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Little Moreton Hall

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A photo of Little Moreton Hall, a Tudor house

Back in March, I listed the National Trust properties reachable from our home that we hadn’t been to. Last month, we were able to tick Little Moreton Hall off that list.

Now, I’m reasonably sure that I’ve visited Little Moreton Hall before, but if I did, it would’ve been in the 1990s. Certainly, I don’t have any photos of it saved anywhere. In any case, neither Christine, nor our nine-year-old had visited before.

Little Moreton Hall probably classes as being one of the National Trust’s medium-sized properties. During the English Civil War in the 17th Century, the Moreton family backed the Royalists loyal to Charles I. The hall was later confiscated by the government, and much of the surrounding land ended up being used for farming. So whilst the hall itself has survived, it sits on a relatively small site – unlike other grand homes in the countryside, you don’t spend five minutes driving through parkland full of deer.

Wonky

What Little Moreton Hall is best known for is that it’s very wonky. If you look at the photo above, it’s as if someone accidentally dropped the hall from a height, and it’s got bent out of shape. The reason for its wonkiness is partly due to a lack of deep foundations, but also its owners adding a third floor on top without taking the extra load into account. As such, the Long Gallery on the top floor has a very uneven floor, and until quite recently remained out of bounds for visitors. The National Trust has had to work hard to sure up the building and allow all parts to be opened to the public.

Originally the hall was H-shaped, with the dining hall and what is now a tea room in the oldest part. Subsequent extensions have made it look like an inverse ‘C’ from above. Around the hall is a moat, and access is via a bridge and through a gateway, above which sits the Long Gallery. Oh, and the original toilets, which opened out onto the moat. Lovely.

As well as the hall, on the island formed by the moat are some small formal gardens. They’re not very extensive – it’s a small site after all – but they’re well maintained. The moat itself is home to a number of different species of duck.

The Long Gallery at Little Moreton Hall

Inside Little Moreton Hall

The interior is laid out largely as it would have been during its heydays in Tudor times. The family crest for the Moreton family features a wolf, and so there are a number of toy wolves, dressed in different outfits, dotted around the rooms. There’s also a focus on how people in Tudor times slept, as a result of a research project with the University of Manchester. In those days, people would sleep propped up on pillows, to aid digestion, and have various sleepy herbs around to help them nod off. One of the beds has an embroidered bed spread featuring these herbs.

The Long Gallery at the top is probably the highlight – it has plenty of windows and so is a very light space, especially on the sunny day that we visited.

Accessibility

As befits an old house known for its wonkiness, access isn’t great. There is step-free access to the hall, where you can view photos of the other rooms, but to see them in person you’ll need to be able use steps. The Long Gallery is atop quite a narrow spiral staircase.

Limited parking is available on site; you may struggle to find a space on weekend afternoons in the summer. There are no electric parking facilities; we ended up charging our car in nearby Congleton where there are two sites with rapid chargers (though neither were working). An infrequent bus service between Alsager and Congleton runs Monday-Saturday, and at three miles away, Kidsgrove is the nearest railway station.

Our 2025 holiday: Plas Newydd

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A photo of Plas Newydd, looking up from the sea wall along the Menai Strait

After visiting Beaumaris Castle in the morning, the second place we visited on Anglesey was Plas Newydd (Welsh for ‘New House’). It’s a large country house overlooking the Menai Strait, originally started in the 15th Century but substantially rebuilt in the 18th Century. Nowadays, it’s in the care of the National Trust, who look after both the house and its gardens. The house is presented largely as it would have been in the 1950s.

We went around the house first. Not all of the rooms are open to view; though the National Trust have cared for it since 1976, until around 10 years ago people still lived in the property. The dining room is home to a huge painting by Rex Whistler, which was the largest ever canvas painting in the UK when it was unveiled in the 1930s. A previous owner of Plas Newydd, Henry William Paget, fought in the Battle of Waterloo where he lost a leg – the house has an exhibition about him including one of his prosthetic legs. He was awarded the title of ‘Marquess of Anglesey’ for his bravery.

The 5th Marquess of Anglesey, Henry Cyril Paget, was a rather flamboyant character who inherited Plas Newydd in 1898. He converted the chapel into a theatre, where he performed in what we would now most likely describe as drag. Whilst he was born into great wealth, ultimately he ended up bankrupt six years later in 1904, and died the following year. Many of his costumes were subsequently sold in the ‘Great Anglesey Sale’. However, some photographs survive, and visitors are invited to dance in one of the rooms, as the 5th Marquess would have done.

The gardens at Plas Newydd

Gardens

There are some formal gardens at Plas Newydd, on the slope down to the Menai Strait, and there are great views across the Strait towards Caernarfon. There’s also plenty of parkland, including an arboretum. Anglesey is also one of the few remaining places in Britain with wild populations of native red squirrels, and there’s a feeding station in the arboretum. We didn’t get a chance to visit this, unfortunately, and we didn’t see any red squirrels during our time in Anglesey.

As it’s the summer holidays, there were plenty of activities for kids as part of the Summer of Play event that runs until the end of this month.

Accessibility

For the house, only the ground floor is accessible to those who can’t use stairs. There is a step-free route from the car park to the house, but not all routes across the parkland are step-free and it is on a slope.

When we visited, five electric car chargers were being installed in the car park – these appear to be operational now, offering 7 kW medium-speed charging on the RAW Power network. Bus services pass the site on Mondays-Saturdays, or it’s a roughly 2 mile walk from Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch station, if you want to catch the train.

Beningbrough Hall

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Beningbrough Hall

Easter Monday, despite being a bank holiday, was quite a nice day. So, we went to Beningbrough Hall, near York, with my parents in tow.

I’ve been before, as it’s not far from my parents’ house, and it’s a National Trust property. My parents have been National Trust members for years, and I also joined some time ago. Unfortunately, there aren’t many properties near us in West Yorkshire. East Riddlesden Hall is the nearest to where we live, and so I don’t get many chances to use my membership. So it was nice to be able to get some return on my membership fees. Plus, Christine has never been.

We didn’t go inside the hall itself, although I later found out that there’s a children’s playroom inside – dammit! Beningbrough Hall is a northern outpost of the National Portrait Gallery, and so there are many paintings inside.

Instead, we strolled around the gardens. They’re not the biggest, but they’re pretty and well-kept. Being Easter, there was the usual Cadbury’s Egg Hunt taking place. Our one-year-old was a bit young for this, but I think they’ll enjoy it next year.

There’s also a good outdoor playground. Again, it’s better for bigger kids, but our one-year-old enjoyed the swings. During school holidays, there are opportunities to build dens in the wood, and various other activities to keep children entertained.

As usual, there are photos on Flickr.

A day out at Chatsworth

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Chatsworth House

I booked a day off work on Wednesday, and we went on a road trip to the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire. The estate is owned by the Duke of Devonshire, and has been in the Cavendish family since the 16th century. There’s a large stately home, gardens, a farm, an adventure playground, and a farm shop, all open to the public.

Christine and I have both been to Chatsworth before, but separately; Christine lived in nearby Chesterfield about ten years ago, and I’d been with my parents in August 2003. Going back was always on our to-do list, and now that we have a car, getting there and back in a day from Sowerby Bridge became do-able.

Google Maps did its usual thing of offering a choice of routes. There was the expected route on the motorways, via Sheffield, or a more direct and scenic one through the Peak District National Park. As it was sunny and the two routes would take about the same amount of time, we chose the latter. It was a great drive, which took in part of the route taken by the riders of the Tour de France when Yorkshire hosted the Grand Départ in 2014. Alas, a couple of sections of road were shut and we arrived about 15 minutes later than planned, due to diversions.

Arriving at lunchtime, our first activity was to fill our rather empty stomachs. Chatsworth offers a number of places to eat, although as we came on a relatively quiet Wednesday, our choice was limited to a couple of outlets in the Stables Courtyard. We went for the self-service restaurant on the basis that the tea room across the way would have probably maxed out my credit card. I’m sure the food is exquisite, but our budget doesn’t quite stretch that far as yet. In any case, the restaurant food was good, and it was busy, suggesting that locals with money to spare come here just to eat.

Guinea Pigs

Our first post-lunch visit was to the farmyard – a part of the estate that I haven’t been to before. It’s not quite as big as the farm at Temple Newsam, and did cost more to get in, but there were more staff on hand to talk about the animals. We got introduced to Maggie the sheep, and were allowed to pet a days old chick that had recently hatched. The farm has over 30 guinea pigs and there are regular handling sessions throughout the day. Entrance to the adventure playground is included with the farm ticket, and I’m sure our little poppet will love it when they’re a bit older.

Afterwards, we went to look around the gardens. Sadly we only managed a small section – enough to get the classic photo of the house and fountain at the bottom, and to go into the temperate house. The temperate house includes some banana trees; Chatsworth was where the Cavendish banana was first cultivated. It’s now the most commonly-eaten banana in the world. We would have stayed longer, but in between baby feeds and staying out of the rain, which was starting to fall by the afternoon, we didn’t manage the upper sections of the gardens.

We called in at the farm shop on the way home. The Chatsworth Farm Shop is regularly voted one of the best in Britain, and it’s easy to see why – it’s huge, and the staff are knowledgable. We picked up some locally-cured bacon and sausages, made from pigs from farms on the estate, and some local cheese. If you’re a foodie, then the farm shop alone is worth the visit.

For the drive home, we decided to take the motorway route. But we had good day out and I’m sure we’ll be back there before too long.

Newby Hall

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Newby Hall

Over the Mayday weekend, Christine and I went to Newby Hall with my parents. It’s a privately owned manor house, which, along with its extensive gardens, is open to the public. I used to go there a lot when I was younger as there’s a brilliant adventure playground for kids, but this was my first visit there in a long time.

I’ve uploaded the photos that I took to Flickr. There’s a miniature railway with a train in the colours of UK train operator Grand Central, which was a little amusing, and at this time of year there are plenty of gorgeous flowers. Plus there’s a very nice farm shop as well.

It’s not quite as impressive as Chatsworth, but it’s still a good day out, and caters for almost everyone.