A Little Secret

An enduring joy about Betley Court is that the house throws up secrets little secrets every now and again that simultaneously delight and mystify. During the rebuild stage, we’ve discovered things we didn’t know, and would never have known had a fire not ripped through the house, for instance, the possibility of a stove in the cellar. The secrets of the building’s many construction phases have also been uncovered, although often, that raises as many questions as they answer.

Recently, Nigel and I have spent a lot of time looking at the southern elevation as our specialist builders Midland Construction Ltd rebuild it. We watched as John Nash’s ‘iron arch’ installed in 1809 was revealed, and are slowly witnessing it being bricked back into the structure of Betley Court. We’ve been in awe as four new window openings appeared, and as Nash’s bay, the seat of 2019’s fire is tenderly restored. 

Last weekend, Nigel spotted a detail that would never have been noticed had the fire not happened. Inscribed into a brick to the side of a first-floor window is the message “EJ MAY 1864”. How thrilling! Who was the mysterious scribe “EJ”? The date 1864 certainly points to a period of great expenditure on Betley Court, with building phases on the house and the walled gardens, the construction of impressive greenhouses and Barron’s commission to alter the gardens. The initials "EJ" don’t really point to a family member from ‘the Big House’, but we would need to do more research to confirm that. Perhaps it was a cheeky visitor to the house, hanging out of the window to make their mark. Most likely, it was a builder, I suppose, making their own small mark on the world. ‘Great’ houses, like Betley Court have always relied on vast armies of workers, often forgotten by history to build and maintain them. I can’t blame “EJ” for leaving their mark, and I’m so delighted we found their little secret.

The mysterious "EJ" leaves their mark in the brickwork

In the Gardens......

Areas of the garden are now going to seed. Down by the visitors’ hub, foxgloves (digitalis), toadflax (linaria) and poppy (papava) are all ‘going over’, and I’m trying to resist the urge to cut the heads back, until I’m confident they have set seed. I like plants that that get on with it, and choose where conditions suit them best in the gardens. The bee border, that Steven, our Reaseheath work experience student sowed, is going from strength to strength, with poppies, cornflowers, marigolds, comfrey keeping the garden’s insect population very happy indeed. The border makes a virtue of a strip of land that used to attract litter, so the visual improvement is going down very well with the human population too.

Annual field poppy

Steven's bee border

Cornflower

Pot marigold (English marigold)

We had a little fun the other week. Every year, coming up to the annual Betley Show, held next door at Betley Court Farm, the village stages a scarecrow competition. This year, the theme was books, and the village have not disappointed. I have witnessed Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, complete with wheelbarrow full of veggies, and a monster-sized Very Hungry Caterpillar from Eric Searle’s beloved children’s’ book to name two. Betley Court’s efforts were a little less impressive. I spent a very itchy evening stuffing barley straw into a Spiderman morph suit. The results were, to quote our youngest, “mildly terrifying!”.

"Mildly terrifying" Spiderman keeps watch over Betley Court. Looks like he's been enjoying a few too many Chatwin's pies during lockdown!

The next problem to solve was displaying Spiderman at Betley Court, and since were in the middle of a major rebuild, that meant asking our friends at MD Scaffolding Services if they would mind us using their scaffolding frame, and securing it for us. Well, Spidey was duly installed, much to the delight of children at the bus stop. He looks quite a sight! I don’t think lockdown has been kind to our super hero, and the cable ties holding him in position aren’t doing his saggy straw core any favours at all, but it’s the taking part that matters, right?

Finally, we hope to have our website up and running very soon. Our tech savvy web designer, Andy Taylor, from A Spark, A Flame, A Fire is putting the finishing touches to the official Betley Court website as you read this. The website will serve as our online ticket office when we open the gardens, and when we have special events, such as the planned tours of the building restorations we hope to do next month. We’ll be sure to let you know, once its gone live!

All best wishes

Ladybird Su