Bedfield Hall tour

The isolated 9th century site was moated around 1300 and is adjacent to the 11th century church. The earlier part of the house, built in 1422, was enlarged and modernised with two wings of 1620 and 1630. 

Until the Dissolution, the manor was held by Eye Priory. For the past 40 years, the house and garden have been the home and working space of artist Timothy Easton. Timothy is also an architectural historian who has been responsible for decoding scribed symbols applied to interiors that helped past occupants gain protection against the fear of malevolent activities. He is also a specialist on the painted surfaces of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century buildings. Here at Bedfield Hall, most of the rooms have their early seventeenth-century decorative schemes intact or restored.

One of the five bridges that connect the two-acre garden

The first owner-occupier since around 1100 was a wealthy farmer, Thomas Dunston (resident 1610-1657). He was responsible for the layout of the painted rooms, two enriched plaster ceilings and, in his new kitchen, a remarkable painted and inscribed ceiling with magical symbols to ward off witches. The sub-divided two-acre gardens around the house have five connecting bridges over the water. There are formal yew hedges and topiary with potager, shrub roses, iris beds and a woodland area. The tour starts in the church, continuing in the garden (weather permitting) and on into the house.

The tour includes the church, garden and lower and upper rooms of the house and is followed by tea or coffee with home-made cakes and biscuits. 

Greeted or guided by the owner
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No photography in the house