Thomas Habington was a rebel.
In 1586, Thomas Habington was a conspirator involved in the Babington Plot to kill Protestant Queen Elizabeth and restore Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots to the throne. The plan was foiled and Mary was executed for consenting to the plan. Thomas Habington escaped this fate as he was Elizabeth 1st’s godson and was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London for six years. On his release he retired to Hindlip Hall in Worcester, where he later hid two Jesuit Fathers accused of complicity in the gunpowder plot. Again, Habington escaped execution through the intervention of his brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle. *
*From a signboard next to the chest
8 Comments CherryPie on Jun 20th 2017
Filed under Colwall 2017, Faith Foundations, Gardens, Holidays
Cherie’s Place – Belated Thought for the Week
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
6 Comments CherryPie on Jun 19th 2017
When we arrived at breakfast we noticed a new gentleman that seemed to be in charge of the dining room. The breakfast area was calm and efficient with none of the chaos we had experienced over the previous few days. The tea was perfect, two individual pots with just the right amount of teabags. My pancakes were presented in a delightful way and had more fruit than on the previous days.
After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed towards Hereford but on arrival we decided we weren’t quite in the mood for visiting a city so we continued on the route home, stopping in Leominster. After a few minutes in the town we found that Leominster didn’t quite fit our mood either. We headed off to a garden centre in Tenbury Wells, where we thought we might have lunch. Once again we weren’t quite in the mood for it when we got there. I think by now we were on plan Z.
We decided to stop off in Ludlow and against all odds on a busy day we found a parking place. From the car park we admired the views over the Shropshire countryside before wandering around the town looking for a suitable teashop for lunch. We hadn’t quite finished our recce when we happened across a bakery that provided fresh filled rolls. The weather was perfect so we purchased rolls (turkey and salad for me) and cake and made our way to a bench underneath the castle walls to enjoy a picnic.
After enjoying our picnic in the sunshine, we headed off to the Ludlow Food Centre hoping to pick up an interesting ready meal for our evening meal. We left disappointed as this type of food is no longer available in the centre, leading us to opt for plan B.
10 Comments CherryPie on Jun 18th 2017
At breakfast we were served with the first proper cup of tea of the weekend. Two individual pots of tea that were brewed to perfection.
Rain was forecast for the day so we headed of to Croome Court, a National Trust property. As we are National Trust members, entrance was free so it didn’t matter if we could only visit the house and not the wider estate.
As we arrived at Croome Court the heavens opened so we donned our waterproofs and hastily made our way to the ticket office entrance. After a brief visit to the shop, we made our way to the house via the church. The route we chose was mostly sheltered by trees so we kept dry. We passed the walled garden on the way, it was probably just as well it is only open at weekends because it wasn’t really the weather for visiting a walled garden.
We toured the house and then had lunch in the basement cafe before making our way to the RAF Defford Museum which is situated near to the entrance office. The weather had cleared up allowing us to see the wonderful vistas and landscaping created by Capability Brown as we walked to the museum. After exploring the military history of Croome we still had time to spare so we headed off to Broadway where I became reaquainted with and old friend, ‘The Hudson Guide’, but that is a story for another day.
Whilst in Broadway Mr C couldn’t resist the temptation of visiting a cook shop and we came away with two colanders. As we made our way back to the car I noticed an ice cream parlour which allowed us both to indulge in a ginger ice cream.
When we arrived back at the hotel we were greeted by the barman who had welcomed us on the first day of our stay. We started to engage in conversation with him but the hotel receptionist of the day interrupted. She was querying the basis of our stay and informing us that we had dinner bed and breakfast booked for two nights of our stay. We had booked on a bed and breakfast basis but had said we would be ‘dining in’ on the first evening. We were advised that we had another meal in the hotel, but we said that we already had made other arrangements, she said she would sort it out for us.
Once back in our room I washed my hair so that I looked more presentable after the day’s rain before we made our way to the final meal of the holiday which was in the L’amuse-Bouche Restaurant. As mentioned in a previous post, before the meal we were served an Amuse-Bouche. On this occasion it was pork and pickled vegetables presented in a delightful way. I chose Nut and Vegetable stir fry followed by passion fruit mousse with coconut ice cream. After our meal we returned to Colwall for a brief nightcap. Mr C wanted to return to our room to follow the exit polls for the UK general election on the TV. Luckily for me the TV was in a separate room allowing me to chill and wait for the result in the morning. I had already come to a conclusion on the result and what I had thought came to pass overnight.
Whilst chilling in the bedroom I noticed that the book of menus, emergency phone numbers and breakfast times, etc. had still not been returned to our room…
6 Comments CherryPie on Jun 17th 2017
Breakfast was still a bit chaotic with not everything being where it should be at the same time. At least we had a pot of tea for two, although sadly there were not enough teabags so it was still a rather weak brew. At least we both had a good night’s sleep, Mr C had got the heaters regulated to just the right temperature.
Fine weather was forecast so we headed off to Hampton Court, Castle and Gardens, a place I had not heard of before I picked up a leaflet whilst we were dining at the Cotford Hotel. Unusually for us we arrived at the property before it opened and were the first visitors to arrive.
The gardens are stunning they include; flower gardens, herbaceous borders, kitchen garden, magnolia walk, sunken garden,Dutch garden and a yew maze. Although badged as a castle the building is more accurately a fortified manor house dating back to the 15th century. The housekeeper took us on a guided tour of the house, explaining its potted history and the various owners of the property. When the tour was over it was time for lunch which is served in the orangery. Their cakes looked so delicious that I couldn’t resist a piece of lemon and coconut cake.
After lunch we finished our tour of the gardens and found that we had time on our hands so we perused the map to find somewhere suitable for the time we had available. We chose Little Malvern Court and Gardens which is a 15th century prior’s hall, home of the Berington family by descent since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.
When we arrived at Malvern Court we purchased tickets for the timed tour before going for a cup of tea in the courtyard tearoom. I couldn’t resist another piece of cake, this time spiced apple cake. We chose a seat looking over the severn valley, but unfortunately the wind had other ideas and blew up into a frenzy which meant that for safety reasons the doors had to be closed.
When we arrived for our guided tour, we learned that in addition to the other history of the house that it was a recusant house, a safe place for Catholics that did not wish to renounce their faith in favour of the Church of England. The house had a resident priest and a secret chapel in the eaves of the house. On our way up to the chapel we were shown black marks on the wooden beams which are thought to be marks warding off evil spirits. We were also shown an access point in the ceiling that could have been an escape route for the priests and worshipers, although it is not known where the exit led to. The chapel is accessed by staircase which is more ladder than stair. From the chapel we were shown where a landing had been cut away. The landing when intact would have connected the chapel to a spiral staircase on the opposite side of the building.
When we had returned downstairs we were shown the access to the spiral staircase, which still exists. After looking at the wall I was convinced that there would have been a secret panel in the wall concealing the staircase access.
The garden with its series of monastic lakes that would have provided for the monastery were a joy to visit and very photogenic.
For our evening meal we dined in the Chase Inn which provides good honest, home cooked pub fair. After we had dined we returned to Colwall Park for a nightcap.
16 Comments CherryPie on Jun 15th 2017
I didn’t have the best nights sleep due to the room being cold and Mr C turning the heating off because the room was airless and dry leaving me to be too warm if I wrapped myself up in the duvet and too cold if I didn’t.
The service at breakfast was just as chaotic as had been during our previous night’s evening meal. My breakfast was delicious I chose pancakes fruit and honey. Mr C was not quite so pleased with his, he asked for full cooked breakfast minus the beans, it arrived with beans and without black pudding. In addition to that the bacon was streaky rather than back bacon, not something usually served up for breakfast. We were also served a one person teapot between the two of us which was not a problem we just asked for another pot when it was empty. On pouring the tea from the replacement pot we realised that it was the same pot topped up with water. As there was only one teabag in the pot the resulting liquid looked like dishwater and was undrinkable.
As rain was forecast, we headed off to Worcester and some indoor activities. Our first port of call was the City Museum and Art Gallery which houses the Worcestershire Yeomanry display which was of particular interest to Mr C. I was slightly ahead of Mr C when the curator came to talk to me and asked me what I was interested in at which point Mr C joined us. We were treated to an impromptu individual tour of the displays. The curator showed us things we might not have noticed and shared lots of interesting information with us.
After the tour we headed to Worcester Cathedral. As we arrived, the Cathedral was buzzing with noise. We realized that several local schools were meeting there and engaging in a pilgrimage. We made our way to the Cathedral’s cafe for lunch where I had a ham and apple pickle toastie which was delicious. After lunch we made our way around the Cathedral, dodging the ‘pilgrim’ children until they left for the day. Once they had left the Cathedral became quite tranquil.
On our way back to Colwall we stopped off at the shopping village we had tried to visit the previous day only to find it slightly disappointing for some reason. The cake in its cafe was delicious though!
For our anniversary meal we had booked into L’amuse-Bouche which is the restaurant for the Cotford Hotel. We were welcomed as we arrived and directed to the lounge where we enjoyed an aperitif and nibbles whilst deciding on our menu choices. I opted for haddock, crayfish and asparagus on a bed of crushed jersey new potato. To start the meal we were brought an Amuse-Bouche which was a dainty morsel of Evesham Asparagus soup. The service, food and attention to detail was exceptional. So much so that we booked a table for our last night of our holiday.
After the meal we returned to Colwall for a nightcap in the bar before retiring to bed for the evening.
2 Comments CherryPie on Jun 14th 2017
