Exploring GB

Built in the 1150s, Hemingford Grey manor house is amongst the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Britain.

Much of the original house remains intact despite various changes over the last 900 years.

It’s situated in Hemingford Grey, a small village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire.

The moated manor house stands in four acres of beautiful gardens that are regularly open to the public, while the house itself is open for pre-booked group tours.

One of the most fascinating owners of the Hemingford Grey Manor was the Gunnings family, who only lived here for 10 years, from 1731-41.

The Gunnings had two daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, who were considered great beauties and took high-society by storm, both making advantageous marriages, Maria to the Earl of Coventry and Elizabeth to the 6th Duke of Hamilton.

Elizabeth was dubbed the 'Double Duchess' for having been married to two dukes.

The house was made famous, however, as the home of author Lucy Boston from 1939 until her death in 1990.

Her son Peter’s illustrations depict many of the things in the house and garden.

The attic contains toys used by the fictional children of the past; thus visitors get the feeling of ‘walking into the books’.

When Lucy Boston bought the property, the land in front of the house was a field.

In the Autumn of 1939 she planted over two hundred trees and shrubs plus, beside the towpath along the River Great Ouse which borders the garden, she planted a further one hundred sweet briar plants.

Many of these were washed away in the 1947 flood.

During the war years, Lucy gave gramophone record recitals twice a week to airmen from the local RAF bases, so gardening took a back seat.

After the war, however, Lucy seriously applied herself to gardening, planting old roses at a time when these were out of fashion, irises and herbaceous perennials.

She was advised in her choice of roses and irises by Graham Stuart Thomas who was at the Cambridge Botanic garden at the time.

In his first book on shrub roses he had a photograph of “La Reine Victoria” at The Manor.

The eight yew bushes bordering the path to the house were made into crowns, orbs and the dove of peace to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation.

In the early 1950s another twelve bushes were planted with the intention of making them into chess pieces.

These now stand in squares of purple leaved ajuga and grey leaved stachys to represent the black and white squares of the chess board.

Bordered by a moat on three sides and the River Great Ouse on the other, the garden is four acres with one acre deliberately left wilderness as a haven for wildlife.

It is divided into different sections, including the hidden garden with splendid mature yews and cherry trees.

There are large herbaceous borders full of scented plants with plenty of self-sown annuals intermingled.

The atmosphere is of carefree tranquility which means there are weeds as well as planned plantings. It is not a manicured garden.

Lucy Boston’s philosophy was that it would be a pity if one won against the forest and wild flowers waiting to take over.

During the winters Lucy Boston wrote her books basing her Green Knowe series, now regarded as classics, on the house and garden.

Many of the toys and other features mentioned in the books exist in the house and garden so going round The Manor visitors feel that they are walking into the books.

The house, particularly, is a magical place for children to visit.

In the winter Lucy Boston sewed exquisite patchworks, one of which is amongst the top ten best known patchworks worldwide.

Lucy’s patchworks form the only collection of this calibre in the world which can be seen in the house where they were made.

People come from all over the world to see the them and they have been loaned to exhibitions both in the UK and Japan.

The Church of St James in Hemingford, pictured above, is Grade 1 listed and worth a visit if you’re visiting the manor too.

The Manor house and garden is a perfect place to visit for children of all ages both because of Lucy Boston’s Green Knowe books and because of the different spaces in the garden with many paths to follow.

Furthermore, it has great reviews on TripAdvisor - more than 100 people have rated it five stars.

A recent visitor said: “Somewhere I wanted to visit for a very long time, The Children of Green Knowe is my favourite book and I love all of the Green Knowe Chronicles.

”We had a marvellous time exploring the house and listening to Diana Boston as she told us all about The Manor’s ancient history and Lucy M. Boston’s life all her magnificent patchworks and stories.

”Stepping into the house felt like you stepping into the books, It was truly memorable seeing objects that I have loved in the books for decades and to be in Tolly’s bedroom and for it to be so perfectly ‘real’ was something I will treasure forever.”

Another person added: “What a special place - and how magical to be shown around by the current owner, whose knowledge of the history of the house is fabulous.”

If you’d like to take a look for yourself, Hemingford Grey is on a minor road off the A1096 immediately south of St Ives.

The address is: Norman Ct, Hemingford Grey, Huntingdon PE28 9BN.

If you enjoyed this blog post, please follow Exploring GB on Facebook for daily travel content and inspiration.