Littlecote House is a large Elizabethan Country House situated about two miles from the town of Hungerford<\/p>\n
The original Littlecote House was built in the thirteenth century and the Tudor mansion that followed is famous for the fact that King Henry the Eighth courted the short lived Jane Seymour at the house<\/p>\n
The present house dates from the mid sixteenth century being completed in 1592 and Elizabeth the First James the First and Charles the Second all stayed there.<\/p>\n
William of Orange also stayed at Littlecote House<\/p>\n
During World War Two the house was the headquarters of the 34th<\/sup> Army Tank Brigade and later the 101st<\/sup> Airborne Division were there in the lead up to D Day<\/p>\n The hotel has a small but interesting museum dedicated to Littlecote House during this period as well as displaying other much earlier items connected with the area.<\/p>\n Littlecote House is said to be haunted by at least one ghost, the most famous being that of Wild William Darrell.<\/p>\n Littlecote House is set in some one hundred and thirteen acres of parkland which include a walled garden dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries<\/p>\n In its grounds is the Littlecote Roman Villa which was first discovered in 1727. It is thought that this complex was built initially as a military establishment to guard a crossing on the nearby River Kennet but grew in size between AD270 and AD360.<\/p>\n The famous Orpheus mosaic can still be visited and is protected by its very own canopy. Nearby the remains of the Roman settlement can be seen<\/p>\n Littlecote House can be approached from the main Hungerford to Swindon road via a picturesque tree lined avenue over a quarter of a mile long<\/p>\n The gardens are a delight with an astonishing display of topiary seen from the rear lawn<\/p>\n A good deal of the parkland is only lightly managed and is well worth a visit as a sense of quiet overwhelms the area<\/p>\n Exactly thirty years ago today my parents visited the mosaic <\/i><\/p>\n Were they archaeologists?<\/i><\/p>\n They still are <\/i><\/p>\n They are currently in Greece <\/i><\/p>\n That must be fascinating <\/i><\/p>\n It is <\/i><\/p>\n Are those your notes? <\/i><\/p>\n Yes <\/i><\/p>\n May I read them?<\/i><\/p>\n Of course <\/i><\/p>\n Solange read the notes with interest<\/p>\n Has Littlecote House been a hotel for very long?<\/i><\/p>\n I am not sure \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n It is certainly a great place to be on a hot day <\/i><\/p>\n What did you think of the mosaic? <\/i><\/p>\n I loved it so historical and so cool <\/i><\/p>\n The breeze was caressing my skin as we stood under the canopy <\/i><\/p>\n My father records that in 1987 the weather was a little changeable <\/i><\/p>\n His diary notes that June 28th<\/sup> 1987 started off quite sunny and warm but clouded over in the afternoon<\/i><\/p>\n Remember they were open to the elements and there was no canopy in those days <\/i><\/p>\n If it rained they either did not work or got wet <\/i><\/p>\n If it was sunny and warm then they got a tan <\/i><\/p>\n There is an amusing note in his diary for June the 28h<\/sup> in which he notes that he could not find either my mother or her assistants after lunch only to discover that they were sunbathing in a nearby field\u00a0 as if they were Roman women of leisure <\/i><\/p>\n Solange handed the notes about Littlecote House to her friend<\/p>\n I have never been here before and wonder how I missed it <\/i><\/p>\n It is an amazing place <\/i><\/p>\n Timeless<\/i><\/p>\n You should have brought me here before after all I have known you for years <\/i><\/p>\n When you stand in the gardens there is no indication as to the year<\/i><\/p>\n It might be 2017 1987 or even 1787<\/p>\n A mistress of a King might walk past you and smile with her shy eyes Secret lovers long forgotten might flit in the shadows of the house<\/em><\/p>\n The whole place is so still but so alive<\/em><\/p>\n Did you come here for the ghosts?<\/i><\/p>\n There are many <\/i><\/p>\n I can see that from your notes <\/i><\/p>\n No I just came here on a whim <\/i><\/p>\n You and I were in the area and I was aware that my parents were involved in a dig here in June 1987 and my father actually kept a diary in those days<\/i><\/p>\n So I thought it would be fun to revisit one of his old haunts <\/i><\/p>\n Has it changed?<\/i><\/p>\n Only for the better <\/i><\/p>\n I love the paths and the ancient walled gardens <\/i><\/p>\n You know where we are sitting now reminds me of a French movie but I cannot remember the title <\/i><\/p>\n The movie you are thinking of is Last Year at Marienbad <\/i><\/p>\n It was filmed in 1960 <\/i><\/p>\n Whenever I am here I have the same thought <\/i><\/p>\n Shall we walk?<\/i><\/p>\n Yes let\u2019s walk <\/i><\/p>\n The two friends walked across the smooth lawns towards the small river<\/p>\n They sat on the bank and removed their sandals<\/p>\n I wonder if my parents ever sat here and bathed their feet <\/i><\/p>\n Possibly <\/i><\/p>\n It is such a luxurious feeling <\/i><\/p>\n Cold water against your skin on a day such as this <\/i><\/p>\n Yes it is bliss\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n I do have a question for you though <\/i><\/p>\n Go ahead <\/i><\/p>\n I do not want to feel stupid <\/i><\/p>\n No question is stupid as there is always an answer <\/i><\/p>\n That is what my parents told me <\/i><\/p>\n My question is what is a Ha-ha? <\/i><\/p>\n Solange smiled at her friend who was looking at the ancient gate and wondered if she would answer her question or remain silent<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Littlecote House is a large Elizabethan Country House situated about two miles from the town of Hungerford The original Littlecote House was built in the thirteenth century and the Tudor mansion that followed is famous for the fact that King Henry the Eighth courted the short lived Jane Seymour at the house The present house […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/i><\/p>\n