England’s
Stapleford Park manor
Cheers!
As Jenna Ives mentioned in her blog post two weeks ago, she and I just returned
from a wonderful ten day vacation in England, fulfilling both ends of the
spectrum of our favorite things. I agreed to go to a Rolling Stones concert in
Hyde Park in London with her (65,000 people dancing in the park, amazing
energy) and she let me drag her to some fabulous old castles and ruins in the
countryside. Since I write historical romance, my part of the trip was for
research purposes. Yes, research. (Okay, and to have a little fun, too…)
Next
month I’ll give you a tour of the most fascinating places we visited, but today
I really want to share Stapleford Park with you, the magical place Jenna and I
used as a home base for our forays into the countryside. Stapleford Park was like stepping back in time,
literally.
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| Stapleford Park, Leicestershire |
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| hotel lobby |
The
manor was originally built in 1066 on the orders of William the Conqueror. It
passed through a succession of owners, but in 1402, the house was acquired from
the Earl of
Lancaster by Robert Sherard, a descendant of William the Conqueror, and for the
next 484 years Stapleford remained in the possession of his family!
The Old Wing
of the house was restored in 1633 and if you look at the right-hand corner of
the picture above, you can see the inscription ‘Anno Domini 1633.’ There are still bedrooms in use in this part
of the house!
The manor
was renovated again (in the Edwardian style) in 1894 by John Gretton (I stayed
in Lady Gretton’s bedroom, below). The house was eventually bought by an American in 1982 and opened as a country house hotel in 1988. It still has a private owner.
Two of my
best memories of this amazing place are the archery lesson I got from Brian
of the Kirby Muxloe Archery Club near Nottingham (Robin Hood, anyone?) I did eventually hit a bull's eye (after many, many attempts, as you can see…)
Then there was my memorable falconry demonstration… (That's a Harris hawk named Roland sitting on my hand...)
How about
you? Was there one vacation in particular that gave you memories that will last
a lifetime? Please share!
Leigh Court
www.leighcourt.com Leigh Court
4 comments:
Yay, you - hitting that bulls eye!!
Looks like you had a great time.
What a terrific house! And the falcon looks suitably fierce. I'm sure the whole experience will have been inspirational as well as fun!
I'm so envious. Nothing quite like walking the terrain of a new story. Love your post, and so glad Jenna enjoyed her vacation. One of the most memorable trips I've taken was to the highlands of Scotland. Now I want to go again. : )
Oh, wow, loved this, Jenna/Leigh! (that's kind of a cute name)
Looking forward to your future blogs about your trip, too.
I've been fortunate to take a few special trips in my lifetime, with many, many fond memories, but your trips sounds incredible!
I'm looking forward to a trip to the grand eastern capitals of Canada in October. That should be a kick!
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