Cirencester - Day 3

---

We had some light rain overnight and woke to a cooler, fresher morning which was a relief after how muggy it has been. After breakfast we set the SatNav for Sudeley Castle. We headed off in the same direction as Saturday before going across country on a very small road from the A429 to the A40. After a couple of miles on the A40 we plunged into the hedgerows again venturing between Hazleton and Hampden before doglegging over the A436 and on past Hawling before reaching Sudeley Castle near Winchcombe.

We had already purchased our tickets online this morning. It’s worth it for a 10% discount on the ticket price. When we checked in though, we discovered for £2.50 each we could join a guided introductory tour at 10.30am. So we saved ourselves some money and then we spent it again, ha, ha. We wandered up to the house via the ruins of the old tithe barn and the pond. Behind the pond they were in the process of dismantling the marquee where a wedding was held yesterday. Another beautiful setting for a wedding if you have the £££ I’m sure.

At the house we were greeted by our guide, Debbie. Debbie started her introductory on the far corner of the terrace because of the amount of noise coming from the conservatory restaurant where yesterday’s wedding party was now enjoying brunch. How much does that cost? Did the guests stay onsite overnight too? Wedding, overnight accommodation, brunch the next morning – that must be lucrative for the owners.

Debbie led us around into the courtyard and outlined the changes to the castle over the years. She explained to us that there was a fortified manor house on the site from as early as the 12^th-century, but construction of the current castle was begun in 1443 for Ralph Boteler, the Lord High Treasurer of England. Ralph built Sudeley Castle on a double courtyard plan; with the outer courtyard for his servants and men-at-arms and the inner court and its buildings for himself and his family.

The castle was later seized by the crown and became the property of King Edward IV and King Richard III. We were standing by the ruins of the famous banqueting hall that Richard III built during his occupancy of the castle.

King Henry VIII and his then wife, Anne Boleyn visited the castle in 1535 and it later became the home and final resting place of his sixth wife, Katherine Parr who remarried after the king’s death. Parr is buried in the castle’s church, making Sudeley the only privately owned castle in the world to have a Queen of England buried in its grounds. The royal grave was lost to history until the summer of 1792 when the leaden coffin was unearthed and opened to reveal Katherine’s body still largely intact. Over a number of years fabric from her dress and locks of her hair were souvenired. Rather gruesome, I’m sure! Finally the coffin was moved for the last time in 1861, to its current location in the fully restored chapel under a canopied neo-Gothic tomb.

Following its royal ownership the castle became the home of the Chandos family. The family enjoyed a close connection with Queen Elizabeth I who visited three times. On the final occasion a three-day party was held at the castle to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The extravagance of the celebrations all but bankrupted the Chandoses.

During the first English Civil War the castle was used as a military base by King Charles I and Prince Rupert. When the parliament won the war the castle was ‘slighted’ (ruined) so that it could not be used as a military base again. The castle remained largely in ruins until it was purchased in 1837 by the Dent brothers. The brothers had made their fortune making gloves and they were looking for a project. Riding past one day they saw the romantic ruins, purchased them and restored them, turning the castle once again into a family home.

After this introduction we made our own way around the exhibitions and the private apartments where no photography was allowed. As we made our way through the dining room the guide in that room was apologizing for the extra table in the room. We really hadn’t noticed the extra table until she drew our attention to it. She went on to explain that the family used the dining room last night for a private function so it had been a mad rush this morning to tidy the room for today’s visitors and the table had not yet been removed from the room. A very busy day for the Dent-Brocklehurst’s with a wedding out in the marquee and their own function in the house yesterday!

From the private apartments we ventured across to St Mary’s Church to see Katherine Parr’s tomb. The exterior of the church dates to the 15^th and 16^th centuries, but most of the interior was replaced in the 19^th-century. The rain held of for our introductory tour with Debbie at 10.30am, but she had her 11.30am group in the church to escape the rain. Although we were prepared with our umbrellas we kept our exploration of the gardens fairly short. The garden is split into ten separate gardens over 15 acres so would be lovely to explore on a sunny day. We only mad our way around the formal gardens closest to the castle buildings.

We returned to the car and programmed Snowshill Manor in. Syri was pronouncing it Snow-shill while we had been referring to it as Snows-hill. Hmn, who is correct? We arrived at Snowshill, another National Trust property and, just as we climbed out of the car, there was an ominous roll of thunder. Oh, dear, that doesn’t sound good! We walked as far as the ticket office/gift shop and Bernie decided that he really should go back to the car for his umbrella!

We made our way down to the tearoom having decided to eat again in the NT café to support the NT. I mean, we are enjoying free entry to their properties with our Australian National Trust membership, the least we can do is eat their food. Our timing was perfect, as we arrived at the tea room, the heavens opened!

The rain continued to fall heavily while we ate but very obligingly stopped when we were ready to walk up to the manor. Snowshill Manor was created by Charles Wade (1883-1956) an English artist, architect, craftsman, poet and collector. His collecting was eccentric and probably excessive as he renovated the manor that he purchased in 1919 to house his considerable collections while he and his wife, Mary, lived in a small cottage on the site!

His collecting was wide-ranging with, literally, something for everyone. Room after room of clocks, furniture, textiles and costumes, machines, bicycles, model ships and houses and one whole room dedicated to his collection of samurai armour. A guide told us that a samurai armour was recently sold for around £60,000. Wade picked up his entire collection of six, maybe eight (I didn’t count!) for £1.

And then, in the Turquoise Cellar, we found the dress-up room. I am still mounting something of a campaign to reinstate the dress-up rack where I volunteer so I dressed up to demonstrate again that other properties around the world have started offering dress-up costumes post-COVID. Unfortunately, I think the reluctance where I volunteer is due to concerns about reinforcing the colonial history of Australia BUT I hope that one day we can return to embracing both sides of the story.

With the sun out again we were able to explore the gardens at Snowshill. When he purchased the property the garden was little more than an overgrown farmyard. Working with architect Baillie Scott, Charles set about designing a series of outdoor rooms/courtyards. He certainly created many restful places through the manor’s gardens and we were lucky that the rain had stopped for us to enjoy them.

Another day, another toilet story. I keep thinking I have to stop recording stories about toilets because it seems somewhat obsessive?? However, I have to record that objects from Charles Wade’s extensive collection were even displayed in the toilet facilities at Snowshill Manor!

We walked back down to the tearoom hoping to buy ice-creams in a cone but, unfortunately, the area selling ice-creams was closed. There was a sign saying ice-creams could be purchased inside, but there were only a few undesirable flavours available. Oh well, it looks like it will have to be ice-creams on a stick then. We went indoors and selected Exotic Soleros from the freezer … and then had to eat them while attempting to ignore the European wasps wanting to share them with us!

After the manor we drove a short distance to Broadway Tower. Believing this to be an uninhabitable folly we were surprised to find it being touted as England’s smallest castle with a £14.00 entry fee. And that was after we already paid £3.00 just to park the car!! For goodness sake, it only cost £19.50 to visit Sudeley Castle which was at least a proper castle. And, to add insult to injury we could have purchased ice-creams in a cone here!

Since we hadn’t expected to access Broadway Tower anyway we walked up the public path to look at it. There was no way we were investing £28.00 to have a look from its rooftop. There were people atop the ‘castle’ who obviously were prepared to pay the £14.00 entry charge. It seemed like the owner was treating the tower as some sort of license to print money … or extort tourists anyway.

Our host Kathleen had suggested that Guiting Power would be worth a visit as it not on the tourist radar yet like Bourton and the Slaughters. Since it was on our way back to Cirencester we took the route through Temple Guiting and Guiting Power. Temple Guiting was very crowded with overhanging trees and rather dark and dingy. Fortunately when we reached Guiting Power it was much more open and lighter and brighter.

We visited the church, St Michael’s and All Angels Church. We chatted with a church warden (possibly the vicar?) who had been returning the bier after it being on display at a festival over the weekend. He told us that after bringing it out for the first time in years they have decided to keep it out on display in the church, so he had been rearranging some pews to fit it in. We mentioned to him that we had come from Snowshill. He told us it is definitely pronounced Snows-hill unless you speak the local dialect in which case it is Snozzle!!

All day I had been feeling like I was coming down with the respiratory ‘thing’ that Bernie has had since Thursday. He found the flight from Porto very uncomfortable with whatever it is blocking his ears with the cabin pressure in the aircraft. While we amongst the dusty displays at Snowshill I started to feel very clogged up. By the time we went to dinner I was feeling pretty ordinary indeed with some serious sinus congestion. So bad in fact, that I could not be bothered writing up the travel diary resulting in a delay in transmission due to illness! Now I am two days behind with recording our adventures.



Steps: 12,913 (8.64 kms)

---