Hoghton Tower

Today we spent the afternoon at Hoghton Tower. I absolutely loved it! I have zero time for royalty and all the pageantry, but since having Ava I do enjoy history and looking around old buildings.

When James 1st visited, he took 300 staff and whoever was living at the tower went bankrupt and spent 18months in jail as a result…all because the king paid £0 towards his stay…when Prince Philip visited, he paid nothing either!! Lords would burn their roofs down if they knew a visit from the king/queen was a possibility as it was cheaper to rebuild a roof or house than fund a stay…says a lot really!!

We had the most adorable little old man, Eric , as a tour guide. He’s been volunteering as a guide the last 13 years since he retired, and bless him, his wife died a couple years ago, so this continues to keep him busy. He kissed my hand as we shook goodbye and thank you ☺️

We bumped into Sir Bernard on our way out…he had a bottle of wine with him…. ‘is that for me?’ I asked…turns out it was for the guides. He used to do all the tours at one point, but is now too old. Ava said he was there when we first arrived, sat in the booking office. He seemed a nice guy.

The gardens are beautiful too. You can really imagine living there and letting the dogs out on the land!

I can’t wait to go back. We’re going to book for a ghost tour in Winter. Apparently it’s the third most haunted in the UK!

If you’re looking for somewhere to visit with lots of history, I can definitely recommend here, even better if you get Eric (though I’m sure all the other guides are lovely too)

#hoghtontower #history #learnfromthepast #gradeone #bankholidayvibes