On a lovely, sunny day in late September, Mum & I decided to have a day out at Croft Castle and Parkland. I’d been meaning to go since our trip to the nearby Berrington Hall last year, so with nothing else to do and a glorious day of weather, we headed to Croft Castle.
Set in 1500 acres of historic woodland, farm and parkland, Croft Castle lies in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside. It has a long and eventful history, and is even mentioned in the 1086 Domesday book! The current castle originated in the 14th century and has been altered over the centuries into its current manor house form.
Now managed by National Trust, visitors to Croft Castle learn much about the castle and its inhabitants, the Croft family, whilst walking through the building. There is plenty to see around the castle, although most of the rooms upstairs are closed to the public.
Croft Castle church, St Michael and All Angels, stands adjacent to the castle and dates back to the 14th century. The church is home to an impressive tomb of Sir Richard Croft and his wife Lady Eleanor (widow of Sir Hugh Mortimer – uncle of the Duke of York – and she was Lady Governess to Edward IV’s sons – Edward and Richard of York – best known as the “Princes in the Tower”).
The grounds of the castle include a vineyard and walled garden. Autumn was just setting in when we visited, so the walled garden made for a lovely place to wander around. The vines still held grapes and the apples and leaves were beginning to fall. With the warm weather from our gloriously hot summer still lingering, many of the flowers in the walled garden were still in bloom.
The Parkland at Croft Castle has many walking trails to choose from. As the afternoon sun rose and the day got hotter, we decided to take one of the shorter and easier routes – the Ancient Tree Walk.
The Ancient Tree Walk takes in the Spanish Chestnut avenue of trees planted in the formation of the Spanish Armada around 350 years ago and the 1,000-year-old Quarry Oak along its route. It’s an easy walk and is relatively flat.
Of course, a trip to a National Trust property isn’t complete without a trip to the secondhand bookshop and the gift shop. We also had lunch in the tea room.
There’s plenty to see and do at Croft Castle and it’s one of those places where you could easily spend a whole day. We had a great time and I’m sure we’ll go back again on another day to try out another of the walks.
Beautiful! And while the interiors are gorgeous, I’m more drawn to the church and the gardens. This would be a good place to visit in varying seasons.
Yeah, I’d like to visit in the spring (and when the scaffolding isn’t around the castle).
Beautiful buildings and flowers – a perfect place to stroll
What a lovely house and the church looks charming too.
It looks like there’s so much to see and do there. I love hearing about the history of these places, so many fascinating stories.
What a beautiful place. I’d love to visit it, especially for their connection to the Princes in the Tower. Queen Elizabeth (Woodville) is one of my favourite queen consorts. Love the pictures too. x
…gorgeous images of this delightful place. Thanks for taking me along!
Thanks for visiting!
How lovely! I love to visit places like that.
What a lovely day out with your Mum <3
You had the perfect day for it. There are some lovely walks around the parkland.
Sounds like you had a lovely day 🙂 I have never heard of Croft Castle, but it looks beautiful and I love the link to the War of the Roses.
I must admit that we have been very lapse with using our NT membership this year, in fact, for me, it was probably money wasted.
It isn’t something I want to give up though (especially now we have discounted senior rates) and we have both vowed to make next year an NT year and perhaps explore a little further afield, where properties are clustered and we can perhaps make a long weekend of a trip.
You seem to have quite a cluster of places in the Herefordshire area and Croft Castle looks amazing, although like Kathy, we are both partial to old churches and graveyards as much as anything else, so perhaps that area would be a good place to start looking at one of our planned mini breaks.
Thanks for sharing, it is so good that you have such a good relationship with your parents, you always seem to enjoy your days out 🙂
Yvonne
xx