The Manor At Hemingford Grey, UK

The Setting For The Green Knowe Stories In Cambridgeshire, England

Aug 6, 2008

The Manor at Hemingford Gray is one of the oldest continually inhabited homes in England. It is just around the corner from Cambridge.

It’s an easy drive for 15 miles to the northwest, mainly along the A14 trunk road. The most famous owner of the manor was Lucy Boston. Lucy Boston was the author of the Green Knowe series of children's books but is also famous worldwide as the maker of exquisite patchwork quilts.

The Green Knowe Books

The Green Knowe stories were set in the house, along the river Great Ouse and in the village. The rooms, the furniture and toys featured in the books remain in place. Visiting the house is to walk into the stories. Visitors stand in the same place their heroes stood. Look out of the same windows at the same, virtually unchanged gardens. The gardens at the manor are famous for their collection of roses and irises. The Topiary chess pieces were planted by Lucy Boston to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1952 and fifty plus years later are surely looking as she intended.

The Patchwork Quilts

The patchwork quilts still lie on the beds they were made for and in the sequence they were made. The exquisite designs and needlework are made all the more wonderful when visitors hear the stories behind the reasons for their design and where the materials came from. Visitors from all over the world come to marvel at the detail and craftsmanship Lucy Boston displayed in the making of these quilts.

Some visitors will arrive, perhaps knowing nothing of one the sides of this remarkable woman’s talents. Childhood readers of the books will discover the author's quilting fame. Quilters arriving to see quilts will leave owning books to read to their children and Grandchildren.

The Garden

From the secret Garden you will be able to see the original front of the house. The house has been much changed during its nine hundred year life but the original Norman building still stands. The house was greatly extended in the 18th century but these extensions were largely destroyed by fire in 1798. Lucy Boston used the story of the fire as inspiration for one of the Green Knowe stories. The house was extended for the family of the Gunning sisters who were born in the 1730s. They lived in the house and were reputed to be the most beautiful girls in England. They went on to marry important and wealthy husbands, as beautiful girls still do today.

World War 2

It is possible to tour the house by arrangement. Visitors are be shown around by a member of the family who will bring the house to life. They can sit on the same chairs used by the airmen from the USAAF during World War II when Lucy Boston gave record recitals twice a week for the men. They hear the same records played on the same 1930s gramophone using a bamboo needle. Visitors can feel the atmosphere and imagine how those young men, so far from home, must have felt at this repeated act of welcome. Only the most unsympathetic visitor can fail to be moved.

Even people have never read her stories or admired the photographs of her famous patchworks in books or galleries worldwide will appreciate being a part of England's living history in the Manor at Hemingford Gray.

Opening Times

The garden is open daily from 11am to 5pm (dusk in winter). No appointment is needed.

Booking for these is still advisable as the size of the tours has to be limited.)

Parking is in the village. There is a parking space at the house reserved for the disabled.

The copyright of the article The Manor At Hemingford Grey, UK in England Travel is owned by David Smith. Permission to republish The Manor At Hemingford Grey, UK in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.