Herefordshire - Part 5: Leigh Court Barn

 

We came home on the Saturday but to prolong the trip I suggested we stop off at Leigh Court Barn on the way home.  It meant a bit of a detour off the A44 through prettyWorcestershire villages. B was getting a bit irate as I thought we had missed the barn but we eventually arrived. Phew!

We parked by the church of St Edburga's and what a lovely church it was.  There are records of a church on the site since Anglo Saxon times but the present church dates from 1100 and was built on the site of a former monastery.  The oldest part of the church is the Norman nave and the rest of the building dates from the 13th and 14th centuries.

I would have loved to have gone inside and looked round the churchyard but I didn't dare push my luck. Now, of course, I regret it!

Rather gorgeous hop kilns converted to become part of a house. Imagine living there!!!

The 14th century Leigh Court Barn  is the largest cruck framed building in Britain.  It is a superb example of English Medieval carpentry.  Crucks are curved timbers that support the structure.  Radio carbon dating has revealed that the timber used to construct the barn was felled in the Spring of 1344.

The barn was built for Pershore Abbey in 1345 and is the only surviving building from the manor of Leigh Court which in the Middle Ages belonged to the monks of the Abbey.

The barn is 42 metres long with 18 cruck blades each of which was made from a single tree.  The trusses are nearly 10 metres high and span 10.4 metres.

Tithe barns had doors on opposite sides with the area between them used for threshing.  If the doors were opened during threshing the wind would blow through the building to winnow the grain and all the dust and chaff  would blow away.

On the exterior the barn is weather boarded and the steep angle of the tiled roof suggests it may once have been thatched.

Just look at the roof. I was completely overawed! 

Farm cider making equipment

There was an interesting sign by this wheel explaining it was repaired and donated to the village of Leigh by John and Brian Roberts, village wheelwrights and carpenters.  The wheel  would originally have been used on a portable steam engine used to drive farm machinery.  

Side, view over fields and rear of the tithe barn.

Entrance to Leigh Court

Least said about the journey home the better.  The Worcester by pass where the road works are was closed and the diversion took you through Worcester City Centre. It took about an hour!!!!  

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

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

Reference:

Leigh Court Barn Info on English Heritage Website

Herefordshire - Part 2: Stockton Bury Gardens, Kimbolton.

 

Wednesday was a lovely day - sunny but not too hot so we decided to visit Stockton Bury Gardens at Kimbolton (only about 20 minutes away).

The gardens have been created over the last 35 years by the owner Raymond Treasure with help, from 1984, by the gardener Gordon Fenn who had been Head Gardener at Hereford Cathedral. He helped to develop the gardens more and build up the plant collection.  In 2014 Tamsin Westhope who was a garden magazine editor arrived to help in the garden.

Raymond Treasure's great grandfather came to the farm in 1886 and started to create a garden by planting the Monkey Puzzle Tree. Laurel hedges surrounded the main lawn and kitchen garden. In 1900 twenty men and boys were needed to farm the land plus two grooms/gardeners. Today the farm and garden need just four staff!  Following the death of the great grandfather two great aunts continued to live on the farm spending much time on the upkeep of Kimbolton Church.  For 30 years nature reclaimed the garden until in 1944 Henry Treasure arrived to farm the land and repair the farm buildings.

By 1970 the old main house needed so much repair that it was demolished and a new house built in a Georgian style.  After this the creation of the present garden began. The gardens were opened to the public in 1995.  The gardens extend over four acres and really were delightful with so many varieties of plant.

Be warned there are a lot of photos!

Cider Orchard and Tithe Barn which houses a cafe.

There was a buddleia by the car park covered in butterflies - so many Peacocks plus "Whites", Meadow Brown and Red Admirals.  In fact there were many butterflies in the gardens too as well as bees galore and hoverflies.

The three bells at the end of the Long Barn are rung every hour.  There has always been a tradition of bell ringing and in the past they rang at 6.00 am to summon the men to work. The largest bell was newly cast by the John Taylor Bellfounders in Loughborough especially for the gardens.  

The Monkey Puzzle Tree which I mentioned above.

The Spring Garden (at the side of the main house)

Summer House with painted panels

The first garden as you enter the four acre garden is I believe the Elizabethan Garden (I do hope I have named the different gardens correctly!!).

The Pool Garden

And then we entered the kitchen garden with vegetable beds on the right and herbaceous borders on the left.

The Dingle Water Garden formed from an old quarry

There is a little grotto you can walk through.

Returning towards the rest of the gardens you enter an area called the Secret Garden.

Then there is a series of garden rooms.

The Pillar Garden

The Sunken Garden

There are a couple of little museums - one with old garden tools which I didn't go in and another with finds from a Roman hoard which was found at Stockton Bury.

Cider Press in the Visitor Centre

Finally, we had a look round the Pigeon House Garden

Medieval Dovecote - covered in ivy!  There are 510 nest holes and the revolving ladder remains intact. It is Grade II listed.

We will certainly return to the gardens as it would be good to see them at different seasons of the year and there were a few areas as usual that we missed.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

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

Reference: Guide Book to Stockton Bury Gardens.