Overview

Having left Market Drayton, our trip took us to Wollerton Old Hall garden, passing through rather plain flat country scenes, until we reached this delightful looking old 16th century grade 11 listed Manor House, (which is not open to public) but the gardens are, and they have earned a fine reputation since John and Lesley Jenkins started to plant up the new gardens on the site of the old garden. They have turned them into a garden which many consider with high regard as being very good and interesting. They have introduced a wide range of plants in this 3 acres plot, which on certain days you may visit. OUR REVIEW We arrived after a short drive from Market Drayton, (reviewed as part two) to find gardens that still looked interesting enough even though it was early March, and could see the old hall ahead of the gates (photo1) and a pathway leads towards the old hall (photo 2) and the attractive old house looked so interesting (photo 3). We were unaware at this time that the house was not open for public viewing, so returned to the car while enjoying the crocuses that had started to open up for the spring display (4) and drove away for the short drive to hodnet (5). HODNET The name may imply Hod “old” ( Welsh Hawdd) pleasant or peaceful“ and Net (welsh Nant, “a stream or valley” so Hodnet would mean Pleasant valley. Excavation works uncovered an early Bronze age (1600-1400bc cremation pit, with fragments of burnt bone being found. It seems that a settlement here outdates Roman occupation, with an Iron Age Cornovian tribe occupying the area. The earthworks of Hodnet castle, a Norman moat house, built by Baldwin de Hodenet around 1082ad is thought to be the oldest structure in the area, which was followed by another sandstone castle from around 1196ad, but that was distroyed by a fire in 1264. The mound and moat on which these castles may have stood, are situated in the grounds of Hodnet Hall gardens. Years before this however, before 1066, a Manor that stood here was under the care of Earl Roger de Montgomery, and he put in charge of the estate a lieutenant Baldwin, and descendants of Baldwin, the de Hodenents, where granted the lands here by king Henry 111. The estate was then passed along through the de Hodenet line right up to the current Heber-Percy family, which makes Hodnet one of the few English estates which have an unbroken succession of a family line from the Norman conquest up to our day, and much of the old village still remains a part of Hodnet estate that grew up around the St Luke’s church and Manor. (Interestingly, we reviewed Chesford Grange hotel in Warwick, which at one time was owned by the Herber-Percy family, so please read the review for Chesford Grange) A number of lovely old buildings still stand in the village, one such being the “hundred house” which stands at the cross roads opposite the Bear inn. At the time of the doomsday book 1086, the village is named as “odenet”. Interestingly, during the Saxon times, a unit of land that a family could hold was just enough to support a family, and was known as a “hide” and one hundred hides was enough to form an administrative area, and any family that held a hide would meet at this picturesque “Hundred house” in Hodnet to discuss local issues and hold small trials. From its early years, Hodnet was a self sufficient small village, its hay day spanned from 1880’s into the 1960’s, having at that time several pubs, just the Bear inn remains today, but it also had a cattle market, (a market charter) was granted the village by king Henry 111, it had its own bakers, vet, blacksmiths. The Bear hotel, at the cross roads at the end of Main Street, was once a coaching inn with a bear pit, and dates back to the 16th century, nowadays a 3 star hotel with 9 rooms and views of the gardens. Following alterations the pub reopened on December 23rd 1971, and the manager Gavin Sutherland thought it a good idea to have real live Bears at the hotel, so two baby Malatan sun bears were imported, and he had hoped to build a bear garden, but sadly, less than a month later, both bears were reported as dead, rumour said that this was due to alcohol poisoning, as regulars fed them food and beer. Two years later, two more Himalaya black bears arrived from Scarborough zoo, and settled in on Sunday April 21st 1974, and aptly named Nuts and Crackers. The now new manager Ken Danville-Smith wanted to feature them in medieval Banquets, but the bears could not be trained, so it’s seems that on December 18th 1974, they went to Newquay zoo in Cornwall, (as records show that the zoo had acquired two bears on this date) but they now became known as Madge and Bib. (A full report may be read in the Shropshire Star.com/no fairytale ending.) Now let’s turn our attention and take a look at Hodnet Hall. When the old castle of 1196 was burnt down in 1264, the family moved into the “New hall”, but this was dismantled in the 1870’s, and the only part of this new hall that remains is the old stable block, which is used now as the garden tea rooms. A new hall was again built in the 1870’s in the Elizabethan style, and by 1921 the development of the now popular Hodnet Hall gardens was undertaken, which many consider one of the best planted land scapes in Britain, but on our visit the gardens were still closed, so we can only show you examples of its various trees and shrubs in the spring filled meadows. OUR REVIEW We soon arrived on the outskirts of picturesque Hodnet (photo 6) and the (photo 7) shows two lovely old homes, number 15 and the further away number 17, now part of the medical centre. The large old cottage (photo 8) the medieval Hall house of 1467, at numbers 19-21 are converted cottages, and then ahead of us, on Drayton road, we drove towards the “Hundred house” (photo 9) at the far end of the road. On the cross road corner is the entrance to the Bear hotel restaurant (photo 10) which has a fine reputation, before looking over The Bear hotel (photo 11) and opposite this is Church street (photo 12) which leads to the rear entrance for Hodnet Hall gardens (photo 13) with the old hall beyond (photo 14). The meadows at this time of the year, early March, was filled with spring bulbs (15). The building beyond is the old stable block, now used as the garden tea room. OUR FINAL THOUGHTS We both felt this was a delightful trip to make, having left Market Drayton behind, (reviewed as part 2) not to long a drive, just disappointed that the gardens were not yet opened but could just quickly take a few photos to help with our reviews of Wollerton and Hodnet. During summer this will be well worth the effort to go and visit the area, and ideal for the disabled as easy driving with breaks available at both gardens. From here we shall journey to Whitchurch and offer you a review in part 4 of our suggested tour of Shropshire.

Transport & Parking

Both Wollerton and Hodnet were easy enough to drive to through rather dull uninteresting countryside, but both gardens offer enough parking to allow you the chance to enjoy the gardens as well as seeing Hodnet village.

Access

The parking is on level ground, sometimes on grassland, and both have easy enough paths to allow you to be pushed along by your Carer. It’s only the gardens you can view, but worth your effort.

Toilets

On this visit, neither gardens were open, so can not advise you on toilets.

Staff

Did not meet any today

Photos