Leonard Stanley Wine Circle's Chevenage outing

ON WEDNESDAY evening, July 25, a full coachload of members departed from the village hall on our annual outing, which this year was to Chavenage, an Elizabethan manor house, the original part being reconstructed in 1576.

Quite a few had not visited before, although being near Tetbury it is practically on our doorstep.

It was a lovely evening, both weatherwise and seeing this famous house in real life, rather than appearing in countless films and TV dramas, including the current Poldark series.

Unfortunately the ladies had to contend with seeing photographs of Ross Poldark rather than the man himself!

Our guides, brother and sister of the current family were superb, not only with their knowledge of the history of the house and its contents but amusing as well.

Chavenage has been the home of the Lowsley-Williams family since 1891 and are in fact only the second owners of this Cotswold Manor which has remained almost unchanged for 400 years but it came to life through their vivid descriptions and knowledge.

Afterwards, members enjoyed an excellent meal, looking out over the grounds.

Every year, we think it will be difficult to improve on the previous year’s outing, but as yet this has never happened and the organisers have come up trumps again.

There is no meeting in August but we commence again on Wednesday, September 26, at 7.30pm in the village hall when George Yiend will talk about ‘Cider with Rosie’.

Visitors very welcome to come along.