Hanbury Hall - Part 1: The Gardens

Last Thursday B and I visited Hanbury Hall in Worcestershire - a William and Mary-style country house, garden and park which I have long wanted to see. The house was built in 1701 by Thomas Vernon a London lawyer and Whig MP for Worcester. He built the Hall as a country retreat and to tell the world he had "made it".


There was a beautiful flower meadow by the Visitor Centre - lots of bees were seen during the visit but I didn't see many butterflies.

We started off our visit with tea and coffee and walnut cake in the Stableyard. There are three tearooms at this National Trust property! - the small one in the Stableyard, a larger one nearer the house where you can sit inside or out and another one on the first floor of the Hall.

The land around the Hall can be split into three parts - the Formal Garden, the Later Gardens and the Park. The Great (Formal) Garden was designed by Royal Gardener George London c1700 and was laid out in the modern style containing intricate and symmetrical parterres and areas divided by clipped hedges or walls. Later in the 18th century the formal gardens disappeared as the fashion for Capability Brown's informal landscaping style swept the country. Luckily, various plans and designs for London's garden have survived and following research the Formal Gardens have been restored.

The Formal Gardens consist of the Sunken Parterre, The Fruit Garden, The Wilderness, The Grove, the Bowling Green and the Orangery. The Later Gardens consist of the Walled Garden and the Park surrounding the gardens includes the Lime Tree Walk, the Long Walk and the Spur Avenue.



My favourite garden was without doubt The Sunken Parterre ("The Jewel of the Great Garden").

B has recently started to paint again concentrating on water colours rather than the acrylic paints he used to use so he was really pleased to see there was an exhibition by the Birmingham Water Colour Society. The exhibition was held in the Long Gallery which in the past has been used as a study, a picture gallery and an exercise area.

This is the Vernon Coat of Arms of three sheaves of wheat.

The paintings really were very good although I didn't like to take any individual photos of the work on display. My favourite was one of a hare which was quite inexpensive for an original painting.

Some more photos of the parterre

The Fruit Garden - "The second garden should be a garden of fruit".

A pool with views of the parkland

There were some juvenile moorhens at the edge of the pond - I do wish I had had the Canon bridge camera with me so I could have taken a photo they were too far away for my camera lens.

The Wilderness "Lose yourself contemplating concerns, back and forth, back and forth"

The Orchard

The Walled Garden - today these gardens are run organically and provide fruit and vegetables for the tea-room keeping the link between house and garden. Hanbury is also well known throughout the Midlands for producing plants to sell at other National Trust properties in the region.

The Orangery was not part of the original London design but was added around 1745. It is 66 feet wide with a tile floor and was heated by a hot flue system. The possession of an Orangery was another display of wealth as growing citrus fruit in this country was costly and time consuming.

It asks in the information board above if you can find the only "flaw in the floor" - when one of the tiles was being made in the 18th Century a dog stepped on leaving a paw print which is now over 250 years old and here it is!

The National Trust's only Bowling Green

The Grove - "A place of quiet reflection where nature screens your secrets".

The Formal Vegetable Garden

The formal gardens at Hanbury, particularly the Parterre, the Wildnerness and the Orangery, reminded me of local Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens which I have visited a lot over the years. Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens are a rare example of an English Baroque Garden restored in recent years to the period 1680-1762 when the Gardens were at their peak. The gardens were designed by Captain William Winde who consulted with eminent gardeners such as George London and the Holly maze there is based on a design by George London and Henry Wise.



If anyone can recommend a good book on the History of English Gardens please leave a comment as I would love to hear your recommendations.


Part 2 of the post will include a Tour of the House.

A Walk Around Temple Balsall

Tempted by tea and cake we returned to Temple Balsall last Sunday afternoon for a walk. First stop though was the farm shop at Meriden which has a rather lovely rural view from the car park.

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The Bread Walk

The Templar Hall

Temple Balsall was the Preceptory (Headquarters) for the Knights Templar in Warwickshire and farming activities in the County were supervised from here. The Old (or Templar) Hall itself was used as the Senior Court. The original timber-framed building was built in the 13th century - however, it was greatly restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in the 19th century when he encased the house in red brick. The Hall contains one of the few examples of timber aisle pillars which support the original roof timbers.

Apologies to those who visit my blog regularly as I know I do a lot of posts on Temple Balsall - if you've read it all before you may wish to skip the history bits!


We continued to walk along the public footpath - those who love "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" by Edith Holden may remember that Edith visited this area.

St Mary's Church in the distance.

The Solihull Green Man Trail passes through the area - when we visit the church later in the post you will see why.

Someone's been den building in the woods.

Behind the gate in the distance is part of Temple Balsall NR - a Warwickshire Wildlife Trust reserve well worth a visit especially at Butterbur time.

The walk continues through the cemetery.

Sometime ago I posted a photo of this gravestone in St Mary's churchyard where the date of death has been weathered away

and also discovered another gravestone, this time in the Cemetery, with the same family name.

John Scurr from the Stray Rambler Blog (hope you are still visiting Blogger and read this John) very kindly did some research for me into the gravestones. The 1871 Census for Balsall shows Thomas Truelove aged 65 as a farmer of 223 acres employing 7 men and 3 boys at Lodge Farm. This meant he would have been born in 1805/06. He is still there in 1881 but was replaced in 1891 by Thomas Hood Truelove (a 42 year old farmer and coal man) who was not Thomas's son but probably his nephew. This would have meant that Thomas Truelove died in 1884 so we have the missing year of death. I had a good look round this time and have now find another memorial for the aforementioned Thomas Hood Truelove tying in with dates mentioned above. The memorial also mentions his wife, youngest son and two other members of his family.

Fox and Cubs

Then back to the Templar Hall

I've not noticed this flagstone in the garden before.

Tea and Carrot Cake :)

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According to the church guide book St Mary's was built by the Knights Hospitallers (who took over from the Knights Templar) in around 1340. The church was restored in 1667-70 under the will of Lady Anne Holbourn and again in the 19th century by George Gilbert Scott. Interestingly though, the new Pevsner Guide to Warwickshire does ask the question is this a church of the Templars or Hospitallers? and says "on historical evidence it has been argued that it was built for the Hospitallers c 1320 or later. Stylistically though it seems much more likely to belong to the late 13th century and the Templars". Fascinating.

D took some photos of the stone "silent faces" around the exterior of the church.

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The Green Man - I've only ever found this one here but I suspect there are more.

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The churchyard has a Wildlife Conservation Area

I found this gravestone so poignant.

I've never visited the Walled Garden before but eventually found it this time at the bottom of the churchyard. You walk past the compost heap turn a corner and there it is just like discovering a "Secret Garden"

I thought the fact that it was slightly overgrown just added to its charms.

Good to see so much Golden Rod - we grow lots at home and insects just adore it.

Temple House

Soon be time to go blackberrying :)

I am pretty sure this is a larvae of the Harlequin Ladybird which seems to be shedding one of it's instar skins.

I love walking round this area the history is so fascinating and it feels as though time has stood still.



Lady Katherine Leveson of Trentham Hall, Staffordshire, set up the Christian Foundation in her name in 1674 and her work and wishes continue to this day and focus on support and residential care for the elderly, education of children in the school and the nurture of Christian disciples through the Church of St Mary.



*D denotes photos taken by D with the Canon S50 HS



References :
The Church of St Mary the Virgin Temple Balsall a Visitors' Guide
The Knights of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem and their connection with Temple Balsall by FR Fairburn
Temple Balsall 1150 - 1870 - a Short History

"The Buildings of England Warwickshire" by Chris Pickford and Nicholas Pevsner published by Pevsner, 2016