National Trust - Great Chalfield Manor and Garden — Attraction in Atworth

From an architectural standpoint, Great Chalfield Manor is fascinating as it is mostly intact as it was when built in the late 1400s. The tour guide was excellent and gave a concise history of the manor as well as explaining various symbols such as the statue of the boy on the roof used to fly the flag when the king approached. The gardens are beautiful as is the lovely church. I was disappointed that no photography is allowed indoors, hence minus a star on my rating. You are only allowed into two rooms and one of those, the dining room, was closed to visitors for an unexplained reason. That leaves the Great Hall, with its beautiful tapestries and wooden carvings. As a tenant family still uses the Manor, they had lots of family photos sitting around and this was the reason given for not allowing the public to take pictures. There was no furniture in the Great Hall save a couple hard-backed chairs so it's not as though the tenant family will be settling down on the sofa tonight to watch Coronation Street. In my opinion, they should put their framed family photos away - what if a visitor with a large bag takes a fancy to some of the frames and slips them into their bag - and allow paying members of the public to...

The moated Manor House was built around 1465 and fully restored in 1905. The gardens were designed by Alfred Parsons in 1905-1912 with an Arts and Crafts influence.

Filming at the house includes Poldark Tess of the D'Urbervilles Wolf Hall Persuasion Wives and Daughters

If you look up at the gables and you will see amusing carvings, one of a dog, one of a monkey, and one of a soldier, (there is a story to it). The house is ONLY accessible by guided tour, so when you arrive go straight to the barn on your right and book a time slot, because you CANNOT see inside the house any other way, The times of opening are a bit random, so go to the national trust web site and check before going. We had the tour with a descendant of the family and she was great, with some great stories, but did say that NO photography was allowed 😭 as it is a family home,Outside and the gardens are fine. There is no cafe here, but in the barn (again to the right if entering) there is self serve for tea/coffee/crisps/chocolate with an honesty box and the price list. You can just take your own and still sit...

We visited here on a Sunday so we could do the guided tour of the house as well as see the gardens. I'd recommend arriving early as parking is all on road as very limited. The property is tenanted and as such only open for a limited amount of days each year. Our guide was excellent and had a huge amount of knowledge both about the property and the wider historical events during the country in the relevant periods. The property was built as a fortified manor house towards the end of the Wars of the Roses and has survived largely intact. The builder seemed to be a quite a despicable man who acquired over 50 properties in northern Wiltshire by various means. We couldn't take photos inside the property but the gardens, now in their arts and Crafts persona were very photogenic and there was plenty of nice walks. Not a huge property but we spent a couple of hours there and the guided tour really...