Saturday, June 21st was a day planned as a magical Brunel Experience, so 23 of us travelled independently to the Embankment to meet our Guide who was to take us on a gentle boat ride, short walk, a tube ride through the first tunnel under a river and then a descent into Marc Brunel’s Caisson […]

Hardwick House is a fine Elizabethan/Jacobean Manor House, situated between Mapledurham and Whitchurch, close to the Thames. Following an interesting earlier evening lecture about the Rose family, who have owned Hardwick House since the end of the nineteenth century, and their participation in the Boer War, members had asked if it would be possible to

About 30 members of the HA&HG visited the beautiful manor house, hidden behind its elegant gateway next to Harpsden Church. The owners were delighted to show us around and tell us about life there in the past and present, especially how the house earns its living (the large amount of maintenance and repairs it needs)

On Wednesday 10th October, more than twenty members paid a visit to the hamlet of Mapledurham, led by Peter Anderson and Ruth Gibson. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and we soon learned a great deal about milling flour from Jane, who, with her husband, John, manages the watermill on the Thames which has stood

On Sunday 13th May our group outing to the historic town of Devizes enjoyed a town walk in miraculous sunshine. Our very local guide, John Girvan, told us about the Norman motte & bailey castle, located on the boundary of three manors – from which the town seems to take its name. The town grew