Woolly says – The sun was out although it wasn’t providing much warmth as we headed through the Herefordshire countryside for a rendezvous with daughter Zoe to celebrate Mother’s Day, a day where we are supposed to thank a certain human for everything she does for us, I’d like to know when there will be a Mammoth Day to celebrate all things Woolly!

With Alfie the Dog sitting quietly for a change on the back seat, I consulted my Mammoth Book of Everything on our destination. Croft Castle is a country house in the village of Croft, Herefordshire, which has been owned by the Croft family since 1085, the castle and estate passed out of their hands in the 18th century, before being repurchased by the family in 1923, in 1957 it was bequeathed to the National Trust. The first member of the Croft family to have owned the estate was Bernard de Croft, who is mentioned in Domesday Book, the  family suffered financially following the South Sea Bubble and in 1746 sold the estate to Richard Knight (1693 to 1765). In the 1760s the castle was remodelled in a Rococo-Gothic style to the designs of the Shrewsbury architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, designer of the world’s first iron bridge spanning the Severn near Coalbrookdale. In 1923 Katherine, Lady Croft, rebought the castle and members of the family still live there today, I must remember to give them a wave if I see them.

Having parked and clambered out of the car I was delighted to see that Zoe was only minutes behind our arrival so with everyone ready we passed under the impressive castle entrance and headed off to see the ancient oak trees.

As Barking Boy and the humans tramped through the mud, I admired what had been the original and once formal approach to the castle and would have been a line of sweet chestnuts. Now leafless the branches knotted round each other the shapes they have taken were strange and very pleasing to the eye.  A story says sweet chestnuts were taken from captured Spanish ships and planted at Croft Castle between 1580 and 1680, the avenue of trees is said to represent the formal battle plan of the ships of the Armada, I looked but couldn’t make it out personally.

The further we walked the more interesting looking the trees became, at 1,000 years old the Quarry Oak is one of the oldest trees at Croft, what stories it must be able to tell if only it could.

An upturned tree gave me a chance to investigate it’s roots and the millions of tentacles that had spread from a single acorn so many years ago.

The Castle came into view, quite small with a turret at each corner it was more grand manor than castle but then what is the criteria for a castle? Is it the need to have turrets or battlements? Or just be large and capable of withstanding battle?

As my small friend considered this we wandered round the outside of the castle before heading to the small café for some refreshments.

Woolly says – With everyone’s thirst quenched and tummies full we entered the walled garden, constructed in 1823 it was one of the largest walled gardens I can remember seeing with it’s small pond there was ample space to grow food for the whole family as well as the vineyard that took up one quarter of the ground supplying around 300 bottles of white wine a year to the house. With the outside areas covered we entered the castle itself finding ourselves in an entrance hall with a lovely large fireplace with two comfy chairs just ready to curl up in on a cold winter’s afternoon.

Family portraits covered the walls along with minute cork pictures and the 18^th century equivalent of a photoshop of Elizabeth I (apparently the same face was used by painters at the time but they could add their own costumes on).

Through the doorway and under the stairs I found a rather handsome toilet before we headed upwards to the Ambassadors room. So named for the visit of the Austrian Ambassador in 1914 which due to the outbreak of WWI never took place, I’m sure he would have liked it’s rich red wallpaper.

A long corridor took us to a beautifully decorated staircase which we descended.

It looked as though dinner was served and as I set about trying to get the cork out of the champagne bottle in the very fetching green Dining Room I could image how lovely it would be to host dinner in this fine setting.

The Blue Room had a 3d effect on the walls and a beautiful boxed piano tucked into one corner.

Next door was the Saloon a large room which has been restyled in 1823, a large grand piano sat amongst some cosy looking chairs and sofas.

The Library was small compared to some but with many interesting tomes including an early company of Samuel Johnsons Dictionary.

A tiny passageway led us into one of the turrets and told us about how the castle had been used in the second World War as a school.

Finding ourselves back at the entrance hall we headed back outside and crossed the courtyard towards the church.

The Church of St. Michael and All Angels’ dates from around the 14th century with a seventh century clock tower, it was a delight to look at.

Inside its wooden ceiling was unadorned except for a couple of checky looking cupids.

The small altar was adorned with a sweet stained glass window which was very much in keeping with the simplicity of the place in general.

A number of memorials to the Croft family were on the walls with a fine tomb for Sir Richard and Eleanor Croft bearing a resemblance to that of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey. Being Mothering Sunday is was also a busy pace to be so we headed back outside to allow others to have a look. Wandering back towards the cars I was delighted with our day, the ladies had enjoyed being together, Alfie the Dog had got to water many trees and I really liked the small but sweet castle.