Croft Castle, near the Herefordshire village of Yarpole, is now managed by the National Trust but the Croft family still live there and have lived here for nearly 1000 years. Croft Castle was first noted in the Domesday Book in 1086.

You will enter the grounds through this arch which probably dates from the 1790s.

As you walk along the path from the entrance arch the house and chapel will slowly come into view and you can enjoy the large flower border on your right which, as you can see, also featured a Laburnham tree.

This, as you may guess, is the main house which originated as a castle in the 14th century and has been much altered since.It now consists of a stone quadrangular manor house with a small castellated round tower at each corner and a small square tower flanking the north side.

The outside walls of the building date from the 15th century but the north range is Elizabethan while the other ranges date from after 1746 and are Georgian in design.

The chapel is dedicated to St Michael, dates from the 13th century, and contains the tomb of Richard Croft and his wife Eleanor.

There is a vast area of parkland but there is also a large walled garden and when I say 'large' I mean 'LARGE'. The walled garden includes a vineyard, orchard and a glasshouse dating from around 1908.

Fishpool Valley was artificially landscaped in the late eighteenth-century in the 'Picturesque' style.

Because of lack of maintenance the whole place is looking rather neglected but the National Trust is starting a project this year (2018) to restore it to its originalstate.