Baronet's Diary

The success that is Callow Hall has been celebrated in not just the local press but the nationals. Recently crowned Top Country House Hotel in Britain in the Sunday Times, the establishment, based at Mapleton just north of Ashbourne, has 15 individually designed bedrooms in the main house and will have a total of 11 woodland hives based in the adjoining woodland. The light and airy garden room is a triumph and can host dinners of up to 80. Callow is the first Wildhive hotel and the group wish to garner several more similar establishments around the country offering that little bit extra with ‘wellbeing experiences from cycling to spa treatments.’ Fiona and I were fortunate to be guests at one of the first large dinners at the refurbished hotel for the undisclosed wedding anniversary of Desmond and Vicky Anley . Desmond, in his amusing speech, spoke fondly of his initial ‘amorous entanglement’ and the fun to be had in London in the 60s and 70s with Vicky and their host of friends. The glorious evening eneded with a midnight golf buggy ride to the treehouses in the woods. Callow Hall is back on the map and well worth a visit.

Once again the lockdown has brought with it more enquiries about ancestry and previous inhabitants of the village. Whilst acting as car park attendant for one of our weddings I encountered a lady who asked if her ‘13th Great Grandmother ‘ had lived at Tissington Hall. The lady in question was born about 1482 in the south of the County at Etwall and christened Barbara and was the daughter of John Fitzherbert and Margaret Babington. Barbara married one Thomas Cockayne and is related to our correspondent through her father’s side.I had to consult my eminent Archivist and he responded having looked again at the 15-foot family tree . I quote ‘I have discovered this lady They never lived at the present Tissington Hall as it was built in 1609. I don’t think they lived at the earlier hall either but I cannot be sure. You have done remarkably well to have traced your ancestors back to your 13th-great grandmother in 1482. However, an idle thought comes to mind: as each of us have four great grandmothers and eight gt gt grandmothers. when it comes to 13 X great, we each have 16384 of them. ‘ Wow!

With the pandemic preventing tourists from travelling overseas we have seen a huge surge in ‘staycations’ as people visit the Peak District for the first time having usually spent their holidays abroad. We have opened the eyes of this ‘emerging market’ to visitors and we have welcomed couples and families from both the south and the north to our wonderful countryside for the first time ever. In our four holiday cottages we invite visitors to leave a message in a book with one recent scribbling being so relevant. I quote ‘ We loved Tissington, the Peak District and the area so much that we have only one complaint…. That we have to leave’. How nice.

We have lost another friend from our family. At the beginning of June we made the sad journey to the vets in Ashbourne to say the last rites to Vossie our 14-year-old Labrador. Vossie had been a companion for over a decade at Tissington and knew the Estate like the back of her paw. Early in my tenure I decided to name my canine friends after painters that I have sold to keep the roof on. Her name came from Cornelius de Vos a Flemish Painter from the 17th century whose picture I sold to the nation in 1990 to secure funds to fix the roof at the Hall. For Vossie’s final outing I took her to two of her favourite spots namely a new plantation at Lea Hall and the Ford at Bradbourne Mill. A life well lived and I know that she will be chasing rabbits in the sky.

What does Tissington have in common with the Iraqi Parliament House in Baghdad? Quite an unusual coincidence as I am sure you will agree but as I have been looking after our fenestration at the Hall and allocating my trusty WD40 to the hinges and brackets on the 120 year old windows I noticed that the rim had ‘H Hope & Sons’ inscribed at the bottom. Intrigued, I looked into this company that hailed from Smethwick in the West Midlands and discovered this fascinating fact that they manufactured glasshouses and windows for Barry's new Houses of Parliament in London in 1845-57. I surmise that the architect Arnold Mitchell (who extended the Hall in 1900 to add the library and billiard room) must have discovered the firm who went on to adorn other properties not just in England including ICI House but in Iran as well including their Parliament House. What a connection!