Brodsworth Hall with Dennis and Sandra

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Today, we met Dennis & Sandra at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens (North of Sheffield, East of Manchester). It’s an English Heritage country house conserved as it was found after the death of its last owner in 1988. Along with restored gardens full of surprises and family-friendly features, it offers a grand Yorkshire day out!

We decided to drive all the way – almost two hours by car, totalling almost 100 miles. It all started well until we got onto the A43 near Deene (population c100). Chockablock (oh, joy!) where the mapping in the car showed a solid red line for quite a way ahead. We turned around in an attempt to find another route. It took a while, with our frequent ‘twisting and turning’ into some of the local back roads, taking us through some interesting places – including Nassington (c800) and then Wansford (c500). Eventually, we finally joined the A1.

That’s all we needed, and we were soon heading in the right direction! Phew! 😁. The roads were busy, but the traffic kept moving, and the recently resurfaced A1 made the journey feel even smoother! The result? We arrived just 10 minutes later than we planned at just after 11.10am (having diverted for about 25!). We met Dennis and Sandra in the car-park where it was now already ferociously hot, but they’d saved us a space under a tree to keep the car cool! 👍

Journeys well travelled!

There were two reasons for today’s get-together. First, as part of our regular twice-yearly get-togethers, where we’re building up quite an impressive list of cultural visits (although we are running out of suitable options located between our respective homes!). Hard to believe that this one is our 21st cultural day out together! 😎

Return to Hardwick Hall (April 2026)
Lincoln Castle and Prison (October 2025)
Nottingham Castle (June 2025)
Wollaton Hall (October 2024)
Nottingham City (May 2024)
Doddington Hall (December 2023)
International Bomber Command (September 2023)
Southwell (March 2023)
Chatsworth House (November 2022)
Belvoir Castle (August 2022)
Kedlestone Hall (May 2021)
Hardwick Hall (August 2020)
Castle Howard (December 2019)
The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)
Bolsover Castle (October 2018)
Belton House (May 2018)
York (February 2018)
Burghley House (October 2017)
Hull (May 2017)
Leeds (February 2017)

and second: Making it part of my continuing ’70-70-70′ pre-birthday celebrations, where today was my THIRD get-together.

Inside the Hall

After a well-earned pitstop in their Café, we headed for the Hall. Inside, ‘Shabby Chic‘ or just shabby? Actually, the latter! The decision to freeze the house in time was no doubt a difficult decision for English Heritage and I’m slightly conflicted on whether seeing these places ‘as-was’ is the right move. However, it does help to accentuate how much work goes into other English Heritage assets when they choose the ‘restore’ option.

Here the reality was a somewhat drab interior, with all its cracks and wrinkles! Yes, it was as expected, but the word ‘Wow!’ wasn’t the most obvious of descriptions – it simply ‘was as it was’ and there was a temptation to whip out the Mr Sheen (Oh! Just me then!!!). Talking of wrinkles, after some head scratching, us two had apparently been here over 25 years ago, but apart from the exterior, inside felt completely new to me, although Ann’s razor-sharp memory found it more familiar! 🤔

The house was quite busy, and there were plenty of English Heritage Volunteers on duty, all anxious to impart their extensive knowledge of the Hall 👍😊

Spread across two floors, there were plenty of rooms to look at. The ‘au natural look’ meant that some were tidier and more attractive than others!

All in all, an interesting visit to the Hall (especially as NOTHING looked familiar to me!) 🥴. Next stop were the Gardens that neither of us could recall at all.

The Gardens

Sunglasses at the ready!! Nothing could prepare us for this. After the drabness of the Hall, we were amazed at the vivid colours on display here. Now this WAS time to use the Wow! – many times! Those Marigolds and Begonias, especially, were a feast for the eyes – the whole ‘colour explosion’ was jaw-dropping!👍😎

The lawns may have looked like pretty much all of the UK’s at the moment with the succession of heatwaves here reducing the lush green ‘carpet’ to nothing more than ‘crispy straw’, but the immaculate planting and lush foliage more than made up for it. In short, stunning! (especially given the continuing hot weather at the moment).

Lunch

At just after 1pm, we were ‘all done’ and the baking Sun made us quicken our step towards the car park. Lunch was a short drive away – about 5 miles. Sandra had looked through the reviews and booked us a table at the unusually named: ‘1903‘ in sleepy Hooton Pagnell (population c200) In fact, as we drove through the village, we could have been in parts of France based on the look of the houses in this beautiful spot. Beautiful! 💖

We weren’t sure what to expect, but we needn’t have worried, as this was to turn out to be a really good experience, overall. Good choice, Sandra! Again! 😊😊😊😊

The pub/restaurant itself was already doing a really good trade when we arrived just before 1.30pm. They gave us a table near the (wide open) window, and that helped a lot with ventilation on this scorcher of a day.

There was a wide range of food on offer – and for the indecisive, multiple menus ensuring something for everyone, including a variety of ‘small plate’ offerings.

Whilst Ann picked the Lasagne, Sandra, the Caesar Salad and Dennis, the Haddock, I tempted fate and opted for the ‘1903 Demon Burger’. The ‘Demon’ referred to the spiciness level, where our Server confirmed that on a scale of 0 to 10, the burger was a 6/7. The food didn’t disappoint, but it was a little sluggish getting it to us. Clearly the popularity of the place had put the Kitchen under extra pressure. The food didn’t disappoint, although I’d rate my burger as more of an 8/9 (lovely!! 🔥🥵)

The meal was a great end to our day together. The food and the decor ticked all the boxes, and although the service was initially quite slow, the staff were at the top of their game with their hospitality skills – such happy staff too! A bit of a rarity these days in my experience. The slightly more ‘relaxed’ (ahem!) gave us time for a good long natter ranging from ‘cranky websites’ to ‘the perfect politician’ (and pretty much, everything in between!) 😊

Where did the time go? As the clock approached 4pm, we said our goodbyes (until the next time) and headed in our respective directions. Ann took the wheel, and we had another very smooth and trouble-free journey on the A1M/A1. We were home inside two hours and didn’t encounter any congestion at all 👍👍

What a great day! It’s always good to spend time with Dennis and Sandra. The Hall, Gardens, and Sandra’s choice for Lunch turned out to be the perfect combination. Until the next time! 👍💖👍💖