Little Moreton Hall

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After a good night’s sleep we awoke to a glorious morning. It was bit early for Kath and Albert to be up and about so we dragged out our maps and guides and started trying to decide where we could visit to take advantage of the great weather. We thought about heading down to Stoke-on-Trent, but then noticed a couple of National Trust properties near Congleton that sounded like they might be worth a visit.

After a full English breakfast Albert asked us what we might like to do with the day. We told him that we thought it might be nice to go for a drive down to Little Moreton Hall, a Tudor manor house, near Congleton. Albert thought that sounded OK so we planned to head off straight after a quick visit to the plant sale down at the allotments that would be starting at 11.00am.

Just before 11.00am we drove down the road to the allotments to catch the start of the plant sale. It was incredibly busy with lots of locals out to secure themselves a plant bargain early on. The people at the allotments have been preparing all of the stock themselves for months - growing things from seeds and cuttings, pricking them out as they came on and finally potting them up for sale today. There were all sorts of edible varieties for the vege garden as well as flowing plants for people’s flower beds. Albert bought a couple of tomato plants and Kath bought some seedlings for her flower beds.

We popped the plants back home and swapped over to our car. There’s no point us paying for a hire car and leaving it sitting in the driveway all day!! Bernie programmed TomTom - it has all the UK National Trust properties loaded in - and off we went. Albert, with his local knowledge, didn’t think much of the route that TomTom has planned so it wasn’t long before we deviated from than and took the scenic route to Congleton. As we travelled closer to our final destination and further from Albert’s local area, Bernie switched TomTom back on and she had us at Little Moreton Hall in no time.

Little Moreton Hall was very impressive from first view. It is a rather large Tudor manor house that is coloured in the traditional way with black timbers and white plaster lath infill. The effect of the black and white building against the glorious blue sky today was dazzling and Bernie and I were snapping away like mad to capture the image!! You could see straight away that subsidence has been an issue with this house as it was quiet higgledy piggledy to look at with one end of the building dropping away quite dramatically!

We walked over the moat and into the courtyard of the manor house just in time to join onto the end of the 12.15pm tour of the property. The guide was just finishing off telling the tourists the order in which various wings of the house were completed. Of course all of it was completed well before Australia was even colonized!

From the courtyard we proceeded around the back of the manor house where the guide told us about the addition of the huge chimney breast and explained the significance of the small arched niche in the brickwork. It was a bee bole - basically a nice warm place where the family could keep its beehive over winter so that they would still have honey to sweeten their food.

Next we were taken into the great hall. Once again, the guide explained how the house took shape over the years pointing out the evidence of a ceiling having been in place at one time and minstrel’s gallery that had been filled in. She also explained that the flagstone floor and glazed windows were later additions to the home. We then had a lesson in English as the guide explained the origin of words and phrases like: threshold, above board, side board and chairman, while showing us a couple of magnificent original pieces of furniture. The spice cabinet was especially impressive.

We proceeded on through the parlour, withdrawing rooms and family chapel and continued to be impressed with the condition of the furniture and decorations in a building with such a long and checkered past. While the home remained in the family until it was bestowed upon the National Trust early last century it was tenanted by farmers for many years and many features were paneled over or put to different use. For example the family chapel was at one time being used as a cold store!

After the tour we went up into the gallery where there was a room guide who talked us through the many features of this room. If this part of the house looked higgledy piggledy from the outside that was nothing on the effect on the inside. The fall from the centre to the sides and towards the front of the building was astonishing! After the guide had finished telling us about it, it was hard to comprehend how a house built on swampy ground with no footings and tons of local slate on the roof can still be standing after more than three centuries!

Next we explored the gardens a little with a stroll though the knot garden and along the moat around the house with an ice-cream purchased in the grounds of the house. We noted that the moat has some reasonably sized carp in it! After this we needed to head back to Stalybridge as arrangements had been made to meet Colin and Lucy at the ‘Hare and Hounds’ - Kath and Albert’s newly re-opened local pub. I was disappointed that we did not have the time to explore the ‘ruin’ on the top of a nearby hill. An enquiry of the National Trust staff as we were heading back to the car park confirmed that it was ‘Mow Cop’ a folly that was actually built to resemble a ruined castle! It is only about 45 minutes from Stalybridge, maybe we can come back another day?

We met Colin and Lucy at the pub and enjoyed a drink (or was it two?) in the beer garden. The weather is just perfect for drinking in the beer garden. I’m sure we would have had more than a couple if we had noted needed to get back home to catch the second half of Manchester United’s last game of the season! And I am sure that if Man U’s position at the top of the premier league was not already a done deal that we would have been home to watch the whole game.

After the game it was warm enough to eat dinner out on the patio before ending the day with a couple of games of cards. Bernie is on a roll at the moment with another win tonight!

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