It's like a house from a fairy-tale - you can imagine following a trail of breadcrumbs right up to the door! Little Moreton Hall is a Tudor manor house in east Cheshire. Half-timbered houses like this, with oak frames and jettied stories, were very popular in medieval Europe. But what makes this particular house unique is its 100-year-long construction history. Begun by William Moreton in the early 1500s, successive generations made changes to the structure, giving us the hodgepodge and higgledy-piggledy building we know today.
But the Moreton family fell on hard times in the Civil War, and by the end of the 17th century the estate had to be rented out to tenant farmers. By the 19th century it was in terrible condition: rot had crept through the timber and the windows had been boarded up. Finally, in 1938, the National Trust took over the house and began their extensive restoration work. It was during this work that a number of shoes were found concealed in the structure of the building - apparently placed to ward off hauntings!
This design shows Little Moreton Hall, with its iconic oak braces forming all sorts of ornate patterns. A woman stands on the lawn in period dress, a basket on her arm. And in the foreground is the scenic moat, with the sandstone bridge spanning across the moat to the gatehouse - a beautiful scene to enjoy as you dry the dishes!
