Weston Park

Built: 1671

Location: Weston-under-Lizard, Shifnal TF11 8LE

History: Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England, set in more than 1,000 acres (400 ha) of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located 10 miles (16 km) north-west of Wolverhampton, and 8 miles (13 km) north-east of Telford, close to the border with Shropshire. The 17th-century Hall is a Grade I listed building and several other features of the estate, such as the Orangeryand the Stable block, are separately listed as Grade II.

Weston Park House and the surrounding parkland were given to the nation in 1986 by the 7th Earl of Bradford, with the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund. It is now in the care of the trustees of the Weston Park Foundation. The house retains its art collection with over 30,000 objects and is open to the public.

Weston lies within land that was first mentioned in the Domesday Book when it was held by Norman Rainald de Bailleuil, Sheriff to Roger de Montgomery. The park is all that remains of the medieval deer park and forest. Originally belonging to the de Westons of Weston, it passed by inheritance to a branch of the Mytton family when their heiress, Elizabeth Mytton married Sir Thomas Wilbraham. Eventually the land passed to Earls of Bradford when their younger daughter, Mary Wilbraham, married Richard Newport, 2nd Earl of Bradford of the first creation.

Review: This feels like such a long time since me and Luke went to go and visit this place. It’s been nearly a year ago, as I think we went here in June 2019.

That’s crazy how quickly the time has gone since we were there. Scary how fast a year can go by.

Me and Luke had planned to come back to this place at some point, as you can actually stay there (I mean how amazing would that be), but obviously visiting, and staying over at places has been paused.

Until Luke suggested that we come visit, I knew very little about it. I can’t remember how Luke found out about it, but we were instantly intrigued to find out more about the history of this place, the portraits that they are famous for and we were excited to explore the grounds and the house itself.

Driving up to Weston Park wasn’t an easy drive, despite being a road that I know well due to work. There’s only really one section which I hate and it’s this collection of roundabouts on the A5. I’ve done it so many times now so I know exactly where to go, it’s just other people who seem to get confused and end up in the wrong lane…

Ignoring that part, it was an easy hour(ish) drive.

Anyway, as always, when me and Luke park up at places like this we actually have no idea what to expect. When we parked up, we didn’t see the house straight away. But then we made our way to the front and we were so impressed!

We did think about going into the house first, but there was a couple sat outside waiting and they told us that something was happening inside (I think it was a tour), but that we would have to only wait a few minutes. That wasn’t so bad, but we like to make the most of our time instead of sitting around and waiting.

So since we had to wait a little bit, we decided to explore round the back of the house for a bit.

I have to say, that there are stunning views here. It’s no wonder that people want to get married at this place.

We loved the grounds at this place, there is so much to explore.

I do remember that me and Luke spent a long time exploring outside before we went into the house.

For people with families, this place would be pretty great. You’ve got the Woodland Adventure Playground and a Miniature railway that takes you through the scenic Temple Wood, past lakes and woodland, meaning that you can take in wildlife at every turn!

We didn’t take part in these things, as we preferred to walk around the area ourselves. This was probably a much better way to explore the area, but I guess if you have little ones then taking a Minature railway (that apparently takes 12 minutes), should be a perfect little adventure.

If you do decide to walk around then be prepared to cover a lot of ground but also take in some beautiful areas!

The water you can see here is the Temple pool, and in the distance you can also see the Stone Arbour. Luke and I walked all around this, and we even spent a sweet moment sat in the Stone Arbour looking across the water.

It was a peaceful moment and I could just imagine reading a book or even painting something if I lived there. It was just a beautiful place.

Thinking about it now, I wish we had spent a moment longer there.

Too soon, we decided to carry on with our adventure and head towards the Paine’s Bridge.

This was a beautiful place.

This is a Grade I listed bridge built in 1791 to a design by James Paine over an inlet to the Temple Pool. Paine appears to have been the favourite designer for bridges over pools and watercourses in Capability Brown landscaped parks.

He also designed the Temple of Diana (not to be confused with the one in Rome haha), which is a holiday cottage that can be found near the Temple Pool.

This bridge was pretty busy when we got there, but we waited for people to take their photos, as that’s always the polite thing to do.

This just made us feel like we were in our own little world and it was perfect.

By the time we made it back to the house, we could enter and we were greeted by a really lovely lady. She explained how the house worked and we could go and take it all in.

The entrance was just stunning. I can’t wait for the day when I can afford something like this – one can dream right?

If you have kids, then to make looking around the house a lot more fun, there is a fun trail that you can follow as well. This fun trail brings the house to life for visitors of all ages. I think me and Luke gave up, but it might be something of interest to some people.

What me and Luke really loved about this place though was the people who were volunteering/working there. They had so much information to tell us and were great at teaching us the history behind all the rooms.

One of my favourite rooms though would be the Tapestry Room. I wish I could remember the name of the lady who was in there, as she spoke to us for a good half hour and it was all so fascinating.

It’s a shame that you can’t see the fireplace close up though as the detail was just incredible (although I have a huge love for fireplaces in every house/castle that we have visited).

For anyone interested, the Gobelins tapestries are signed by Francois Boucher and Jacques Neilson are dated 1766 (this is one of 6 sets of Gobelins tapestries of this type that were made for English clients).

I love this room! The work that has gone in to keeping all of the tapestries in good quality is brilliant. It’s great knowing that there are people who just want what’s best for places like this.

Obviously I have a major interest in places like this, but another room that I have to talk about is the library.

It might be because I want to have my own library, or want to experience a moment similar to when Belle walks into the library in the Beast’s castle in Beauty and the Beast.

But I love that this room has secret doors! If you look really closely at some of the books on the shelves, they aren’t real! These doors lead outside and into other rooms in the house.

I don’t think you can really see this in the photo, but oh well, guess that just means that when everything is safe and all open that you’ll have to go and experience this for yourselves!

If you made it to the end then thank you for reading! I feel like this was quite a long post, but I love looking back at all my adventures that I did in the past. And the fact that I get to share them with other people, who might be feeling bored whilst stuck at home is such a great feeling.

I know this might not be for everyone, but I really appreciate all the love and support I’ve received, so thank you and I hope you enjoyed learning about Weston Park!