A Victorian/Edwardian Gothic Revival house with an Arts & Crafts interior.

The Lee was built and remodelled between 1896 and 1904 for William and Agnes Hathornthwaite. The exterior is a throwback to Gothic Revival, while the interior is predominantly Arts & Crafts. The gardens include two Messenger greenhouses and water gardens by James Pulham and Sons. The Lee is undergoing a restoration project to return it to its Victorian/Edwardian heyday.

Interior
The porch has a decorative mosaic floor.

The hall has moulded ceilings in a style associated with properties that have gardens designed by James Pulham and Sons. Original chequerboard tiled hearth. Oak fire surround with carved Lancaster rose detail and lion rampant crest.

The drawing room has a fine moulded ceiling (again of a style associated with James Pulham), stained glass windows, and an Arts & Crafts fireplace. The bay window in the base of the turret looks out over Wales to the south and the Shropshire Hills to the north.

The library was added in 1904. Recent work has revealed the original Edwardian panelling and plate rack which has been hidden for decades, along with an unusual air vent with sunflower design. It has an Arts & Crafts oak fireplace.

Exterior:
Cast iron verandah by Walter MacFarlane & Co of Glasgow (Scotland’s most important manufacturer of ornamental ironwork at the time).

There are just over three acres of garden, including extensive water gardens laid out by James Pulham and Sons (who won a medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851). The water garden includes rockeries, waterfalls, bridges, ponds, and lake with island. Japanese garden near the house.

The walled garden has two Messenger greenhouses. One of these is a peach house. The other greenhouse has been recently restored after being covered since the 1950s. Both are now in horticultural use again and the current owners have returned the peach house to its original purpose of growing peaches.

The sunken part of the walled garden is currently undergoing restoration to be a reimagining of the parterre that was described in Country Life in 1905.

Tickets £22 including soft drinks and canapes on the terrace with views of the Welsh hills to the south and the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the north.

Why not combine this tour with a visit to the award-winning gardens at nearby Broadward Hall, which is open at 2.00pm on the same day? See https://app.tickettailor.com/events/broadwardhall/1475648 for more information and to book.

Please see our cancellation policy below:
If you cancel more than two weeks before the tour is scheduled to take place, we will fully refund your ticket money excluding any phone booking fees. If it’s less than 14 days before a tour, for any reason, we regret that we cannot refund your ticket money unless we can resell your ticket(s). If we cancel at any time, we will fully refund your ticket money. Although we make every effort to avoid it, sometimes a tour has to be cancelled at short notice due to circumstances beyond our control. In this case, we cannot accept responsibility for, or refund, any consequential losses, such as money spent on travel or accommodation.