remains of a Saxon Cross on Paradise Walk. It was found in the foundations of a cottage in the village of Ilam in the 1840s.

Morning Coffee at the tea rooms and a visit to the bookshop before a quick photograph of another wallaby.

This one is Walla-B Fierce painted and illustrated by Ella Kasperowicz in collaboration with Pride in the Moorlands.

It was a lovely morning for a walk, dry and not too warm. There were lots of families enjoying themselves on the Mole Trail.

It was time to move on to our next destination for lunch and another wallaby.  I'll save that for a later post.