Two Great Estates: A tour around Chester

Based in Chester (where we stay at the Mill Hotel & Spa near the city centre) this 3-day tour takes us to two great estates of the nineteenth century. We shall have the opportunity to see what is left (and there is a good deal) of Eaton Hall, greatest of the nineteenth-century country houses demolished in 1961. We shall also visit the older Tatton Hall with its nineteenth-century gardens and farm. The visit also includes a walking tour of Chester (largely developed by the Westminster Estate) and Knutsford, where Lord Egerton was the driving force behind the building.

Our tour begins on Wednesday afternoon with a walking tour of Chester (starting at the Mill Hotel at 2pm), taking in the principal buildings by John Douglas, estate architect to the Duke of Westminster, including, we hope, his Christ Church, Gloucester Street. Chester is also rich in works by other architects, and we hope to be able to see WH Lynn’s fine town hall, as well as high quality fittings in some of the city’s churches.

Thursday begins with a walking tour of Knutsford, a small town whose nineteenth-century character is still remarkably well preserved. The town hall, by Alfred Waterhouse, survives, though with a new use. The main church, St John the Baptist, has a chancel by Alfred Darbyshire (a rarity in his work); but the other church, St Cross, is an outstanding piece by Paley & Austin. Knutsford, however, should be better known for the buildings of developer Richard Harding Watt and his architects. Starting with Watt’s amazing King’s Coffee House where he was both patron and client we shall move on to see the exteriors of what Pevsner decribes as ‘the maddest sequence of villas in all England’.

Thursday afternoon takes us to Tatton Park where an eighteenth-century villa was beautified in the nineteenth century by GH Stokes. The garden terraces are almost certainly by Joseph Paxton and the Japanese garden boasts a shinto temple imported whole in 1910.

Friday is devoted to the Eaton Estate. We shall begin with the remaining structures of Waterhouse’s Eaton Hall, which are considerable. The chapel and stable court survive as do the coachmen’s cottages and the north lodge. We also hope to be allowed to visit the unique terracotta parrot house in the gardens. We shall also visit the estate village of Eccleston where there is a much underrated church by GF Bodley. We also hope to see the staggering Eccleston Hill Lodge by Douglas before going on to Aldford, another estate village, with its lodge by Waterhouse and parish church by Douglas. The tour ends at Chester railway station at about 5pm.

COST £269 per person double/twin (residential); £319 per person single (residential); £149 (non-residential). All coach trips, visits, admissions, gratuities and lunch on Thursday and Friday are included plus, for residential delegates, dinner, bed and breakfast accommodation at the Mill Hotel, Milton Street, Chester. Please state any special dietary requirements.

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