Yet Another Moated Manor House

It wasn’t very bright today, but at least it wasn’t cold.  We headed to Blickling Hall – a wonderful Jacobean House, which has some links with the Boleyn family, though whether Anne was ever here is unknown.  BB always plays croquet here, and today was no exception.  I wandered round  admiring the extensive gardens.  We hadn’t planned to visit the house itself, but we did and very interesting it was.  We have been in the house once before and I remembered that you didn’t actually visit many rooms, but as it is the 75th anniversary of Blickling being in the care of the National Trust, they have opened up many more rooms with lots of information on display about the 11th Marquess of Lothian, Philip Kerr, the last owner of Blickling who bequeathed his estate to the Trust.  It was fascinating. 

Lord Lothian was a leading statesman between the two wars, forging a career as secretary to the Prime Minster, Lloyd George, and as Ambassador to the USA. He played an important part in encouraging America to join the war effort.  He was also a member of the so-called ‘Cliveden Set’ of the 1930s and used Blickling to entertain the country’s first lady MP Nancy Astor, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, comedienne Joyce Grenfell and, controversially, German Ambassador Joachim Von Ribbentrop.  But he is chiefly celebrated as the driving force behind the National Trust Act of 1937 and the creation of the Country Houses Scheme, which enabled the first large-scale transfer of mansion houses to the Trust in lieu of death duties, preserving some of our most beautiful buildings for everyone to enjoy, forever.

After Blicking we headed to a favourite country pub for a delicious lunch – and the sun came out.  We then walked (across a barley field and a sheep field with BB in his bare feet) to another moated manor house – Mannington Hall where we explored the delightful gardens.  We had a lovely walk back to the car, along country tracks until we met cows.  We had to take a detour through a bog.  Delightful.

Lots of blips today, so hard to choose, but here is Mannington Hall.  The extra is Blicking Hall.