Step back in time at Erddig Hall. Erddig Hall. Wrexham. North Wales. (Erddig Hall)

Member Name: GillMN

Product:	Erddig Hall
Date:	10/08/09 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Something to interest all ages. Beautiful inside and outside.

Disadvantages: Can't really all be seen in one day.

Last week I had a day out with some friends and decided to visit Erddig. I had passed signs to it on countless occasions, always promising myself I would visit. I am so glad I finally got round to it. It's a remarkable place!

Erddig Hall is a National Trust property. Built in 1687 and owned by the Yorke family until given to the National Trust in 1973.
It is situated 2 miles south of Wrexham. In North Wales. It's about one mile off the A483 exit 3.

~~~A daft bit, not strictly about Erddig, so miss it if you want.~~~
I had arranged with one of the three friends I went with, to suprise the other two by being there! They had no idea I was going to turn up. One plan was for me to be there, disguised by wearing a traffic cone on my head. (A long story from our mutual history, involving being drunk, ballet dancers, wearing a cone, and laughing to the point of wetting ourselves. But I'm not going there!) Anyway, I discarded the cone idea. I was going to lurk in the restaurant and wait for them.
I arrived at 10.00am only to find that they didn't open til 11. Brilliant planning on my behalf! Anyway I effected my suprise by walking behind them hidden by a copy of the Guardian. They, being typically British and polite, made no comment about this strange person lurking and dogging their steps. I managed not to giggle for a good five minutes! Eventually my laughing gave me away and I was soundly beaten by a rolled up Guardian and hugged to death! I don't know what the outside staff made of this performance but they were laughing too!

~~~Okay, back to Erdigg~~~
As I arrived at Erddig I was directed to park in what looked like it was once a walled garden. A very pretty car park and a lovely foretaste of what was to come. (I had noticed a dropping off point for disabled visitors around the front to save them having to negotiate gravelled paths back to the house.) The path brought me first to the timber yard and ticket office.

The timber yard was being set up with stalls for the forthcoming Victorian Weekend. One of the many events Erddig stages throughout the year.
We came out again, passed the smithy which is still a working concern. Into the dog yard where I think the house and hunt dogs were quartered, through the Lime yard where building and maintainence went on, pausing to try to work out what the large old grinding machine was for. (crushing lime for cement!)
The small old yards opened out into a large pleasant courtyard which housed amongst other things, the shop, a book shop, an art exhibition, displays, an audio visual room (showing very interesting films about Erddig.)and the toilets. All the various outhouses were restored and being put to good use. All of this was fascinating before we even got to the Hall itself!

We made a beeline for the restaurant which was upstairs. There was a lift for people in wheelchairs. The restaurant was spacious and airy and the walls were covered with old photographs of Erddig and it's workers. The food was good, reasonably priced and served by very pleasant staff. There were decent sized pine tables to sit at and comfy chairs.

Fortified by tea and tasty salads we set off for the house. We had to pass through the stable yard to get there and of course needed to stop and admire the beautiful shire horse who was being made ready to pull the carriage. You have to book carriage rides at the ticket shop.

~~~At last, we've got to the House!~~~
We came into the house through the kitchens and scullerys, all the old cooking instruments were in place and it was easy to see what a huge task feeding and cleaning for the Hall had been. Huge sinks and cooking pots, dainty little sauce boats, drying racks and plate racks, weird cooking implements, vast cupboards full of crockery, all jostling for attention as we gazed around. I had read somewhere that the owners of Erddig through the years, had never thrown anything away. It made rich viewing for us as we stood in those old kitchens.

Having decided that we were blessed to live in an age of electricity, which the Yorke family had never had installed, we carried on into the main body of the house.

Dim corridors were lined with paintings of the staff. Now that fascinated me. The Yorke family had made a point of having portraits of the servants made. This was unheard of in polite society, servants were not often regarded as real people, yet here was a family who celebrated their servants and valued them enough to spend good money on having them immortalised in paint. Not only that but many of the portraits were adorned by verses that the family had written about them. There are more pictures of the staff than of the Yorke family! One poor housemaid had a verse singing her praises but saying that she wasn't very good at ironing! What a thing to go down in history for!

The house has a lovely collection of 18th and 19th century furniture and the layout is such that each room that you visit gives a real feel of a family in residence. They might have just popped out to look at a new portrait, everything seems to be as it was. Some stately homes give a feeling of sterility and untouchability. Erddig feels as though it was a real lived in place populated by real accessible people.

The nursery was lovely, a huge doll house stands against one wall and a Noah's ark with a fantastic amount of paired animals occupies the main part of the floor. A little side room showed you the Nannies little bed and wash stand.

The servants rooms are suprisingly spacious, the men's quarters divided from the maid's by a stout door in the middle of the corridor! No hanky panky here then!

There are beautiful bedrooms with chinese silk wallpaper lovingly restored. The bed hangings and covers reminding us of a time when there was no heating or escape from draughts.

The house had no changes made to it since the beginning of the 20th century. That and the fact that nothing was thrown away means that there are many, many items still in place to show us what life was like then.

~~~How it came to the National Trust~~~
Philip Yorke inherited Erddig from his brother after the war. He lived there alone with no staff for seven years. He was losing the fight against damage caused by the local mine dropping on end of the building by five feet! Water poured through the damaged roof every time it rained and he spent his time moving what furniture and anything else he could to drier rooms. With no electricity and no running water (except that which was coming from the roof!) it must have been a grim time for him.

Eventually he realised that he had to do something before the house was completely lost and he began negotiations with the National Trust. When the Trust had determined that there would be no further subsidence from the mine shafts, they agreed to take it from him and the slow and extremely expensive task of restoring Erddig was begun. (and continues!)

The trust restored the timber yards, smithy and outhouses first so they could use the tools and resources on site to restore the Hall. As far as was possible all the restoration was done using traditional methods and bringing the old tools and equipment back into use. This is all documented and the video gives a fascinating insight into how this was done (This is on show, free, in the audio visual room).

It took many years to restore the Hall and gardens to their former glory.

~~~The gardens and surrounding land~~~
The gardens are extensive and are worth a visit on their own merits. A beautiful formal garden fronts the house with a lovely walk down to the water features at the end of the lawns. It is possible to book a tour of the gardens with the head gardener. (I think I will arrange this for my Husband, son and daughter in Law. They are avid gardeners and it would make an unusual gift.) You can buy plants here too and pay for them at the gift shop. There is a boating lake to one side which is badly overgrown with weeds but no doubt that will be sorted when time and money allows. The Hall is sat in the middle of 1,200 acres of woodland, wetland and farmland. Most of which is open to visitors and is a lovely palce to explore and 'get away from it all'.

It is possible to pay seperately for entrance to the grounds and gardens if you don't want access to the house.

~~~Opening times~~~
(More detailed opening information can be found on the NT website.)
28 Feb-31 Mar 09 11--4 Closed Thursdays. Fridays
1 Apr- 30 Sep 09 11--5 Closed Thursdays, Fridays
3 Oct-1 Nov 09 11--4 Closed Thursdays, Fridays
7 Nov-20 Dec 09 11--4 Open Sat and Sunday.

~~~Admission prices~~~

Adult £9.80 , child £4.90 , family £24.50.
Garden & outbuildings only: £6.40 , child £3.20, family £16. Groups £4.90

~~~Events~~~
Erddig hosts a very full programme of events throughout the year. Details of these and much more can be found on http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-erddig.

~~~Overall~~~
Overall this is one of the most interesting Houses I have visited.
The range of things to be seen is huge. The way the history of the house is documented and displayed is easy to take in and constantly engaging.
The house and furnishings are just plain beautiful.
The amount and variety of historical artefacts is incredibly rich.
The gardens are well laid out and accessible.
The staff are knowlegeable and approachable.
The descriptions and evidence of the way family and staff related, brings the whole experience alive in quite a moving way.

Summary: If you are only ever going to visit one historical house in Britain, make it this one.