|Our History

The house started life as a hunting lodge in the early 1700s, and was subsequently given to the diocese for use as a poor house, school and rectory. An early occupant, Squire Goble, was known for hunting across the hedges of the village with great cries and shouting.

The house remained a rectory until 1936. It's most famous occupant was the Reverend Tickner Edwardes, who was a master bee-Keeper and author of early books on bees. He had other interests, however. Tickner Edwardes made early romantic films, such as 'Tansy', using the local village girls. He was also the author of several romantic novels, and is regarded as the father of hitch-hiking, having written the first book on the subject, 'Lift-Luck on Southern Roads'.

The house is said to have a ghost; that of a French governess who walked out one night, never to return. A ghost of a lady in a yellow dress is said to walk the house.

The Rev Foster re-modelled the house in Victorian times, to make it 'fit for a wife'. It still retains its original high Georgian ceilings, characterful rooms and large windows, with the ambience of a well-loved home.