Location

> Accommodation
> The House's Heritage
> Local Area

The house sits back from the A522, an old toll road, opposite the Dog & Partridge country pub, and backs onto grazing fields.  The immediate field has a Celtic tumulus (ancient burial site) dating back to before Roman times, and is a registered Historical site.  The whole area is widely listed in historical records - there are 3 celtic crosses in Checkley churchyard and the remains can still be seen of Croxden Abbey in a valley very close by. 

A further jaquard teaching workshop and small gallery is housed within the grounds in the former stables which was used as a woodworking workshop for many years prior to the looms' arrival.

Accommodation 

The house is on 3 stories, plus a small cellar with its integral natural spring and well.  We have one twin-bedded with en-suite facilities and a family room with its own private bathroom.  The family room has a double bed and an additional bed. Its special feature is that the bathroom is accessed through an old walk-in wardrobe and is nicknamed "The Narnia Room" !

The smaller guest room has its en-suite in what was an old walk-in cupboard which also occupies the area of the fabled priest's hole and so is known as "The Priest's Room". 

Both rooms have tea and coffee making facilities, a mini-fridge, fresh water, fresh fruit, and a TV/DVD player.

The House's Heritage

We are unsure of the house's origins.  A brick inscribed with JO 1773 set in the front wall of the house could be the date and the builder's initials, although a neighbour interested in local history informed us that there had been a priest's hole which was knocked through to enlarge a walk-in cupboard in one of the guest rooms.  If true, then the house would have been around at the time of Cromwell's Roundheads and King Charles ii's Cavaliers in the English Civil War in the early 1700s. 

The house has been various things throughout its time, including a baker's, possibly a butcher's, and a farm manager's house.  It has a double stable, and a pigsty.  The adjoining building (now The Loom Room) started life as the parish school in the churchyard of Checkley Church, 1/2 mile away.  The 'new' school was built and dedicated in 1879 and at some point the old school room was dismantled, brought down the road by wheel-barrow and hand-cart, and re-built here, taking one of the house's front rooms for a Reading Room, whilst the main hall became a billiard room, complete with lantern rooflight.  During the 2nd World War years, it was the local Home Guard's base (more affectionately known in the UK as Dad's Army) and it was during that time we understand the lantern rooflight was removed for safety due to the Luftwaffe bombing raids on the Midlands, and the roof made solid. 

It was used as a village hall for many years but one of the relocation terms for the hall had been that there would be no provision for running water or sanitation, so in the 1970s, when public amenity legislation came into force, a new village hall had to be built with kitchen and toilet facilities in Checkley.  Gradually the Reading Room, as the hall was known, became disused and left empty. 

We bought it in 1992 after an Extraordinary Village Meeting agreed to sell the building to the previous owner of the house, and he sold the entire property on to us.  It was love at first sight for us.  Despite the awful papering over of everything, the unsightly electrics and the boarded up ceilings (covering beautiful beams as we discovered during renovation), we knew it was the house for us.  We had to change the name from Yew Tree, as several nearby cottages had similar names and the postman was always getting confused, so it became known as Willowgate.

Local Area

It's a beautiful area of green rolling hills and sudden dramatic landscapes with public footpaths and bridle paths criss-crossing the whole area.  The Staffordshire Moorlands also encompasses a considerable part of the Peak District, including the Peak National Park which is wonderful for walking and bird watching (twitching), as well as visits for those who love small intimate villages amongst breathtaking scenery and tranquil inland waterways and canals.

Staffordshire itself is a county full of contrasts and largely unsung.  Wide swathes of countryside can be visited (Cannock Chase, Peak District) and it has a wealth of market towns and villages with their own traditions such as well-dressing.  Nearby Abbots Bromley has an annual Horn-dancing ritual held in September.  There is also the reknowned Potteries to visit.  Stoke-on-Trent has long been the centre of excellence for ceramics and ceramic design.  Although many of the old pottery companies have moved their production abroad, you can still see Wedgwood in action and visit its award winning museum, and visit factory shops for Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Moorcroft and Portmeirion.  The Gladstone Pottery Museum in nearby Longton is a rip down memory lane for the Potteries and is a fascinating place to visit and a great place to eat local freshly-made food.  To find out what's going on creatively in Stoke-on-Trent, visit www.creativestoke.  Staffordshire also has its own regionally celebrated food - Staffordshire Oatcakes.....  To find out more, visit www.tasteofstaffordshire.com    We take pride in the wide range of local foods available and use local produce wherever possible in the food we prepare for our guests.

Come and explore this beautiful heart of England.  You are sure of a warm welcome and great memories to take home with you.