E was on holiday from work last week so we travelled to Herefordshire on Wednesday for a few days.
I had prebooked tickets for Croft Castle for Thursday and the weather was glorious. The National Trust has everything well arranged - a person from a kiosk comes to the car to check your name and membership cards when you arrive at the car park. There is a one way system through the garden and one in one out arrangement at the toilets. Hand sanitiser was available in the car park. Some of the gardens, play area, shop, castle interior and church were closed but there was still plenty to do.
I couldn't buy a guidebook so have ordered one online but it hasn't arrived yet so I only have a limited amount of information available on the castle.
Croft belonged to the Croft family from 1085. By the 13th and 14th centuries they had build a fortified manor house which was replaced by a 16th century brick castle which was larely replaced by the current Croft Castle in the 17th century. In 1746 it was bought by Richard Knight son of a Shropshire iron master. The Croft family re-purchased the estate in 1923 and put it in the care of the National Trust.
There are many walks and trails you can follow through the extensive parkland and you can walk to Croft Ambrey Iron Age Hill Fort which I am saving until I visit with D.
Even from the car park you can see some of the magnificent trees.
This plant was covered in bees
and there was a lovely display of cyclamen. Sorry photos are not of the best - B and E kept disappearing every time I stopped to take a photo and the brightness of the sun also seemed to bleach some of the photos out even though I kept adjusting settings.
The castle is quadrangular with corner towers and it is probably almost entirely 17th century although it looks older.
Entrance with lovely stone lion and wyvern.
A bench surrounded by ice plants - the flowers were covered in butterflies mainly Small Tortoiseshell but you guessed it B and E had zoomed ahead yet again and I just didn't have the time to stop and try and compose any photos.
Walled Garden
This part of the garden has been created on the site of a demolished servants' wing.
The walled garden covers nine acres and is managed sympathetically for wildlife and humans.
Old orchards are relatively common in Herefordshire but nationwide two thirds of orchards have been lost since the 1950's. Most of the apple trees at Croft were probably planted in the 1920's. There is a collection of 60 mature specimens of around 30 different cultivars. Old Herefordshire varieties include Brown Snout, Doctor Hare, Downton Pippin, Adam's Pearmaine and Herefordshire Beefing. Aren't the names wonderful?
After visiting the walled garden I had a look round the exterior of the church and then we did the 1.5 mile ancient tree trail which I will show you in the next post.
Blogger keeps reverting me to the new version which I am putting off using so every time I come on here I have to revert back! I am a bit hesitant about spending ages uploading too many photos in one go in case I lose the post. Usually I upload pictures and then add the text later or the next day but I've done the whole of this post and will publish as I am not sure what will happen to it if I leave it in draft form and am yet again given new blogger! Have written in a bit of a rush so please excuse any typing errors!
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera
12 comments:
Well, that was a lovely day out, for all of you, and I am glad you got a short holiday break too, but it sounds as if you really need to put B and E on chains! Super photos, and it sounds as if everything is well organised for safe visiting. I wonder how long they will be able to continue with such reduced visitor numbers, though? Love the old apple names, and good to know that at least some of the older orchards and apple varieties have survived. Thankfully, we know so much more about heritage varieties of everything these days so hopefully won't lose more to new varieties.
Rustic Pumpkin - Thanks. It is better when my son is with us as well as he takes photos and lingers too! They had to come back and look for me in the walled garden and as it was a one way system they weren't happy! Luckily there was no-one else in the garden at that stage. So it was a whistle stop tour of garden too :( It does make you wonder about reduced visitor numbers and how long it will continue. Getting tickets was easy though. There are some gardens by us that grow a lot of heritage apple varieties. So wish you could buy them in supermarkets. So much fruit is from abroad :( and usually all you can get from England are Cox apples.
We were planning to go here for a day out, but Covid intervened. It looks well worth a visit. I would be particularly interested in the old types of apple trees of course. If you have a day out in Hay on market day (Thursday) you will be able to buy some of the "old" apple varieties, plus the greengrocer in the town stocks them too. We have always availed ourselves of this when in the town.
Bovey Belle - Thank you. I do hope you can visit at some stage in the future - it is well worth it. Even OH who is never keen on NT places liked it there and we will return. Thank you for the information on Hay. I've always wanted fruit trees in our garden and even better if "old" varieties.
Looks a lovely place and well worth a visit. The gardens are beautiful and it sounds well organised as you arrive. Sorry I'm not writing much but I have eye problems - double vision. I'm awaiting new glasses which will take a couple of weeks to arrive as they have to be specially made. I may not be around on line very much until then. Take care:)
Rosie - Thanks so much for leaving a comment and I am so very sorry to hear about your eye problems. It sounds horrible and on top of everything else as well :( I do hope the new glasses when they arrive help. Please don't worry about not being online until then as I completely understand. Sending you best wishes and take care too.
Yikes you have posted so many blogs since I last looked in! I will try to catch up but probably won't comment on them all. This looks yet another lovely place to visit, but I am trying to imagine a 9 acre walled garden!! You must have done a lot of walking! :-) I too love the apple names, though wonder what a Brown Snout tastes like. Doesn't sound very appetising! lol! The bee post is a great idea, makes a change from a 'bee hotel'. It's great they are spreading the word to help bees. anyway, you are certainly making the most of your caravan and getting to discover new places near there. Make the most of the rest of summer! :-)
Millymollymandy - Thanks so much.Please don't worry about commenting as I know I have posted a lot recently - just trying to keep on top of it all in case we go again! Also tending to create more smallish posts in case I have problems with new blogger and lose everything! Some of those heritage apples are really tasty although not tried Brown Snout!!! :) They had done quite a bit in the garden to encourage biodiversity - I was impressed.
The site is due to close for 3 months at the end of November although this year they may stay open for December - haven't heard yet. Trouble is with cold nights and possible frost you have to worry about burst pipes etc if you are not there. There are loads of instructions of what to do when you close it up for the winter including draining water etc. etc. Been a strange year not been able to go from March until July - feel as though we have missed out a lot especially as April, May and June are my favourite months!!
Croft castle and grounds are always well worth a visit.
CherryPie - Thank you and we will be returning.
I love the walks around Croft Castle.
CherryPie - Thank you. Even OH liked it there and he doesn't normally like NT properties.
Post a Comment