Great Chalfield Manor, Wiltshire, was given to the National Trust in 1943 by Robert and Mabel Fuller. Their grandson and his wife, Robert and Patsy Floyd, manage this beautiful 15th-century manor house, its garden, and its home farm The vast majority of visitors who come to Great Chalfield love the fact that they’re coming to a home and not only a museum. We really enjoy welcoming visitors here, as well as the excitements of filming—The Other Boleyn Girl and Poldark were shot here. The garden is a particular care of Patsy and large numbers of visitors come simply to see its development and changing face season by season. We have established a local Friends Association, too, which supports the Arts-and-Crafts gardens with events such as a Plant Fair in May and Bath Opera’s annual travelling show in the Great Hall.
As an organisation, the Trust forms the mainstay of what we do: it takes responsibility for the repair of the fabric—a huge concern for many privately owned houses— not to mention such practicalities as public relations. Its work of advertising the property, for example, brings a steady, growing stream of interested visitors. In 2019, we welcomed 21,611 visitors, of whom 7,782 came to enjoy the gardens.
Our role in the life of the property is one of encouragement and oversight. We actively facilitate the study and enjoyment of Great Chalfield: if someone is interested, we try to give constructive encouragement to that interest, whatever it is. It helps people feel involved and it produces remarkable returns in the form of volunteering and publications on everything from the history of the house to the surrounding flora and fauna.
Denne historien er fra January 01, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra January 01, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
