Our next day out was to two places on our checklist, Hampton Court Castle (not to be confused with the Palace) and Shobdon Arches.

Hampton Court Castle is worth a visit mainly, I think, to visit the gardens which are world renowned.  I can imagine that during Spring when most plants flower and colours are at their best it must be quite spectacular.  Many of the wild flowers were in seed and we managed to acquire a few seed pods which are now planted in our garden and we are hopeful of a decent display next spring.  My favourite flower was a yellow Dahlia, which had bright yellow single flowers set against the dark, almost black leaves.  There were many different species of wild flowers including thistles of many different types and colours

The Dutch Garden with its Island Pavilion in the middle is the best feature but also the Sunken Garden and Maze with the Gothic Tower at the centre are worth a visit.

The House itself is vary lavish and has ceen clearly refurbished in the last few years at great expense but I was a little disappointed as it seemed to lack atmosphere for all that.  For old gits like me £13 entry fee to both castle and gardens is worth it for the first visit but although I wouldn't go in the house again it would be worth seeing the gardens during spring and autumn (entry £8.50 for the gardens only).

I'm not sure what I expected from Shobdon Church & associated Arches but what we found was a gem with no-one but ourselves there to spoil our fun.

We looked in the church firstly which was like no other church I have been in.  Its bland exterior gives little clue as to what you will find inside which is a unique combination of Rococo and Gothic styles and reflects the links between the Bateman family, who owned the estate from 1661 until 1931, and Horace Walpole who died in 1797 (more below).  It is the striking blue and white interior with its wealth of ornamental arches, a lavish pulpit and extensive Gothic detailing that makes Shobdon unique among churches in Britain.

Having spent some time at the church we were then directed to the Arches which are not obvious from the road and are at the top of a steep grassy hill, so steep in fact that my electric scooter could only get half way up before I had to get off and walk the rest of the way.

The Arches are Romanesque, i.e. they were not built by the Romans but built to mimic Roman architecture in the 12th century by the Herefordshire School of stone carving, and were in fact part of the church until the 18th Century when the church was rebuilt and they were moved to their current location a few hundred yards from the church.

Bearing in mind that we were the only ones around and therefore no-one to see us act like kids, someone suggested that we have a 'roly-poly' down the grassy hill.  Of course someone had to film this and I quickly grabbed the camera to avoid any embarrassment.  Click picture (left) for result.  The saying, 'no fools like old fools' comes to mind

Hampton Court Castle is a historic 15th-century castle which was merged a century later with neighbouring manors of Hampton Mappenor and Hampton Richard to form one large estate.  When Henry IV's cousin, Margaret Fitzalan, daughter of the Earl of Arundel, married Sir Rowland Lenhtall the king gave the estate to the new couple.   Sir Rowland's great-grandson sold Hampton to Sir Humphrey Coningsby in 1510, and it remained in the Coningsby family for four centuries.

When the Coningsby's finally sold Hampton it was to Richard Arkwright, son of the inventor of the same name.  At the time Richard Arkwright was reckoned the wealthiest commoner in England, a testament to his father's success in the cotton industry.  The purchase price was over £220,000, a vast sum, roughly equivalent to over £6 million today.

Richard's son and heir, John Arkwright had the house rebuilt in early Victorian Gothic style to designs by Charles Tracy (later Lord Sudeley).  The most obvious addition to the house were striking battlements, truly giving it the look of a medieval castle.  The Arkwright family owned the estate until 1912, but by then it was falling into disrepair and they had no money to stave off the decay of time and sold it to Mrs Nancy Burrell who ran it as a hospital during WW1.  She then sold it after losing both husband and baby during the war to the Devereaux family in 1924.  It again fell into disrepair and was eventually rescued in 1994 when Americans Robert and Judith Van Kampen purchased the estate and set about restoring the historic gardens and house interiors.

Shobdon Church or St John the Evangelist to give it its proper name, is listed as a Grade I historic structure and as such it is a significant national architectural and artistic jewel, and an integral part of the local community who are tasked with the responsibility of preserving it for the future.  In 2010 the church was added to World Monuments Watch but appears to be little known or visited.  HRH The Prince of Wales recently said that "Shobdon Church is of unique architectural interest and a treasure which we must preserve"

The original church built in the 12th Century was the brainchild of Oliver de Merlemond who was steward of the Shobdon Estate.  His ideas for the building arose from observation of Romanesque buildings which he saw in France and Spain during a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella.  The Bateman family arrived in Shobdon in 1705 and the church” which we see today was built between 1755 and 1758 by the second Lord Bateman and his uncle Sir Richard Bateman.  Richard Bateman was a member of the “Committee of Taste” which also included Horace Walpole, whose villa, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, includes features also seen in Shobdon – notably extensive use of decorative ogee arches.  There is no record of any architect being employed and letters from the Batemans to the Shobdon Estate Agent, Fallowes, suggest that much of the design was the work of the Batemans themselves.

The Arches, which were a feature of the original 12th century church designed and probably built by the Herefordshire school of stone carving, a group of master masons working in Herefordshire and Worcestershire during the 12th century who were heavily influenced by carvings seen in churches and monasteries in south western France.  Their distinctive ‘Romanesque’ sandstone and limestone carvings are to be found in several parish churches in the area.  When the church was rebuilt by the Bateman family in the late 18th century, they decided to remove the original interior arches of the church and place them at the top of the adjacent hill as a folly where they still stand.

An interesting aside is that the nearby Shobdon airfield was used by the Special Air Services (SAS) for training and flights.