Westwood Manor

Westwood Manor is a small stone manor house beside the church in Westwood village, a couple of miles from Bradford-on-Avon, built over three centuries from the 15th century and adapted by each generation until Edgar Lister bought it in 1911 and stripped back later alterations to uncover the original panelling, ceilings and even window glazing hidden beneath plaster. The rooms show late Gothic and Jacobean windows, decorative plasterwork ceilings, period furniture, 17th and 18th-century tapestries and two important keyboard instruments, the country's earliest Italian virginal of 1537 and a 1711 London spinet by Stephen Keene, both restored to playing order. Outside, Lister's modern topiary garden of clipped column-like yews and lawns has two small pool gardens now covered in water lilies and home to great crested newts. The manor is still lived in by its tenants, so only part of it is shown. Reviewers praise the knowledgeable volunteers and the homely feel of rooms that are clearly loved. Tips from visitors: parking is free but limited, the toilets are in the parish room next door, and the village hall and pub are the nearest places for tea and food.