Accolade for Combermere

COMBERMERE ABBEY in Shropshire has been named winner of the 2016 Restoration Award presented by the Historic Houses Association and sponsored by Sotheby’s. The house, owned by the Callander Beckett family since 1919, had suffered severe deterioration over a number of years. The award has been given for the most recent full restoration of the North Wing, but also in recognition of the 24-year project to bring the whole house back to life.  

The house is at the heart of 1,000 acres of farmland, woodland, and park, with a 150-acre lake. Its origins date back to the 12th century, and its history has encompassed Royal purchase, the dissolution of the monasteries, the impact of England’s 17th century revolution, and extensive re-modelling in the early 19th century. Combermere was placed on the ‘Heritage at Risk’ register in the 1970s.

Since then, the stable block has been converted to create nine holiday cottages, and the library, formerly the Abbot’s Hall, the North wing and ancillary buildings have been restored.

Sarah Callander Beckett says: ‘We are absolutely thrilled to have won this very prestigious award and to have been recognized by our peers in this way. The restoration of this wonderful place has been my mission since inheriting it in 1992 and has taken my family and me on an extraordinary journey over the past 24 years. To finally see the abbey without scaffolding, standing proud in the landscape as it was designed to be makes it all very worthwhile and I hope will give encouragement to others in a similar situation fighting to save these remarkable treasures.’

www.combermereabbey.co.uk
www.hha.org.uk

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Garden delights . . .

COMBERMERE ABBEY ESTATE in Whitchurch, Shropshire, is hosting a series of Open Garden Afternoons this summer, providing a rare chance to see this privately-owned historic estate.

They will be held on August 26, and September 23.

Visitors will be able to explore the estate’s Victorian walled gardens and glasshouse, its pleasure garden and garden wood, fruit tree maze, and lake.

The estate’s team of gardeners will be on hand to answer questions and share tips.

Tickets are priced at £5. Gates will open at 1pm, with the last entry at 4pm. Dogs and picnics are not permitted.

The abbey was built in 1133 as a Cistercian monastery. Now a family home, it is a venue for weddings, corporate events, and has ten holiday cottages.
www.combermereabbey.co.uk

AN open-air gallery of contemporary sculpture in the grounds of a Georgian mansion is the centrepiece of the first of an occasional series of visitor trails published by Congham Hall Hotel, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk. 

The Magnificent Seven… Norfolk #Gardens – the hotel's illustrated trail – features the collection, which is on display at nearby Houghton Hall.

The 90-mile self-guided circuit of the seven gardens begins with Congham Hall's herb collection. Others include Gooderstone Water Gardens, a naturalistic re-interpretation of a wet meadow, and Sandringham Gardens, a chronicle of the changing tastes in horticultural design over the past 150 years.

The trail can be download online or obtained from the hotel's reception desk.
www.conghamhallhotel.co.uk

GARDENERS and walkers – and #gardeners who like walking – might be interested Adagio's Channel Isles walking tour of the gardens of Guernsey, Sark, and Herm.

Highlights include strolls in St Martin to #SausmarezManor with its sub-tropical gardens, a ferry ride to Herm to meet the head gardener for a private tour of the island's gardens, and a private tour of the #LaSeigneurieGardens on Sark, with its Victorian glasshouse, hedge maze, and stone walls.

The company’s UK manager, Amber Parish-Smith, says: ‘We couldn't miss out on visiting both the small islands of Sark and Herm for a day each. Traffic is prohibited on the islands, so horse-drawn carts, cycling, and walking are the ways to get around. It really does feel like you are stepping back in time when one visits these islands.’ 

Price are from £1,155 per person, including return flights, transfers, half board at a three-star hotel on Guernsey.   www.adagio.co.uk

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Picture Credit: Combermere clocktower by Espresso Addict - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons, Gooderstone Water Gardens, Gooderstone, Norfolk - geograph.org.uk - 794060 by David Mills. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons, Sark-aerial by Phillip Capper - Sark, Channel Islands, 17 September 2005. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons