Smithills Hall is a Tudor mansion with Victorian additions near Bolton, Lancashire. The house used to belong to an ancestor of my husband’s and we were up in the area visiting family so decided to go again. We had last been 30 years ago when the house was rather empty. It is owned by Bolton Corporation and run by Bolton Museum. Entry is free. Parts of the house are half-timbered, the Great Hall being built in 1335 and the adjoining rooms contain some wonderful oak panelling. There is some fine 17th century furniture, a chapel (which was rebuilt after a fire), and some of the rooms in the extended part of the house are furnished as they would have been in Victorian times. The tea room is superb – the cakes are to die for! The Woodland Trust owns over 1,000 acres of estate land which forms a country park. Smithills Hall is really interesting and well worth a visit.
