For our final day we visited two places in the Cotswolds, firstly Batsford Arboretum which we had seen from the car the previous day and thought it might be quite interesting, and so it turned out.  The estate and gardens have been designed around the original owner (Freeman-Mitford) love for Chinese and Japanese gardens, where he was based with the Foreign Office in the late 1800's.  Good examples of this love are the Japanese Leisure House, the Buddha and the Foo Dog.

Mitford was a great horticulturist and the gardens reflect his desire to build something grand to last for centuries.  There are so many different themed areas including the Japanese area with statues and, structures like bridges, streams (which he introduced) and plants.  We were there at the wrong time of the year to see the many Acers and flowering cherry tress in full bloom but it must have been quite spectacular and beautiful on the spring.

Like most of us I had heard of the famous Mitford girls that were involved in so many stories, some of them scandals, in the 20's and 30's but I found that they were indeed the daughters of Mitford and lived in the house that he built in the 1890's.  A brief synopsis of the 6 Mitford girls below and a link to a more detailed history (very interesting).

We visited the Batsford Arbetorium more to pass away our last day but this proved to be a good choice and gave me food for research which I like to do after visiting places of interest.  The gardens are very interesting and in Spring and early Summer must be quite spectacular; I will hopefully return if I'm in the area at this time of the year.

From Batsford we moved on to see the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall located in a beautiful rural setting beside the River Windrush, another place with a lot of history.  If you hadn't realised by now I do like ancient ruins, I think to appreciate and learn about the things that have happened in past centuries and the people who have lived there and indeed built them.  In almost all cases I have found out, especially in these parts of England, that they were violent times with many battles between lords of England as well as with foreign armies, e.g. the Normans, especially during the 600 years after the Normans invaded in the 11th century.  In many cases the strong defensive manor houses and castles were built for self preservation as well as reinforcing the massive egos that the ruling classes had in those days (has it changed now? - I don't think so!!).  Many of these castles and fortified manor houses changed hands quite often depending on the will of Kings and whose side you chose to be on during these conflicts.  It wasn't until the 18th century that things settled down with a stable Parliament and monarchy, and a degree of law and order.

There wasn't a great deal to see at Minster Lovell Hall as it was essentially in ruins but the last slide above (courtesy of Historic England) shows what a grand place it was when it was built in the 1430 but William, Baron of Lovell and Holland on his return from the French Wars.  Also there is a 15th Century Dovecot nearby, which we could see over the buildings but could not see how to get to it easily.  It was also built by Lovell probably as a status symbol (popular during both the 15th and 16th centuries as a display of wealth) but also to house pigeons which were both eaten and provided a source of eggs for food and dung for crops.

Adjacent to the remains of the Hall was St Kenelm’s Church, built around the same time and reflects the religious zeal of the ruling classes in those times.  The church has many original features as well as more modern structures such as the organ.

A full detailed history (of Batsford) can be read on the History of Batsford Arboretum (courtesy of the Batsford website).  The most interesting subject associated with Batsford, however, must be the story of the Mitford Sisters (courtesy of the BBC).  

The house and gardens were built after 1886 when Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford inherited the estate.  He had a love of Japanes and Chines culture after working for much of his life in the Foreign Office.  When he returned to England in 1870 and subsequently inherited Batsford he set about knocking down the old Georgian house and building the grand neo-Tudor house we see today.  At the same time, as a keen horticulturist he redesigned the garden to be a wild, natural garden based on his observations of the gardens in China and Japan.  His long standing association with Kew Gardens was a greta help in redesigning the gardens.

Whilst his work has been carried on by Lord Dulverton and his descendants and is now run by the Batsford Foundation, the real interesting history is undoubtedly the years before WWI and the association with the Mitford Sisters.  The eldest, Nancy, became a socialist and had an affair with de Gaul's right hand man; Jessica known as Decca became a communist and ran off to fight the fascists in the Spanish Civil War; Unity on the other hand became a Black Shirt and met Hitler; Diana married the brewing heir, Brian Guinness but had an affair with Oswald Mosely quite openly, ending up in prison for a short while; Pamela shunned the limelight, married a millionaire scientist and became the first woman to fly transatlantic; only Deborah seemed to live a contented country life whilst her son married into the Kennedy family.  A truly fascinating story.

Minster Lovell Hall was built by William, Baron of Lovell and Holand, in the 1430's after his return from the French wars.  Through marriage and good fortune William was one of the richest men in England, and he built his house as a demonstration of his wealth.  Eventually Minster Lovell Hall fell into the hands of Sir Edward Coke, and his descendant Thomas Coke later dismantled it in favour of the family seat at Holkam Hall in Norfolk which is the main reason it is now in ruins.   Click on link for full details of the history of Minster Lovell Hall (courtesy of English Heritage).