Today, as part of our Cotswold Day Trip, we visited Stanway which is a small crossroads village in the English county of Gloucestershire.
The village is dominated by Stanway House which is a Jacobean manor house owned by the Earl of Wemyss and March. It has a magical and very English feel to the place with its fascinating furniture – much of which has been in the house since the house was built – woodland and am 18th century water garden.
Situated in a sheltered position close to the church, Tithe Barn and cottages, Stanway House is a peaceful and mellow place to visit. It’s just the place to go and unwind after a busy week. The house almost resembles a museum and it gives you the opportunity to transport yourself back in time to the calm decade before the Civil war.
The water garden, which was created in the 1920s has recently been restored. It includes eight ponds, a canal and the highest fountain in Britain at over 300 feet! The fountain requires a two inch bronze nozzle and is powered by a 100,000 gallon reservoir, 500 feet above the canal.
There is a fully working watermill 100 yards from Stanway House which was recently restored and re-opened by HRH The Prince of Wales. The 24 foot waterwheel is used to produce stoneground Cotswold flour from wheat grown less than one mile from the mill on the Stanway Estate. The estate used to have four watermills, used over the centuries for paper production, saw milling and to generate electricity.
If you visit at the right time, you can see the mill working and stroll around the beautiful millpond.
Near to Stanway House is St Peter’s Church.
The church was rebuilt in the 12th century and the tower was added in the 13th century. The Tithe Barn was built in the 14th century.
Stanway has a cricket pitch in the middle of a field with a pavilion which is built on staddle stones and was the gift of the author J.M. Barrie (the creator of Peter Pan) who stayed at Stanway House in the 1920s. It’s amazing what you can discover on a Cotswold Day Trip; even we remain constantly surprised!
See more outstanding photos in our Cotswold Tour gallery.