13 September 2022: Hanbury Hall and Worcester
Today after our holiday group left our hotel our first point of call was Hanbury Hall, which dates from 1701 and was owned by successive generations of the Vernon family. It is now owned by the National Trust. The formal gardens laid out when the Hall was built were later removed by Emma Vernon, who inherited the Hall in 1771 and favoured the more naturalistic approach of Capability Brown. Since acquiring the property the National Trust has restored the gardens to the original design.
We were able to look round the Hall and admire the views from the first floor rooms. The Trust is extending the Hall by building a new restaurant at the back on the footprint of a service wing that was demolished in the 1960s. This did not spoil our visit and we were able to look at plans and models of the finished work.
From there the coach took us to Worcester. The satnav Mike was using him took him up some wrong turnings before he eventually found the coach park, which is near the river.
We were all due to tour Greyfriars. Because they only had one guide on duty that day we had to be split into two groups and go round at different times. My wife and I found ourselves in the later group so went to Worcester Cathedral first. We spent some time looking round it and found the tomb of the infamous King John but not the tomb of Henry VIII’s brother Prince Arthur, which is supposed to be nearby. There are many other things worth looking at, including the magnificent stained glass.
When we returned to the hotel some of us were alarmed to discover the keycards for our rooms no longer worked. One of the receptionists told us they should not be kept next to our mobile phones or credit cards and reprogrammed them for us.