Lyveden is a garden lodge and garden started by Sir Thomas Tresham and incomplete at his execution in 1605. Tresham was a Catholic.
He planned a manor house at the foot of the hill leading to the lodge. The manor we see today was built after his death in 1605 by his second son. The family were heavily fined for their recalcitrancy and Tresham's second son increased the family debt.
The first son became embroiled in the gunpowder plot along with his cousins Catesby and Wintour and was executed in 1605.
Although the trust has owned the lodge for a while it acquired the manor (empty) in 2013 and opening it in 2018.
This is my first visit since. You used to park in a field by the lodge now you park by the manor and walk up. The old cafe by the lodge is a holiday let.
The manor.
The walk through the orchard.
The old moats,
This is where you used to park.
There was meant to be a third floor and a cupola. Without the cars it feels like you have stepped back 400 years. Anyone staying in the adjacent cottage must literally feel the ghosts. It is so atmospheric.
A swarm of bees.
The old cafe was one of my favourites a place of great charm. If not quite as charming it still ranks very highly.
Lyveden was one of my favourite National Trust places so change made me nervous. The change to the cafe is sad but the new one is still very good and thankfully there is little consumerism here. The experience of walking to the lodge is sublime and a substantialimp6. Marbled White butterflies were on the wing and Yellowhammers and Skylarks serenaded me.
I happily wandered about and stopped to listen and read.
Lyveden isn't grand, it isn't full of treasures but the place is magical.
