Moseley Old Hall, The House That Saved A King

Now we're back at home and life is pretty much back to normal, I'm applying for trade pitches at music festivals, we're hunting the greater Black Country for vintage treasures and spending the subsequent hours laundering, repairing and ironing our finds not to mention Jon's painfully laborious restoration of Gilbert. It's not all hard work though, we did manage to squeeze in a bit of culture a couple of weeks ago with a visit to Moseley Old Hall, a National Trust property a mere eight mile drive from our front door.

 Known as The House That Saved A King, this compact Elizabethan farmhouse on the outskirts of Wolverhampton famously offered shelter to King Charles II after he fled Cromwell's troops following defeat at The Battle of Worcester in 1651. I'd visited as an eight year old schoolgirl and, being a bit odd, quickly became obsessed with Charles, avidly compiling a scrapbook of anything I could find relating to him. A couple of years later I was devastated to discover than I was a descendant of Oliver Cromwell.

There's an Indian connection to King Charles II. His wife, Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess, brought a dowry of £500,000 as well as the city of Bombay when she married him. She was also responsible for introducing the drinking of tea to England, a girl after my own heart.

We visited Moseley Old Hall on the day it had re-opened after the winter break and the first tour of the house was fully booked so, taking advantage of the glorious sunshine, we had a wander around the grounds, climbing tree houses and spotting signs of Spring.

We even encountered a curious peacock - yet another link to India! So beautiful.

Moseley Old Hall was built in around 1600 and was originally half-timbered, but following   modernisation in 1870, the Elizabethan windows were replaced and the outer walls cladded with brick. The Tudor chimneys remain unchanged. During the time it offered shelter to the fleeing monarch it was occupied by the Whitgreave family and remained in the family until 1925.

The gardens contain plants popular in the 17th Century, a fruit orchard and an elegant knot garden.

Our trip was spur of the moment and we'd neglected to bring lunch so we splashed out on a pot of tea and sandwiches in the cafe - delicious but costing more than two nights accommodation in Goa, something we shan't be making a habit of!

We joined the tour and I instantly bonded with the guide, who looked fabulous in her vintage 1960s coat and purple bobbed hair.

 We peeped at the priest-hole where Charles II had hidden (the family who sheltered him during his flight from Cromwell's New Model Army were Roman Catholics, a religion outlawed by Henry VIII) and saw the four poster bed where the king had rested.

We stood in the kitchen where a weary Charles, who'd arrived cold and wet, disguised in workmen's clothing and ill-fitting shoes, was given ale, bread and cheese while a Catholic priest, also hidden by the inhabitants of Moseley Old Hall, tended to his bleeding feet. At 6 foot 2", Charles was a giant by seventeenth century standards, the clothes (and shoes) which he'd borrowed from sympathetic local farmers were far too small for him. After a five day walk in ill-fitting shoes his feet were said to have been ruined.

The altar was hidden away in the attic of the house. Discovery of this by Cromwell's army could have led to certain death for the Whitgreave family.

After the tour we had a rummage in the secondhand bookshop before waving goodbye to our new friend, the peacock.

Moseley Old Hall
Fordhouses
Wolverhampton WV10 7HY

Open daily from 10am  (house from 11am)