Duckett’s Grove

We’ve passed by Duckett’s Grove several times on our travels but have either had no time to visit it or in fact it wasn’t open to the public. This time, however, we saw one of those brown signs pointing to the place and we decided to pay it a visit.

Firstly, it was a fantastic, hot day and I think we saw the big house at it’s best, albeit that it is almost a shell. The house was off limits as it was considered unstable, although large steel beams were visible so some work had been done to stop it falling down. But it was great to see this striking, unusual place up close. All those chimneys, the crenellations and that tower are unlike anything else we’ve seen.

The walled gardens beside the house were opened just last year, in September 2007, and they were looking very well indeed for such a short period of existence. We spoke to the gardener, a knowledgeable young man who told us some of the house’s interesting history. It had been gutted by a fire in the 1920s (some think maliciously by an evicted tenant) and had not been lived in since then. In the 1970s a Miss Brady bought the place and lived in a few rooms in an out-building near the stableyard until just a few years when she passed away.

There are plans to improve the gardens and maybe have a cafe and a craft shop as well, but according to the gardener those are many years away as there is simply no money. Ultimately the house may be restored, or at least made totally safe to move through, when the money to do so becomes available.

Well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

(This Google image looks like it’s several years old - the trees in the house are gone and the walled gardens to the SE have been developed).

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Mount Wolseley Golf Club

Mount Wolseley isn’t our kind of place. It’s a massive hotel/spa/holiday home complex and when we’re on one of our tours it’s not what we’re into. When we arrived last night to went through to the very posh looking golf reception and spoke to Martin. He said that he didn’t see any problem with parking overnight (it’s a giant hotel car park after all) but that’s it wasn’t his call and we should ask at reception. So we did that and the guy said it’d be fine and suggested we park down one end of the car park where there is less likely to any traffic during the night. We had a drink in the stupidly busy bar/restaurant area and this is why we prefer nice, small clubhouses. The staff were clearly pushed, there were kids running around, loads of tables still needed clearing. It just wasn’t out scene, plus the Guinness was awful. We did have a nice chat with a family who came to sit at our table to order their dinner. They raved about the hotel (the mother had former hotel connections and got a good deal!) and said it was great for kids - loads for them to do.

It was a perfect morning. No wind, clear sky and getting warmer by the second. We had a tee off time of 8am with two others, who didn’t show.

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