A Cotswold Manor House

Snowshill Manor is a majestic manor house in , located in the . Situated in the South-West of England, the region of the Cotswolds stretches across 800 square miles with a population of around 139,000 people. It expands across , and regions of Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, North East Somerset and Wiltshire.

Snowshill Manor is now owned by the National Trust and the stunning manor house is located in the Gloucestershire village of Snowshill in the Cotswolds. The 16th century Tudor manor house is most famous for Charles Paget Wade, an eccentric owner. Charles was a fond collector and had a huge amount of antiques and artefacts which interested him throughout his life. By trade, he was an English architect, a poet and an artists-craftsman and Snowshill Manor still has much of his collection. Charles donated his home to the National Trust in 1951 and sadly died a few years later in 1956. Snowshill Manor is a popular tourist attraction, presenting English eccentricity in a beautiful style. The majestic manor house stands on the edge of a hill with perfectly kept gardens surrounding it. The home is packed with everything Charles Page Wade’s collected and is a wonderful souvenir of his obsession with antiques and crafts. The Eccentric Charles Paget Wade

Charles’s father died in 1911 and he inherited his share in the family business which were sugar plantations based in the West Indies and St Kitts. He qualified as an architect with the Royal Institute of British Architexcts and worked continuously in various partnerships within the arts and crafts. Charles bought Snowshill Manor when he came back from serving in France and in 1919 he began the restoration of the manor house and the landscaping of the gardens. Charles had started collecting interesting objects from the young age of 7, gathering an assortment of around 22,000 pieces of furniture, items and paintings that were uniquely designed or crafted. The collection was homed at the manor house but Charles chose to live in a small building in the manor gardens which was known as the priest’s house. History says that cottage is believed to be haunted by a monk and by the ghost of a young woman who was supposedly forced to marry against her will. Charles himself eventually married Mary McEwan Gore Graham in 1946 and they started to spend more time at their home in the West Indies.

The Quintessential Manor House

Snowshill Manor was originally owned by Winchcombe Abbey but was released on the market since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by King Henry VIII. It has had several owners until it was purchased by Charles Paget Wade which made it into a beautiful Cotswold manor house, renovated and built from the famous honey-coloured Cotswold stone. It was designated as a Grade II listed building in 1960, alongside the dovecote, the brewhouse and a few of the garden buildings and manor cottages. Many famous and notable people visited and stayed at the manor with Charles, namely Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, John Buchan and J B Priestley. Many reported how Charles was always a wonderful but mysterious character, dressing in unusual theatrical outfits and performing as the perfect eccentric gentleman around his huge collection of antiques. Indeed, the famous writer J B Priestley once described Charles as; “My eccentric, but charming friend of the fantastic manor house”. Cotswold Tours

If you are thinking of exploring the Cotswolds, then Snowshill Manor is a quintessential and beautiful vision of English aristocracy. If you’re staying in London, then the region of the Cotswolds is just one hour and forty-minutes train journey. The Secret Cottage Tour picks you up from Moreton-in- Marsh train station in a luxury 7-seater Mercedes minibus and take you to all the best places in region. Enjoy the perfect daytrip to The Cotswolds where you will be shown charming market towns, the green rolling countryside of the Cotswold hills, picture-perfect river views, magnificent stately homes, pretty Cotswold villages and some of the most beautiful countryside around. Perhaps the most unique part of our tour is bringing you to our home The Secret Cottage, where you will get a personal tour of our 400-year-old house, with a hot drink and pastries in the morning, following by a delicious homemade buffet lunch. We also give our guests a Cotswold cream tea in the afternoon as a special treat, then return you to the train station so you are back in time for your evening in London. Book now to avoid disappointment.