Rodmarton

I've been looking up some details about the village of Rodmarton - and there's lots of interesting stuff. I'll have to make sure my friend invites me to stay again!

Evidence of a Roman settlement has been found, and several major Roman roads pass close by. Cirencester (a Roman town) is only 6 miles away. There's also a nearby long barrow which looks very interesting. It's called Windmill Tump, and seems to be Neolithic, and is part of the Severn-Cotswold group of long barrows.
While the village was historically inhabited by agricultural workers, the present population of 333 people are mainly in managerial or professional jobs, according to Wikipedia. It's part of the Kemble Estate, and Kemble railway station is nearby. There's even a vaguely local link, as Michael Biddulph, who inherited the Estate in 1884, came from Ledbury in Herefordshire.

There are also strong links to the Arts and Crafts Movement in the area. The nearby hamlet of Tarlton was the site of a pottery which did design work for Wedgewood, and the manor house - well, the manor house is a gem, though it's also very hard to photograph from the road, being very long, and well screened by hedges and walled gardens and orchards.
The present building was built between 1909 and 1929, in the Arts and Crafts style, with Arts and Crafts furniture. Everything was done by hand with local materials and local craftsmen. The stone for the building was quarried locally and brought to the site by a private railway line.
The present owners are the fourth generation of the Biddulph family to live there. Michael Biddulph's son Claud (there's a plaque to his memory in St Peter's Church) provided the money, and the house was built by architect Ernest Barnsley, one of the leading lights of the Cotswold Arts and Crafts Movement, his brother Sidney and his son-in-law. The Biddulphs also wanted to use the house as a place to teach traditional crafts. There are 74 rooms, including one of the last private chapels to be built in England.
Ernest also laid out the 8 acres of gardens, and they are advertising opening times in February to see the snowdrops (I love snowdrops). They also host opera (which I can take or leave) and a rare plant fair.