A visitor to the Lenches in the '70's

24/11/2014

A visitor to the Lenches in the '70's

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Hello,

I was delighted to find your website whilst surfing tonight in an attempt to find out some more information around two vivid memories I have as a child. I am 47 yrs old so these events date back to the early-mid 1970s and we lived in Malvern.

First, my Father frequently took me on a Sunday afternoon to a bird garden called (I think) The Lenches. I remember there was a miner bird there that had a huge vocabulary including the phrase ’where’s your trousers’! It would be wonderful to make contact with anyone associated with this little place which seemed such a treat at that age.

Second, as a child, both my parents took me to visit what seemed like endless historic houses in the area. To be honest I had very little interest at the time, but today have become something of a passion. One of these was Rous Lench Court. I cannot remember whether the house itself was open or just the gardens but it was fascinating and I’d love to find any history of the court and whether it is possible to visit.

I do hope you are able to enlighten me a little more on these things and if I can find any old photos I’d be delighted to share them.

Kind regards

Julia

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7 Comments

Darin link

23/12/2014 06:32:34 am

Dear Julie,

Very glad you liked The Lenches website, and thank you for the blog message that you posted at the end of November. Not sure if any member(s) of our community has responded to you yet, so please accept our apologies if no one has.

I’m afraid I’m not able to help you in regard to the bird garden, as there doesn’t seem to be such a public place in the area anymore. I am wondering if it wasn’t in Rous Lench, possibly at a house just off the village green. The current resident was the owner of a pet shop for many years and still keeps mimicking birds in her private garden. She runs a business called Cottage Cattery.

Rous Lench Court is privately owned, and as far as I am aware the owner does not permit outside visitors to stroll at leisure about the garden or house, although there is a public footpath which crosses the property. I believe there are self-catering rental cottages available for hire on the property. I’m not sure about contact details for these, however, there does seem to be mention of them here - http://www.south-west-holidays.co.uk/cottage/town/Rous-Lench.html.

Regarding history of the area, there is a book called “A short history of Rous Lench” by W. K. W Chafy, who owned the Court from the late Victorian period till nearly 1920. There seems to be a modern reprint version of this available on Amazon which also includes the post-1900 historical notes. You may be able to see it at http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0008BMX7O/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used. This is generally considered to be the most authoritative history book about The Lenches.

If you have any old photos from your visits to the area I would be delighted to receive copies of them (digital is fine). I am in the process of digitising a locally maintained “pictorial history” of Rous Lench, which I plan to make available on the website in the next few months. Keep checking back.

Best wishes for a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Kind Regards,
Darin

Clive Crump

7/2/2018 10:07:42 pm

Delamere Bird Gardens at Hill Furze (near Sheriffs Lench)

8/2/2018 08:08:56 am

I have just found a box of slides I took at Rous Lench Court in the 1970’s and am about to transfer them to digital media if I can . Would you be interested in seeing them if I succeed ?

Darin McLean

11/2/2018 01:48:37 pm

Clive, I would love to see your 1970's photos of Rous Lench Court. If you can get them digitised and then share that would be super!

My personal email is darin@chafystower.com.

I've digitised many local history photos and loaded them into a Facebook album called "Rous Lench Pictorial History from 1800's to mid 1900's" which can be found on the Rous Lench Village Hall facebook page. You might enjoy seeing them. They weren't put onto the Lenches website due to potential space limitations imposed by our web host.

8/2/2018 08:12:45 am

Email me if you need to reply to me.

Julia

8/2/2018 10:50:24 pm

Many thanks for your comments and update. It seems like only yesterday I posted and yet I see it was quite some time ago! Please keep up the research and information and I will continue my search amongst the family papers for a photo/postcard of Rous Lench - see email! And thank you again.

laura

8/8/2019 06:32:30 pm

I remember the private zoo that I went to in the Lenches in the 70s. I remember the birds and there was an extremely large crocodile kept in a sunken room which was not big enough for it

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