Well, it had to happen sooner or later.  Being England, it’s usually sooner.  That is, the temperature plummeted to a daytime maximum of 16c with leaden sky and light showers.  Of all times to happen however.  This trip had been built around these four days in Herefordshire and taking the “Black and White Village Trail.  Thirteen villages in a wedge shape corner of Herefordshire with hundreds of timber framed houses, shops and pubs.  The old oak timbers painted black, and the wattle and daub walls painted white.
Individually they are impressive, however a village of them is spectacular, Eardisland is regarded as the prettiest in Herefordshire, and it is packed with them.
All the villages are fairly close together, and with three days to explore them, they should be leisurely ones.  I decided that the best approach each day would be to set off for the most distant village first and then work our way back home.  Today, Leominster is the furthest and it’s not a village but a market town.  Hang on, just a little further on is Berrington Hall a National Trust property.
Speaking of which, we spent L139.00 to join the NT and to date we would have had to pay over L300.00 in admission charges.
I set google maps to take us to Berrington Hall first and then work back home via Leominster, Eardisland, Pembridge and Lyonshall.  That’s around a total of 55 minutes driving time. Easy, relaxing and rewarding.
As we headed east, we saw a sign pointing to a dairy with cheese manufacturing and a café.  O.K., we’ll aim to be back there around midafternoon.  I must have accidentally reversed the order of the trip because Sheila took us into the heart of Leominster and terminated in the Aldi carpark.  Is she and Google on the take?  Well at least she’d found us a decent supermarket to go to when we returned.  Reprogramme Sheila and on for ten minutes to Berrington Hall.  
The first thing to grab our attention is that this vast, and I mean vast estate, is surrounded by an iron fence.  The whole way around the 4,000 acres is an iron fence with spears on the top of each rod.  There is about 10cm distance between each rod.  Thousands and thousands of rods, which one of the guides responded to my question about distance simply said, “a long distance and the problem is in repairing it if a car has a collision.  You cannot buy any replacements.  Lots of smithing, I guess.  No post and rail or barbed wire fence for the Harleys.
We love Capability Brown landscapes, and this was his last project. Thomas Harley consulted him to design the estate and he recommended Henry Holland as an architect.  Hang on there; Henry Holland was his son in law.  That’s OK, Thomas was raising the funds to finance the entire project from a bank.  One of the directors of the bank was his son in law and the terms were for it to be repaid over 200 years at 0% interest. What that you say? “It’s not what you know but who you know even in Georgian England.”
Thomas Harley was the third son of the 3rd earl of Oxford.  At the beginning of the 18th century the village of Marylebone consisted of just a smattering of houses, but as London began to grow during the Georgian period many attractive houses were developed and by 1792-1799 the whole area from Oxford Street to the New Road (Marylebone Road) was awash with beautiful, large Georgian styled houses.   Cavendish Square, in particular, became a magnet for the fashionable and wealthy.
In 1711 the grid of streets was known as The Estate, and they passed to Henrietta Cavendish Holles (the Duke of Newcastle's daughter) who married Edward Harley (the 2nd Earl of Oxford).  Between 1715 and 1720, Edward, with the assistance of architect John Prince, decided to develop the streets around Cavendish Square for residential purposes naming many of the streets after members of the family. You got it HARLEY STREET.  It’s still privately owned.
Being the third son of the 3rd earl, the best he could do was to marry well.  He did, the daughter of Edward Bangham.  The Bangham and Harley families had been in each other’s pockets for several generations back into the 1600s.   A dowry of L2,000 came with his wife Anna.  That was enough to set up in business as a merchant at 152 Aldersgate Street, and in 1778 he joined Sir Charles Raymond in establishing a banking firm at George Street, Mansion House, under the style of Raymond, Harley, Webber, & Co. With Mr. Drummond he obtained a contract for paying the English army in America with foreign gold, and shared the profits, which are said to have amounted to 600,000. He was also a clothing contractor for the army. The American war of Independence was great for his business.
Edward Bangham made his money by clipping 6% of the “expenses” paid to members of parliament.  Parliamentarians weren’t paid a salary, but submitted claims for expenses.  Bangham’s role was to audit these claims.  Ches is also pretty certain that she heard that there was a connection with the Banghams and cloth manufacturing.  Perhaps Harley was sourcing the cloth for military uniforms from another family connection. 
Thomas went on to serve as Mayor of London and represent his own county in the House of Commons. He and Ann built Berrington Hall to serve as their summer home, close to Leominster where both families had been based.  It really is a summer home.  Yes, it’s a large Georgian house and estate, however it’s not anything like other summer homes that were built to “awe” visitors.  There are just 5 public rooms, and none of them were particularly large as well as just five bedrooms. He certainly had the money to build something on a massive scale however he chose to build something modest but still grand.
This was one of the most interesting of all the “stately” houses we have ever visited.  Why?  Because it’s in the middle of a working farm; with great herds of cattle and sheep.  Because we could walk through the walled garden.  Because we could walk through the extensive below stairs rooms (without having to pay extra).  Because the colour schemes of the rooms of the “house” were subdued pastels. Because they also offered a display of a “Mantua” gown that is truly unique and a library where a conservator was restoring books.  And. Guides who are passionate about the “Hall”.
We entered through the Triumphal Arch.  Half of it is now a holiday let consisting of 3 bedrooms. It was formerly a coachman’s home, and later a shooting lodge.  Coaches would have entered here, continued up the drive and through another arch in the middle if the coach house and stables, into the courtyard. 
We entered into the courtyard and followed the path to the right and through a gate into the walled garden.  Originally it would have been a kitchen garden, however now it is primarily an apple orchard with dozens and dozens of types of apples dating back to the 1600’s. Most are around 40 years old.  They plan on restoring the apple orchard, however that might mean another 10 years or more before they could turn this garden into a kitchen garden.  Also, some amazing flower beds.  The potting shed has a timeline that names every head gardener who has ever worked there.  They have recently discovered a buried furnace which they think might have been used to feed warm air into the greenhouse. 
After a chat with the gardener, we entered the courtyard and took the stairs down into the busiest part of the house; the kitchen, staff dining hall, pantry and managers rooms (offices).  As I said above, most homes who give you access to the workers rooms only include the kitchen and storerooms.  Here we could spend a long time listening to the volunteer guides, reading about the day-to-day activities required of the staff.  Don’t think it was an easy life; to tie a cravat they had to read a book called “Tying a Cravat in Eighteen Lessons”, without a nearby doctor you needed remedies such as how to use snail juice. 
Everything we saw in Downton Abbey is here, but far better for being as was rather than as a TV set.  I’ll post the photos as a separate album.
Back above ground and in the courtyard, we realise that this was not how the Harleys and their guests arrived at all.  The coach would have taken them around to the front of the house, which faces Capability Brown’s landscape.  They would alight her and walk up the staircase to the entrance.  The coach would return to the courtyard where the luggage would be unloaded and taken down to what might be called a box room.  It’s where the clothing would have been removed from cases and trunks, hats from huge hat boxes etc.  The trunks, cases and boxes stored, and the clothing taken to the next room for ironing before being taken up to the wardrobes in the dressing rooms.  
By all accounts, they wouldn’t have had a lot of clothing.  Most people didn’t.  A couple of pieces of day clothing and perhaps a couple of evening dresses.  No nickers but petticoats, bamboo hoops and a garment that consisted of two pockets on a cord that tied around the waist.  Formal wear includes a bustle.  
We entered through the kitchen.  Stone paving floor as was normal then up a few steps into the staff dining hall with a table that would have seated 12 or so.  The Butler at the head of the table with senior staff and the Housekeeper at the other end to keep the young housemaids in check.
Through to the pantry.  Like, it’s a huge room where they would have worked during the day to preserve fruits and vegetables to store for winter. On through various other rooms to the Footmen’s room.  Only required to dress Mr Harley twice a day (morning and for dinner), they spent the rest of the day here, cleaning the silver.  The Housekeeper’s office where all the accounts were kept and the “medicinal remedies” stored.  
Here's an interesting observation; every grand house we have visited thy made a point of explaining that it was the lady of the house who looked after the accounts.  She was the estates financial manager. Given that on many occasions, as with Ann, she would have brought a substantial dowry, so why not have some say in its use.  AND, why shouldn’t it be the Housekeeper who looks after the below stairs “books”
We spent a long time downstairs.  Loved it.  Oh, I almost forgot, they had a storage room for the crockery.  It’s fitted with a sink made of wood, so that when washing the crockery, they didn’t accidentally chip the good China. 
Above ground we briefly stuck our head in the door of the “dairy”.  Basically a very white and clean room where they would churn the butter, skim the cram off the milk, make cheese??? Whatever they did in a dairy other than not allow the cows inside.  Outside the noise of the sheep was deafening.  Hundreds of lambs and one of the staff suggested that some might have been taken off to you know where, and the others were bleating because they couldn’t find them.  Either that or they were really hungry, although there was no shortage of very lush grass.
Around to the grand front entrance.  I won’t subject you to a tedious room by room description I’ll post a separate photo album for “upstairs”.  I will say, that despite the fact that Ches still has difficulty with all the ornate decorations over doorways and cornices etc, I thought the combination of powdery blue and pink paint and the ceiling paintings were very relaxing.  It’s in the middle of the house that the staircase rises up the second floor with a glass domed skylight “thingy says Ches”.  It’s all marble columns and flooring.  No, it isn’t, it’s timber painted to look like marble.  Scagliola is the term they use at Berrington Hall.  Which raises the question; is this the forerunner of marbling which was done with paint (as done by my Coggan ancestors who were “marblers and grainers” in Bristol and Kensington in the 1800s).  Scagliola was more use of plaster with colours and chips added.  Whichever, it is quite stunning.
The upstairs rooms are being used to display the exhibition “A Dress Fit for a King”, showcasing a Court Mantua dress designed and worn by Ann Bangham, around the 1760s. The dress was auctioned off by Christie’s in London in 2016 and bought by the National Trust.  Ellen Terry’s beetle wing dress was stunning, however Ann’s dress takes the 1st prize.  Just spectacular.  While it is missing the stomacher and half of one sleeve, they have very cleverly displayed it so that you are looking at it from behind and the front is visible in a mirror. 
 This is the description supplied by Christie:  
A DECONSTRUCTED COURT MANTUA (FORMAL GOWN) MID-18TH CENTURY, THE SILK PROBABLY LYON
In white cannelé brocade woven with a gilt meander and flowers, with double sleeve ruffles, one sleeve, petticoat and three fragments, elements lacking, including one sleeve, the bodice lacking some skirt panels
The long single panel: 38 in. (97 cm.) long; width selvedge to selvedge: 19 ½ in. (49.5 cm.) wide
This dress, was almost certainly made for Anne Harley, wife of The Hon. Thomas Harley (MP for London and then Herefordshire) and may well have been worn by her whilst her husband served as Lord Mayor of London 1767-8. The Harley family were resident at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire, which was completed to the designs of Henry Holland in 1778-81, and it is likely that the dress remained there until the estate was sold in the early twentieth century. The dress was probably acquired at that time by Lady Norah More who was an inveterate collector, purchasing much from sales in the vicinity of her husband’s family home, Linley Hall, Shropshire.  The dress, now deconstructed, which has remained in the More family collection at Linley Hall, is accompanied by a hand-written note in Lady Norah’s hand identifying it as ‘…worn by Hon: Mrs Harley…/when Lady Mayoress, 1765’.
What it doesn’t tell us is that it would have been worn in the presence of the King and therefore could only be worn once. She couldn’t wear it to another event, as it would disrespect the crown and while wearing it, she wouldn’t have been able to sit down and with the gear underneath to create the shape, it would have been extremely heavy for a 4’11” petite woman.  
We made our way back downstairs to the entrance and stood gazing on the wonderful Capability Brown created landscape and the hill beside the house.  That hill is also man made.  It’s all the soil dug out to create the lake.  In those days, it was too expensive to cart away that much soil and anyway, the hill served the purpose of creating a dam to hold the water back in the artificial lakes.
After a shared pastie and sausage roll in the tearoom, we decided to go back to Aldi for supplies and then on to explore some of the Black and White Villages.  
Actually … we only had time to explore Eardisland as it eventuated.  It held us captive for the rest of the afternoon. So, for the first time, I’m writing two blogs for the same day.  Eardisland deserved its own blog and it will follow.
As usual, a bit more information below.  If you want to know about how Harley St came to be, scroll further.
 
 
 
HARLEY, THOMAS (1730–1804), lord mayor of London, third son of Edward Harley, third earl of Oxford, and Martha, eldest daughter of John Morgan of Tredegar, Monmouthshire, was born on 24 Aug. 1730. Edward Harley (1664-1735) [q. v.] was his grandfather. He was educated at Westminster School, and afterwards entered the office of a London merchant. 
A wealthy marriage in 1752 enabled him to set up in business as a merchant at 152 Aldersgate Street, and in 1778 he joined Sir Charles Raymond in establishing a banking firm at George Street, Mansion House, under the style of Raymond, Harley, Webber, & Co. With Mr. Drummond he obtained a contract for paying the English army in America with foreign gold, and shared the profits, which are said to have amounted to 600,000l. He was also a clothing contractor for the army. In 1761, at the age of thirty-one, he was elected alderman of Portsoken ward, and at the general election in the same year he became M.P. for the city of London. In March 1761 he was made free of the Goldsmiths' Company by redemption, and on 6 May following was admitted to the livery and court of the company, serving the office of prime warden in 1762-3. 
On Midsummer day 1763 he was elected sheriff of London and Middlesex. As sheriff he carried out on 3 Dec. the orders of parliament for burning No. 45 of the 'North Briton' by the hands of the common hangman at the Royal Exchange. The mob came into collision with Harley's officers, and the window of his state carriage was broken. They afterwards carried off a portion of the paper, and burnt a boot and petticoat at Temple Bar in derision of Lord Bute and the princess-dowager. 
Parliament voted Harley their thanks, but a similar vote from the corporation was vetoed by the lordmayor (Cormick's continuation of Hume and Smollett, History of England, ii. 60). 
Harley became lord mayor on Michaelmas day 1767. Early in the following year a severe frost and the long depression of trade caused great distress in London, and a serious riot occurred among the weavers. Harley established a system of bounties for bringing mackerel and other fish into Billingsgate Market, to be sold to the poor at cheap rates. 
At the general election in March Wilkes, just returned from France, offered himself as a candidate for the city of London. Wilkes was defeated, and Harley was re-elected (23 March) at the head of the poll. This produced two satirical pamphlets, 'A Letter [and 'Second Letter'] to the Right Hon. Thomas Harley, Esq., lord mayor . . . By an Alderman of London,' London, 1768; the former is known to have reached four editions. 
Five days later Wilkes was returned for Middlesex, and in the riots which followed the mob avenged themselves on Harley for his successful opposition to Wilkes at the poll in the city by breaking the windows of the Mansion House and doing other damage (Hughson, Hist. of London, i. 573-5). 
Harley displayed much vigilance and ability throughout the Wilkeite riots and was thanked for his services by the House of Commons at the close of his mayoralty. The popular party ridiculed him in an illustrated lampoon entitled 'The Rape of the Petticoat,' dated 9 May. He was shortly afterwards appointed a privy councillor, an honour which had not been conferred upon a lord mayor of London since the time of Sir William Walworth. 
The 'North Briton,' No. 55, of 1 July, contains a letter to Harley from William Bingley, occasioned, as the writer alleges, 'by some cruel reflections' of Harley's (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. iii. 632). At the close of his mayoralty a laudatory poetic effusion was addressed to him ('To the Right Honourable Thomas Harley, late Lord-Mayor of London; an Ethic Epistle,' London, 1769, 4to). ​Harley, though a consistent supporter of the ministry, occasionally voted against them. He declined in 1763 to vote for the obnoxious cider tax. The popular party in London always resented his adherence to unpopular opinions, but Wilkes is said to have recognised the manliness and consistency of his public conduct. 
In 1770, when accompanying a deputation from the city to address the king on the birth of Princess Elizabeth, Harley was intercepted by a mob, dragged from his carriage, and prevented from proceeding to St. James's. On the dissolution of parliament in 1774 he resigned the representation of the city in 'An Address to the Livery of London' (folio sheet, undated), and unsuccessfully contested his native county of Hereford. Harley, however, held the seat from 1776 to 1802, when he retired from parliamentary life. 
On the death of Alderman Alsop in 1785 he removed to the ward of Bridge Without becoming father or senior alderman of the city. When public credit was shaken by the threatened invasion by France in 1797, Harley's bank suffered seriously. Harley thereupon retired from business, and devoted his private fortune to the discharge of his partnership liabilities, the whole of which, both principal and interest, he paid in full. In 1798 he declined a general invitation to become a candidate for the lucrative office of chamberlain (vacant by Wilkes's death), on the ground that he had previously promised his support to Richard Clark (1739-1831) [q. v.] Harley bought a large estate at Berrington, near Leominster, in Herefordshire, and is said to have spent extravagant sums in building a mansion there. He died there, after a lingering illness, on 1 Dec. 1804.
Harley was colonel of the Yellow regiment of the London militia, and president of the Honourable Artillery Company (Raikes, History of the Company, ii. 20, 73) ; president of St. Bartholomew's Hospital ; governor of the Irish Societ}' from 5 March 1793 to 17 Dec. 1797; lord-lieutenant of Radnorshire ; and, in 1786, president of the patrons of the anniversary of the charity schools at St. Paul's Cathedral. He married, on 15 March 1752, Anne, daughter of Edward Bangham, deputy auditor of the impressed and M.P. for Leominster. His only son, Edward, died, when eleven years old, in 1768, the year of his father's mayoralty (Gent. Mag. 1768, p. 350). Of his other children some died in infancy, but five of his daughters survived him. Of these, Anne married George, second lord Rodney: Sarah married Robert, ninth earl of Kinnoull ; and Margaret married Sir John Boyd, bart. There is an engraved portrait of Harley by J. Hall (Evans, Catalogue, ii. 190).
[Gent. Mag. 1804, pt. ii. pp. 1175, 1237-40 ; Burke's Peerage ; Goldsmiths' Company's Records ; Hughson's (i.e. Pugh's) Hist, of London, i. 573-33; Price's Handbook to London Bankers, p. 73; City Biography, 1800, pp. 1-15; Royal Kalendar, 1772, p 210; Kent's London Directory: Baldwin's Complete Guide, 1763; Watt's Bibl. Brit, v. 3, s.v.] 
History of Harley Street
At the beginning of the 18th century the village of Marylebone consisted of just a smattering of houses, but as London began to grow during the Georgian period many attractive houses were developed and by 1792-1799 the whole area from Oxford Street to the New Road (Marylebone Road) was awash with beautiful, large Georgian styled houses, known by their rectangular sash windows and parapets which give the appearance of a flat roof.  Cavendish Square, in particular, became a magnet for the fashionable and wealthy.
Harley Street is owned by the de Walden family and managed by the Howard de Walden Estate.  In 1711 the grid of streets around Harley Street, known as The Estate, was passed to Henrietta Cavendish Holles (the Duke of Newcastle's daughter) who married Edward Harley (the 2nd Earl of Oxford).  Between 1715 and 1720, Edward, with the assistance of architect John Prince, decided to develop the streets around Cavendish Square for residential purposes naming many of the streets after members of the family.  When Edward died the Estate passed to his daughter, Margaret Cavendish Harley who married the second Duke of Portland, and the area became known as The Portland Estate. 
The Dukes of Portland had ownership for five generations until the fifth Duke died without issue in 1879 and the land passed to Lucy Joan Bentinck, widow of the 6th Baron Howard de Walden and thus it became the Howard de Walden Estate.