13th April.

Staying at the 4 Star Mercure Hotel in Tunbridge Wells.

£595 pp sharing, £675 Single.  Three course meal each night. Pick up in Burton on Trent.

Itinerary to be confirmed but may include:

Leeds Castle, Hever, Sissinghurst, Chartwell, Deal Castle, Chatham Historic Dockyard, Penshurst Place, Scotney Castle

Please let Leila know if you would like to come.

Visit Wollaton Hall, an Elizabethan Mansion in 500 acres of parkland. Built 1580s for Sir Francis Willoughby and believed to be by Robert Smythson who had completed Longleat and went on to build Hardwick Hall. In 1702, Cassandra Willoughby recorded that Statuary and Master masons were brought from Italy.
https://wollatonhall.org.uk/

Drive to Colwick Hall Hotel for lunch.
Palladian style Georgian house in parkland setting.

Price £50 per person but to be confirmed at the October Meeting.
Depart 8.30 am from Barton and
9.00 am from Lichfield Boley Park Co-op.
Please book with Leila at the October meeting.
 

Menu
Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding
Roast Turkey
Pan fried Sea bass on bed of creamy tomato,
prawn and mussel linguine
Butternut squash, apricot and chickpea ragoût,
green beans and pea shoots

Desserts
Coconut and cardamom creme brûlée with tuile biscuit
Chocolate pudding with warm chocolate sauce,
rum and raisin ice cream
Winter berry Eton Mess

Colwick Hall Hotel
https://colwickhallhotel.com/

THIS OUTING HAS BEEN CANCELLED - cheques will be returned at the November lecture. 

Outing to Dyrham Park, South Gloucestershire

Thursday, 7th November.  Cost £37 for National Trust members.
Depart 8.30 am Barton and 9.am Lichfield Boley Park Co-op.
Bring a Picnic.

Fine Baroque house, beautiful furniture and outstanding collection of Dutch blue and white China . Reflecting the style and look of the 1690s, the house has undergone extensive conservation. Interesting gardens. Tea room.

OUTING TO MIDDLETON HALL AND COTTESBROOK HALL

Thursday, 25th July.  Leave Barton 8.30 am. Lichfield 9 am.
Cost £50 per person. Please book with Leila at the meeting. 
 
Outing to MIDDLETON HALL near Tamworth, whose first written record was in the Domesday Book. Held by the de Freville family until 1418, it came into the Willoughby family by the marriage of Margaret with Sir Hugh Willoughby. A later Sir Hugh who served in the Court of Henry VIII, was selected by a company of London merchants to lead a fleet of three ships, searching for a Northeast passage. Willoughby and the crew of two ships died but the third ship, commanded by Richard Chancellor, went on to open a successful trading arrangement with Russia.
Middleton was lived in until 1966 when the place was bought by a gravel extraction company and the house left derelict for 10 years. In 1980 a Trust was formed to restore the house.

COTTESBROOK HALL - GRADE 1
Believed to have been the inspiration for Mansfield Park, the country estate of Sir Thomas Bertram in Jane Austen’s 1814 novel.
It was purchased in 1635 by Sir John Langham, a rich London merchant and MP, who made his fortune by cornering the market in raisins! In 1702, the Fourth Baronet began the building of the present house. It was let in 1877 for several months to Elizabeth of Austria as a base for a hunting holiday, riding with the Pytchley Hunt. In 1911, financial pressures forced its sale and it was bought by the MacDonald Buchanan family. A private home, it has the Woolavington collection of Sporting Art, believed to be the finest in Europe, with paintings by Stubbs, Ben Marshall, Alfred Munnings and John Ferneley Snr.
Magnificent gardens with a statue walk. Four fine statues originally from the Temple of Ancient Virtue at Stowe and bought from the Duke of Buckingham.
Bring a picnic and RHS proof of membership if applicable. Please advise Leila if you are a member of the RHS when booking.
I took a group here about fifteen years ago and everyone loved it!
Leila

https://www.middleton-hall.co.uk/

https://www.cottesbrooke.co.uk/

Holiday to Scotland Sunday April 21st - 26th 2024

Pick up Burton on Trent 8.30.
We will be staying at Blackbarony Castle, standing in own grounds in Eddleston, 10 miles from Peebles in Tweeddale. Lime avenue dating from 1660’s.
Four Star Hotel . Award winning Chef. Three course evening meal/tea and coffee. Photograph attached.
John Murray was given the title Laird of Blackbarony by King James 1V in 1506 and both died at Flodden in 1513. Great Polish Map of Scotland in gardens.
So much to see and do!
Interesting castles, museums, Stately homes and world class Art!
£649 sharing. Single supplement £100
 

Thursday 11th April 2024.
Outing to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford to see the Spring Exhibition showing some of the finest works of art by Flemish masters. Bruegel to Rubens will show 120 of the most outstanding drawings from the 16 th and 17 th centuries. 30 are on display for the first time, including some only recently discovered.

Cost: £48 per person

Bring a picnic or choose somewhere to have lunch in Oxford during free time. 

Depart 8.30 am  Barton...... 9 am Lichfield Co-op.

CHRISTMAS OUTINGS
 

Thursday 30th November and Thursday 7th December

Chillington Hall and John Thompson Inn

Home to the Giffard family since 1178.  It has been eight years since we visited Chillington and it fits in well with our favourite Pub!
Only just heard that the pub is opening this winter as the cost of heating is so expensive and they had thought to close until spring.

£50 per person
Bring Cheque Books to the meeting on Tuesday to book!

Later pick up time! Barton 9 am and Lichfield Co-op 9.30 am.

https://www.chillingtonhall.co.uk

http://www.johnthompsoninn.com

CHRISTMAS OUTINGS
 

Thursday 30th November and Thursday 7th December

Chillington Hall and John Thompson Inn

Home to the Giffard family since 1178.  It has been eight years since we visited Chillington and it fits in well with our favourite Pub!
Only just heard that the pub is opening this winter as the cost of heating is so expensive and they had thought to close until spring.

£50 per person
Bring Cheque Books to the meeting on Tuesday to book!

Later pick up time! Barton 9 am and Lichfield Co-op 9.30 am.

https://www.chillingtonhall.co.uk

http://www.johnthompsoninn.com

Outing to Ledbury
and Hellens Manor and Garden

 

Thursday 5th October

Bring a Picnic  - £48 per person
Bring cheque books to the meeting on Tuesday!

This beautiful historic house in Much Marcle, Herefordshire, is a living monument to much of England’s history. Attractions include heirlooms of Anne Boleyn, the haunted bed chamber prepared for Queen Mary Tudor, the panelled Music Room adorned with its English Renaissance frieze, paintings by Gainsborough, Van Dyke, Peter Lely and Goya, and the fascinating story of Hetty Walwyn.

Elizabethan wall paintings discovered in 1989, one of the best examples in the country. Ancient market Hall and interesting church. Hellens historic house whose previous residents were linked with key events in English history: Isolde Mortimer, whose brother Roger ordered the murder of Edward ll and the delivery of the great seal of England to Hellens; James Audley, companion of Edward the Black Prince and Helena Gleichan, painter and great-niece of Queen Victoria, who stored paintings from the Tate Gallery in the Stone Hall at Hellens during the second world war. 

Depart Barton 8.30 am and Lichfield Co-op 9 am.

https://hellensmanor.com/house-and-garden/

Outing to Broughton Castle and Canons Ashby

Broughton Castle, moated Manor built by Sir John de Broughton in 1300 and sold in 1377 to William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester.  It has remained in the same family ever since.  Ancestral home of the Fiennes family, Barons Saye and Sele.

Coffee, biscuits and tour.

Canons Ashby, Elizabethan Manor House.  St. Mary's Church is only remaining part of 13th century Priory.  19thC terraced gardens.  Tea room.

NOTE - this outing price does not linclude lentrance to Canons Ashby - Bring National Trust Membership Cards for free entry.

Please bring a picnic.

Price £40 per person

Leave Barton 8.30 am and Lichfield Co-op 9 am.

Estimated time home is 5.45 pm

Please contact Leila for more information.

Holiday to Meon Valley Hampshire

Leila is hoping to take a group to stay at the Meon Valley Country Hotel next April 24— April 29th. We will have a three course meal with tea /coffee after, and full breakfasts.
The cost is £485 for Double/Twin rooms sharing p.p. £570 for Double rooms for single occupancy.
Hotel prices are very expensive in this area and we are lucky to have secured this one at this price. Many interesting places to visit. Hope to go to Winchester, Goodwood, Loseley Park, Ewelme and Basildon Park but itineraries not yet confirmed.
Insurance will be offered at a cost of £35 p.p. We were paid out in full by this insurance group when we had to cancel because of Covid.
Money due in  February 14th so please bring your cheque books to next meeting!

 

Christmas Outing

Thursday, 1st December

Price £58
 

Clawson Old Manor, a mullioned stone house rebuilt by Sir Edward Hastings and his son, 440 years ago. The manorial fish ponds were dug between 1250 and 1300 AD.
For the second time in history, this house is the home of the resident priest or vicar of the village and is still a working Farmhouse.
The owner Simon Shouler is arranging Guides.
After our tour we will travel to the John Thompson Inn at Ingleby for two course Christmas meal.

Depart Boley Park, Lichfield at 8.30 am and Barton 9.00 am.
Estimated time back 4.45 pm Barton and Lichfield 5.15 pm.

For more information please see Leila at the lecture
or telephone: 01543 682248

Christmas Outing

Thursday 24th November and 
Thursday, 1st December

Price £58
 

Clawson Old Manor, a mullioned stone house rebuilt by Sir Edward Hastings and his son, 440 years ago. The manorial fish ponds were dug between 1250 and 1300 AD.
For the second time in history, this house is the home of the resident priest or vicar of the village and is still a working Farmhouse.
The owner Simon Shouler is arranging Guides.
After our tour we will travel to the John Thompson Inn at Ingleby for two course Christmas meal.

Depart Boley Park, Lichfield at 8.30 am and Barton 9.00 am.
Estimated time back 4.45 pm Barton and Lichfield 5.15 pm.

For more information please see Leila at the lecture
or telephone: 01543 682248

 

Holiday in Middle England: 10th - 13th October, 2022

Staying at Cambridge Bar Hotel on outskirts of Cambridge. Bed, breakfast and three course evening meal.

Cost £389 plus £50 SS which covers cost of coach and Hotel.

£140 pp outings etc. payable to Needwood NADFAS No 2 A/C.

Planning to visit Ely, Shuttleworth Collection, Palace House Newmarket, Swiss Garden.
Please bring chequebooks to next meeting.

cambridge-bar-hill-hotel-bw-signature-collection-84321