Visiting Coughton Court - April 2022

The weather's been really good recently, so we have started walking around National Trust properties, something we did not do during lockdown. Last week we visited Coughton Court. This narrow path leads 

to a field, and the narrow river

A view of the house on our right

over the bridge

and onto this narrow path with wild garlic all around - the smell of garlic was overpowering, even though the plants had not flowered yet

the river on our left

We crossed another bridge

a family were having a picnic

with a view of the lake

We entered the bog garden - it's the first time I have seen it flooded

a sculpture in the middle of the grasses

From here we could see the Catholic church that stands on the edge of the property

we entered the vegetable garden - not much going on here at this time of the year

and then the orchard

whose floor is full of small flowers

It was time to visit the church. It was built by the Throckmorton family in the 1850s, once the practice of their Catholic faith was made legal. It is still owned and used by them today.

Spectacular ceiling

and some good stained glass windows.

We retraced our steps, entered the orchard

through a narrow gate we walked into the walled garden

which is divided into 'rooms'. This 'room' consists of a long expanse of grass with borders on either side

some of the flowers in the borders are gorgeous

We retraced our steps, back to the original 'room'

admired the tulips

in another 'room' stand four wisteria trees - unfortunately it does not look like they're going to flower this year

the tulips here are magnificent.

We then walked towards the lake.

and walked around it

This path leads to the house

we had walked full circle back to where we had started from.

The house faces this wide expanse of lawn, with two avenues of trees on either side of it

On a previous visit we went inside the house and were particularly fascinated by the priest hole. From here, one can see where the priest hole is located: on the tall gatehouse, the right turret has fewer windows - this is where the priest hole is located: it was built into the house as a place to conceal Catholic priests when it was illegal to practise the Catholic faith.

We did not go inside the house this time, nor did we go into the woods: we are saving the woods for when the bluebells will flower.