Packwood House and Gardens

One afternoon last week I met up with fellow blogger from The Quacks of Life
at Packwood House. We were so lucky with the weather - when I arrived it was teeming down with rain but by the time I left the car it had stopped and we had clear blue skies. The rain only returned when we were in the tearoom later.


Packwood House dates from the mid 16th century and is in fact a timber-framed house which has been rendered. The house was remodelled during the 1920's and 1930's by Graham Baron Ash. He added rooms and converted the barn into the Great Hall. The interior of the house is displayed as it would have looked when Baron Ash left in 1941. In a Memorandum of Wishes he gave details of how the rooms should look and asked that fresh flowers should be on display.

We had a look around the house first. I haven't included photos of all the rooms as the interior of Packwood is rather dark and photography a challenge!


The Parlour

The Long Gallery

The Great Hall

The Drawing Room

Ireton Bathroom with its Delft Tiles

Then a walk around the gardens starting with the Carolean Garden.


The Sunken Garden was added by Graham Baron Ash. Today it contains a variety of drought tolerant plants

Packwood's Yew Garden allegedly symbolises The Sermon on the Mount" with the "multitude", 12 yew "Apostles" and a path leading round and round an ancient spiral mount to the "master" yew. The story at Packwood of the Sermon on the Mount only dates back to Victorian times. Archives record the original garden as an orchard planted in the 17th century near the much older mount. The huge box hedges and yews around the perimeter were probably planted to enclose the orchard. Most of the "Multitude" trees were planted in the mid 19th century around the orchard. The rest of the fruit trees were removed by Baron Ash's father.

The National Trust has been concerned for some years over the health of the trees. They suffered in the very hot summer of 1976 and also the garden is subject to waterlogging which may worsen what is believed to be phytophtora affecting the trees - a disease which can kill yews. Attempts have been made to improve the drainage of the garden.

Timothy posing with his friend Mr Quacks.

A bench surrounding the master yew on top of the "Mount".

A walk around the lake

A quick look at the new Kitchen Garden created in 2009 and based on an 18th century design and layout of the Kitchen Garden at Packwood.

The visit finished with a very light and tasty scone in the tearoom as the rain hammered down outside!

It was lovely to meet up with you again Pete and thanks so much for the spare Panasonic camera batteries.



All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.



Reference: Guide Book to Packwood
"Packwood" A Potter Round the Garden published by the National Trust