Another NT property where not all was as it seemed. Whilst it is recorded that a manor house has been on the site since before Norman times, what we saw of Baddesley Clinton was a beautiful moated building, built largely in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries but remodelled and extended in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Having been a sanctuary for persecuted Catholics hidden in the priest holes in the late 1500s, it later became a family retreat as life of the country gentleman changed. It was the home of the Ferrers family for 500 years. What made the house so special was the long-standing connection with the same family; their coat of arms was evident throughout the house, from 16th century heraldic glass to the layout of the present gardens. Likewise, the furniture and furnishings were from different eras. A complex but interesting property.
– Nicola Harding