Wightwick Manor and the Bratch Locks.

Saturday 30th June, 2018 at Wombourne.
Wightwick Manor is an Arts and Crafts house belonging to the Mander family, built in 1887 and then extended in 1893. It was gifted to the National Trust in 1936, but the Mander family still retain a private apartment in the house.

We are especially fond of it because of its connection with the pre-Raphaelites and the brilliant collection of their paintings, including many works by the Rossetti family. The house is also closely connected with Wm. Morris and contains many examples of his designs and fabrics. The Manders were a liberal thinking benevolent family, who supported the campaign for womens' suffrage. It was one of the first houses to be equiped with electricity and it had three bathrooms, one of them for the use of the staff!
The house itself is absolutely lovely inside; many original paintings by pre-Raphaelites as well as other contemporary artists and lots of wall hangings by Wm. Morris.
The gardens too are a joy. We greatly admired this magnificent copper beach planted by Queen Mary on July 30th 1930, when she was Duchess of York.

On the walkway up to the house, there is a wild flower meadow with a lovely display of poppies.

We couldn't resist a visit to the second hand bookshop, yeilding to temptation and purchasing only one book. A little lunch in the tea room in the stables, followed by a Magnum each, saw us happily on our way. M, wisely declined a visit to the gift shop, well aware of the lure of the Wm. Morris items!
We set off again early afternoon, in the hottest part of the day. Awbridge lock is a very handsome structure with its ballustrading.

Great caution was exercised as we passed the two cricket matches on the ground beside the canal; last time we came this way, two cricket balls came hurtling right over the boat. Two sixes in one over! We quickly moved on, fearing for our glass windows.

 

Bratch locks are very impressive, three locks in very quick succession, with less than ten feet between one lock and the next. They are beautifully maintained and, thankfully, always manned by C&RT volunteers as their safe operation is far from simple.

We loved this name!

Tonight, we moored up in Wombourne close to the very large Sainsbury supermarket. Tomorrow, M has to go home for a few days, so R will carry on solo towards Kidderminster.
Today: 5 miles, 7 locks and 2.8 hours.
Trip: 54 miles, 31 locks and 26.5 hours.