Trip to Perrycroft and Madresfield Park

Enjoy a day out to Perrycroft and Madresfield Park.

The day is divided into two with a morning visit to Perrycroft, a stunning design by C.F.A. Vosey who had been commissioned by the industrialist J. A. Wilson in 1893 to build him a country house on a sloping hill above Upper Colwall with views focused on the British Camp. Originally the estate covered some 80 acres and the gardens included yew and holly hedges flanking herbaceous borders, terraces, rose gardens and fish ponds. There were woodland walks with timber and ornamental trees. Since 1999 the present owners, Mark & Gillian Archer, have restored some 10 acres of the original garden recovering many of the original planting and features. There will be tea/coffee and an introductory talk by Gillian Archer and Laurie James, the gardener on arrival. Please note the house is not open.

After a break for lunch, we will visit nearby Madresfield Court starting at 2.30pm with a tour of the house: home to the Lygon family since the C12th. The house which is Grade 1 listed lies within a moat crossed by bridge to the main entrance. Whilst some of the house is Elizabethan, the majority of the structure was replaced in the late C19th by P.C. Hardwick in a Victorian Gothic style. The gatehouse on the approach to the estate is by Vosey and the north Lodge by Norman Shaw. East of the house are a series of garden compartments thought to be by Thomas Mawson, now a yew garden. Immediately adjacent is Caesers Lawn where the yew alcoves contain busts of Roman emperors. The pleasure grounds lie mainly to the west and north of the house. There are a series of avenues planted with Limes, Oaks and Poplars.