Old Manor Hotel, Trowbridge

In 1979 Barry and Dianne Humphreys purchased the Grade 2 listed Manor in beautiful West Wiltshire near Bath. Originally a cross passage dwelling it was extensively altered circa 1700 and faced in Ashlar, to its present Georgian style, not dissimilar to Prince Charles' house Highgrove. The whole complex was totally derelict with rain coming through the roof and squatters in residence. After sensitively renovating the main house, they carefully incorporated the old farm building and barns into an hotel, giving a large variety of rooms, individually furnished and bursting with antiques.

The manor is situated on Trowle Common (a Doomsday book site), at the time part of the Abbess of Glastonbury's estate, and constructed some 500 years ago. Originally just a typical farmhouse, it was altered to a genteel gentleman's residence in 1700 to mirror the rebuilding of Bath in a country setting. It has a classic Queen Anne facade with attic dormers, in a fully hipped stone tiled roof behind a plain parapet, over a dentil course. Tall sashes in stone architraves are sighted around an 18th century stone doorway under a semi-circular pediment on brackets, approached up steps. Window sills are carried on brackets and there are string courses over the ground floor and below the first floor windows. There is a stair turret in the North West to the attics, lit by semi-circular headed windows with keystones showing a host of re-used, worked and moulded stones from window mullions etc.

In the older section of the farmhouse, what was originally a three roomed cross-passage house, the inner room still exists, initially open to the roof but always with a fireplace, which is still in use. Huge trusses are visible in the upper roof area of the house cleaved from a single tree and joined by a large tie beam. Initailly wind braced, but since removed, the wind brace slots are still evident in the trusses. The whole house is listed Grade 2 and the low stone wall around the front garden is Grade 2 listed in its own right. Construction is of local limestone, mostly rubbled with an ashlar front on the Queen Anne alterations. The property had historically been a farm but has had its land holdings reduced over the years to just 4.5 acres. The Vincent family who left in 1932, lived in the house and worked the farm with their sixteen children! They are believed to have been the last to work the property completely as a farm although the chicken sheds were in full production until the mid eighties.

In March 2002 Tim Burnham took over the hotel when the Humphreys retired to Spain.

In this beautiful area of ancient woolen towns and villages, Bradford on Avon is a real gem. The town is totally built from stone with a Saxon church AD 900, a Tithe barn, with period streets and buildings. Trowbridge (3 miles away) is where stone met brick and the oak forests of the East, with a mixture of styles and some very impressive buildings and Mills.