Wightwick is proof that the National Trust do not only look after stately homes once belonging to the aristocracy. Although there was a manor house on the site the present property was built in the Victorian period for the Mander family who were the owners of a major paint and varnish manufactory in Wolverhampton. Theodore Mander asked his architect Edward Ould to build a neo-tudor building complete with mock medieval Great Hall next to the remaining buildings and malt house of the old manor. The house is now famous for its associations with the Arts and Crafts movement and in particular William Morris.

The gardens were originally laid out by Alfred Parsons from 1887 onwards and he developed a series of compartments with clipped yews. Thomas Mawson of Windermere in the Lake District added more topiaries in 1906 as well as more hedges particularly in the rose garden near the house.

Part of the formal gardens are known as the Poet's Garden as many plants and shrubs were started from cuttings donated by people such as Shelley, Tennyson, Dickens and William Morris himself. Further away from the house is a pleasant woodland with two ornamental lakes.

All photographs by Anthony Blagg.

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