The Greyfriars

Greyfriars is a late 15th-century timber-framed merchant's house on Friar Street in the heart of Worcester, built around 1490 and home to wealthy families until a baker split it in two in 1699. For the next 200 years it held homes, shops and businesses, and for a while a tavern called the Old Oak. Facing demolition by the 1930s, it was rescued and restored by siblings Elsie and Malcolm Matley Moore, whose salvaged furnishings are still on show, and passed to the National Trust in 1966. The house is seen by volunteer-led guided tour of roughly an hour; the walled garden, the Old Oak Cafe and the second-hand bookshop opposite are free to visit. Dogs on leads are welcome on the terrace only. Reviewers rate the tours highly and find the cafe small but well kept, with terrace seating over the garden. Tips from visitors: sign up for a tour at reception in No.14 directly opposite, and expect cobbles and steps, as there is no step-free route into the house. There is no parking on site.