Manor Holding Cottage

Main

The Cottage is a Grade II Listed, half timbered, Jacobean cottage farmhouse, dating from circa 1680.

The south facing cottage is naturally warm and full of sunlight in winter, but cool in summer (up to 8 degrees Celsius cooler than outside on a hot day). Inside, the exposed beams, already ancient when incorporated second hand into the cottage in the 1680s, are complimented by warm polished terracotta paving slabs downstairs and creaky oak floors upstairs

It has a separate, enclosed and sheltered front garden with games lawn and intimate viewing terrace over looking an ancient orchard and National Nature Reserve beyond.

There are two bedrooms on the first floor (1 Super King sized double and 1 twin). Opening off the entrance hall downstairs there are: a cozy snug or study with WIFI, CD player and TV point, a larger sitting/dining room with DVD/TV and super efficient wood burning stove, and an understair cupboard crammed with useful things, including garden games equipment.

The chest of drawers in the entrance hall contains well organised and comprehensive literature on places to visit and things to do, together with games and toys for children.

The kitchen/scullery opens off the dining room, and is comprehensively equipped with double fan assisted ovens, 4 burner gas hob, multi speed fan extractor hood with high intensity lighting, capacious fridge and freezer, washing machine, double sink and drainers, microwave, toaster and hot beverage station. The traditional stone bread oven is no longer in use, but makes a convenient wine cellar. The kitchen is furnished with ample pots, pans, and cooking tools of all sorts for baking, roasting, stewing, steaming, frying, etc.

Smoking: We ask that guests refrain from smoking inside the house.

Character

Manor Holding Cottage is a Grade II Listed, half timbered, Jacobean cottage farmhouse built around 1680, using secondhand timbers from a nearby manor house. The cottage's old world charm is enhanced by crooked timber frame, leaning walls and low beams.

The cottage is naturally warm and full of sunlight, set off by white painted walls, pale terracotta and oak floor enhanced by invisible 24/7 under-floor central heating. But its excellent insulation also keeps it cool in summer. Up to 7 degrees Celsius cooler than outside on a hot day (over 30 degrees). The cottage is south facing with an enclosed, sheltered front garden and lawns, embracing an intimate, suntrap patio paved in antique bricks.

The cottage has two bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor, with 3 living rooms and hall downstairs. It has been restored using appropriate materials such as earth daub, lime plaster and green oak, to regain much of it's original character, including inglenook with wood burning stove in the sitting room and old stone bread oven (still usable) in the kitchen.

The farm yard, terminus of the drive, is at the back, on the north side of the cottage. It is surrounded by a ruined stone and brick pig sty, a small converted barn, a high hedge bank, a stone outhouse undergoing renovation and a matching stone scullery leading off the east gable of the cottage.

Once here visitors notice the old world charm of the crooked timber frame, leaning walls, low beams and ceilings; and the many small details such as wrought iron windows dating from 1720, the sculptural wrought door handles and heavy 3 plank, ledged oak doors studded with rose-head cut iron nails.

Rustic seclusion is the characteristic that strikes most people first about Manor Holding, as it is located 100m off a rough forest track (max recommended speed 10mph), half a kilometre from the nearest winding country lane.

The cottage stands in 5 acres of wild flower grassland and ancient orchard, won from the forest before the Roman invasion and rich in wildlife including occasional Fallow Deer; and managed in accordance with a Higher Level Countryside Stewardship agreement in partnership with Natural England. The forest is home to the largest woodland National Nature Reserve in the country and one of England's largest Sites of Special Scientific Interest, which includes the two orchards beside the cottage. Manor Holding's fields are designated as having Archaeological Interest.

This ancient oak forest stands astride the River Severn, south of the Ironbridge Gorge, now a World Heritage Site. The beautiful countryside around it, much of it classified as a National Landscape (formerly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), is rich in historic settlements and other places of interest. Manor Holding is situated in a scattered hamlet named after the royal forest of Wyre in whose centre it stands.

During the Iron Age this hamlet was a thriving small town, with several smaller satellite settlements scattered through the wider surrounding area, but now little more than traces of old earthworks can be seen in the neighbouring fields and forest. Under the Normans, the settlement, although initially remaining in Saxon hands, was then acquired by Henry I who granted it to his favourite, the Earl of Warwick, along with the village of Stottesdon. The two settlements being separate portions of one parish. The old parish boundary remains the northern boundary of Manor Holding.

Due to the Norman passion for hunting, Manor Holding was soon incorporated into the much larger "Clebury" deer park, which remained in royal ownership until Henry VIII presented it to the local squire, Sir John Blount, for services rendered by his beautiful daughter, Bessie, who bore Henry's eldest son, Henry Fitzroy; and gave her name (taken from Henry's mother) to Henry's second daughter, Queen Bess (aka QEI, the virgin queen, after whom the US State of Virginia is named).

The surrounding forest is interlaced with long and short distance cycling and horse riding trails as well as a comprehensive network of footpaths, connecting right to the door of the cottage.