Wednesday 22 August 2012 Herefordshire

About this B&B, the Tudor House, Luston, it is run by lovely couple Susan & Herb, I am the only one here, this was Susan's first foray with Airbnb although she has been running the B&B for some time & she has been having some fun negotiating the website, got a warning when she tried to ring me off the system to enquire on arrival time, I don't know how they would know, but they seemed to & then was dropped further down the list when she did not respond within a certain time. Anyway the house is a Tudor house, halftimbered 300 or so years old & that usual arrangement in these places different floor/ ceiling levels etc, full of character, 5 acres.  They moved here from London 12 years ago.

The Tudor House B&B Luston Herefordshire

When I arrived yesterday welcomed me in with cup of tea & piece of cake.  Breakfast - continental with ham & cheese.
Plan for today was a couple of local National Trust places, but the best laid plans & all that, as I drove into Leominster (pronounced nothing like this) the closest town which is known for its antique shops & spent the best part of the morning in those.  Finally got off to Berrington Hall, a lovely red sandstone house, quite austere on the outside but rococco within. Owned by 3 families in it's history with one change being due to gambling debts. The last family the Cawleys lost 3 sons in WWW1 & there were letters from the one who lost his life at Gallipoli to his father, uncensored as dad was MP, with scathing comments on the quality of the english generals, Gen Ian Hamilton comes in for a caning.

Berrington Hall Herefordshire

Berrington Hall - gardens by Capability Brown, not requisite sheep

I ran into Susan there, as she is a NT volunteer & was called in. The volunteers get free membership.   I had lunch at the tea room here, the tea rooms always seem to do a roaring trade & this one had cooked food as well as the usual cream tea etc.
Next one Croft Castle, the land was given to the de Crofts (obviously from Normandy) by King John in 1086 & the present castle was built in 1600's & then given a regency makeover in 1700s.  It was out of the Croft family from 17xx until 1920 when it was purchased by the family again, 2 members of the family still have flats in the castle but these will also go to the NT when they kick off.

Croft Castle Herefordshire