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Rode Hall and Gardens
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Welcome to Rode Hall
Join
us on a brief yet fascinating journey in to the history of Rode Hall,
one of Cheshire’s most exquisite country houses. Discover more about its
rich heritage and how the Baker Wilbraham family who have owned it for
approaching three hundred and fifty years have contended with the
challenges of social change and architectural trends through to its
ongoing conservation and restoration today.
Enjoy a whistle-stop
tour of the highs and lows of the house and how one family have ensured
its safe upkeep and place in the community over the years. Today, it
is enjoyed by families from far and wide who come to enjoy the house and
splendid gardens, fantastic events including the monthly farmers market
and a welcome treat in the delightful tearooms.
Visiting Rode Hall
Rode Hall is now closed for the Summer Season.
The gardens are open at the Farmers' Markets on 5th Nov and 3rd Dec (9.30 am - 1.30pm).
The Hall is opening at Christmas for the first two weekends in Dec:
3 Dec: 10-3pm
4 Dec 12-4pm; 10 & 11 Dec 12-4pm
This
Christmas Rode is rolling back the clock one hundred years to 1911 and
recreating a pre-war "Downton Abbey" style Christmas. Downstairs at
Rode will be traditionally decorated for a typical family Christmas in
2011 whilst upstairs will be decked with costumes and decorations
reminiscent of the 1911 era. There will also be live music and a
special visit from Father Christmas. The tearooms with be open for
light lunches, cream teas, mulled wine and hot chocolate and homemade
decorations will be available in the shop.
Rode will be open for the ever popular Snowdrop Walks from 28th January - March 2012
Farmers' Markets 2011
First Saturday of month (except Jan) 9.30-1.30pm.
Our next one takes place on Sat 5th November 2011.
Visit
our sister website for recipe ideas and news of what's on next month at
our hugely successful and popular farmers' market on
www.rodehallfarmersmarket.co.uk
Please see What's On at Rode Hall for more information
History of Rode Hall
Rode
Estate has been in the ownership of the Wilbraham family since 1669.
It was originally bought from Randle Rode by his cousin Roger Wilbraham.
The Wilbrahams were prominent landowners in Cheshire at that time and
Rode was purchased for Randle, the younger son of Roger Wilbraham of
Townsend, now part of Nantwich, for £2,400.
The current custodians of the family home are Sir Richard and Lady Baker Wilbraham.
Collections
Rode
Hall is home to an important collection of English porcelain and
pottery amassed by successive generations of the Wilbraham family
since the mid-eighteenth century. This collection began when Mary
Bootle married into the Wilbraham family. An heiress to two fortunes,
her love of fine china was a legacy which has continued through to the
present day. Since 1980, the collection has been significantly enhanced
by the current custodian of Rode, Sir Richard Baker Wilbraham, 8th
Bart. His acquisitions especially reflect Mrs. Bootle’s early patronage
of porcelain, both Chinese and English, and the family’s subsequent
interest in Victorian Arts and Crafts pottery, particularly the designs
of Walter Crane who, as a young man, often visited Rode.
Much of
Rode’s collection has a horticultural theme which mirrors not only the
ceramicist’s continuing interest in the natural world but also the
Wilbraham’s long-standing love of gardens.
Other Rode collections include portraits, watercolours and the highly acclaimed Gillow furniture.
The House
'On closer approach, it becomes apparent that this handsome home is, in effect, two houses in one.'
When
Roger Wilbraham (1623 -1707) purchased the Rode estate for £2,400 in
1669, its manor-house was probably half-timbered, like nearby Little
Moreton Hall. Today, nothing remains of that original building.
Instead stands a fine, redbrick, Georgian country house: Rode Hall. On
approaching, it becomes apparent that this handsome home is, in effect,
two houses in one, and that the substantial, porticoed building is a
later second house attached to a smaller, now wisteria-clad, first
house.
Today, Rode Hall remains quintessentially Georgian. For
this, the current custodians must thank Randle Wilbraham IV, as it was
his unfortunate lack of funds which prevented the house’s
Victorianisation. ‘Young Randle’ inherited Rode in 1861 and had already
overspent on the building of the nearby All Saints’ Church when the
devastating cattle plague of 1866 forced him to cut all estate rents.
The few decorative improvements he made to the house included little
French-style balconies added to the first-floor windows at the entrance
front and, beneath, a fashionable porte-cochere, nick-named ‘St Pancras’
by the family, which was cleverly converted from an earlier
conservatory.
There were no major alterations to the house until
Sir Philip Baker Wilbraham (1875 – 1956), the grandfather of the present
owner, inherited Rode in 1912. Redecoration commenced in a piecemeal
fashion following the First World War, when the house had been used as a
hospital, but a surprise legacy of £5,000 enabled more significant
renovation to begin in 1927. Then the London architect Darcy Braddell
removed Hope’s stucco, exposing the warm red Cheshire brickwork, and
replaced the shabby porte-cochere with a smart Ionic portico. ‘His
gifts are artistic rather more than practical,’ wrote Sir Philip in a
tribute to Braddell, ‘but he entered into all our ideas with ready
sympathy, and with a strong appreciation of the house and its
possibilities.’
Conservation of Rode continues in the same spirit
today, in a manner which respects the house’s primary purpose as a
family home but also makes the visitor experience as warm, welcoming and
enjoyable as possible.
Park and Gardens
The
gardens are constantly evolving and the 10-acre site set amongst
sheep-grazed parkland provides plenty of opportunity for innovation.
Today, with the help of two gardeners, Anne, wife of
the current baronet, has extended the seasonal interest in Rode’s
pleasure gardens from early Spring to late Autumn. The highlight of the
year is undoubtedly February when Rode becomes one of the few gardens
in the North West that opens for ‘Snowdrop Walks’.
Spring
daffodils follow snowdrops, hellebores and other winter blooms and soon
afterwards the woodland is carpeted with bluebells and fragrant
lily-of-the-valley. By April the Wild Garden is ablaze with many
varieties of rhododendrons and come May clumps of hostas and primulas
brighten the damp and shady banks of the adjacent Stew Pond. Professor
Pratt’s scented azaleas are planted here, alongside Boathouse Walk, a
path leading directly to Rode Pool. A distant view of the water and the
Cheshire countryside is presented from Nesfield’s terrace; the formal
rose gardens are at their best at the beginning of June, with the
coloured herbaceous border lasting well into high summer.
With
new plantings, the gardens are constantly evolving and the 10-acre site
set amongst sheep-grazed parkland provides plenty of opportunity for
innovation. The small Italian Garden, created in 2007 in the ruined Old
Tenants’ Hall, has a fountain, Italian cypress and olive trees. It
wittily evokes the famous ruined gardens at Ninfa, south of Rome, whose
first English roses were planted in the late nineteenth century by the
gardens’ creator, Ada Bootle Wilbraham, the wife of Duke Onorato Caetani
and a descendant of Richard Wilbraham Bootle.
We are a member of Cheshire's Gardens of Distinction.
Visiting Rode Hall
House Open:
Opening
times for the Hall are: Wednesdays & Bank Holidays only (not Good
Friday) 2.00pm - 5.00pm until the end of September.
Admission to House & Garden: £6 adults, £5 seniors
Gardens Open
They
are open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Bank Holidays (not Good
Friday) from 12 noon - 5pm. Tearooms wil be open during the same opening
times. Admission to Garden: £4 adults, £3 seniors, Under 16s free
(Garden and tearoom also open during Farmers' Markets)
Rode Hall Farmers Market:
First Saturday of each month (except January)
Wheelchairs:
Wheelchair
users are most welcome but will find that not all areas of the grounds
are possible to negotiate. We can recommend a route on your arrival,
bearing in mind that some of the paths are gravel or woodchip. Our
conveniences and tearooms can be accessed easily.
Well behaved dogs on leads are most welcome.
Directions:
We
have had reports from visitors being directed to Mow Cop by Google
maps. We have applied to rectify this but it takes time. In the meantime
please search Poolside ST7 3QP if using Google, which will bring you
towards Rode Hall and there will be posters directing you to Rode Hall
Snowdrop Walks as you near the property. Thank you.
From Congleton:
Follow
A34 towards Stoke on Trent and either: turn right at Chance Hall Lane
which is just before Little Moreton Hall, and follow the snowdrop
posters; or follow A34 into Scholar Green where you turn right onto
Church Lane, signposted to Rode Hall.
From Sandbach:
Go to
Rode Heath on A533, then turn left onto A50 and after 100 yards turn
right down Poolside. Rode Hall is signposted from here.
From Stoke:
Take the A34 north towards Congleton, turn left in Scholar Green into Church Lane which is signposted for Rode Hall.
Contact Us
For general enquiries regarding your visit or to Rode Hall:
Rode Hall
Scholar Green
Cheshire ST7 3QP
Tel: 01270 873237
Email: enquiries@rodehall.co.uk
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