LITTLE MORETON HALL

3 of us, my friend Karen, her friend Mary and I went out for the day and our outing took us to Little Moreton Hall an iconic National Trust Tudor Manor House in Cheshire, with wonky angles, quirky character, a moat and a wonderful Story Teller.  We had a very good tour of this lovely property and in the Great Parlour the ‘Chair-Man of the Board’ (Storyteller) stood by the only chair situate at the head of the dining table (long Board on trestles) as the most important man and furthest away from the kitchens, whilst all the other diners (lesser mortals) sat on either side on benches, hence the saying ‘Chairman of the Board’.  He quoted many other sayings which started because of the boards used for dining such as:  above board, bed and board, across the board, By the board, Cup-board, below the salt and more which I can’t remember now and wish I’d taken a video!  Anyone remember ‘Night, night, sleep tight, mind the bugs don’t bite’?  A Volunteer in one of the bedrooms showed us a small bed, suitable for a servant or child and which would fit under the large bed.  The little bed is made up of a wooden frame with rope slats.  ‘Sleep tight’ means to pull the ropes tight and ‘mind the bugs don’t bite’ refers to the straw-filled mattress!!

Mary, who has chronic arthritis, relies heavily on a stick and finds walking difficult enough was incredibly brave and managed to climb every steep quirky staircase with very wonky angles to admire fabulous rooms, artefacts, amazing stained glass, plasterwork ceilings and so much wood.

We had a snack lunch in the pretty tea rooms and after all that walking enjoyed delicious Snugburys ice creams. Honeycomb for M, Salted Caramel for me and both for K.  Even the single scoop was very generous!!  It was raining when we came out of the café and we got a little wet walking back to the car park.  The Mallards and their babies didn’t seem to mind though.

We’ve had a lovely day and I’ll be taking Mr HB back to Little Moreton Hall one day as it’s a little gem.
 
Extras:  The Chair-man of the Board and a couple of collages