Get into your car and drive to an English Manor House (What we did on our summer vacation.) by Sarah Rosenbaum

Agecroft Hall was first built near Manchester, England in the 15th Century. Like so many country homes, it was added on to during the following centuries; but by the 1920's it was vacant, falling into ruin and threatened by a planned highway. An American bought it, had it dismantled and had the parts shipped to Richmond, Virginia. There it was reassembled (but only a quarter as big as it had been before) as a home for the purchaser and his wife and as a centerpiece for a large development of houses, built in an English style and with street names like Canterbury and Banbury. A tour includes rooms with large mullioned windows, big fireplaces, linenfold paneling and a lovely carved staircase. There are furnishings as well: paintings (one original to the house), rush lights, rushes on the floor and some early chests and chairs. There are even a few books including a Gerard’s Herbal, lying open on a table in full sun (ouch! Maybe it was a reproduction.)

Surrounding the house are gardens, added over the years by the purchaser’s widow. These include a knot garden, a herb garden and a Tradescant Garden containing only plants first identified by the English naturalist John Tradescant. On the other side of the house is a turf maze and a bowling green.

Docent Emeritus Marie Anne Schiffmann and I made a lovely day trip of it, having lunch and also visiting an antebellum mansion that was built by a member of Virginia’s famous Randolph family. I recommend the excursion to any of you.