Country House Corner – Crook Hall (and gardens)
A venerable, grade 1 listed manor house dating back to the 13th century, Crook Hall is tucked away on wooded ground where the city of Durham blends into countryside. The hall and gardens were acquired by the National Trust in 2022, and although it is one of their smaller sites, it caters for a wide variety of interests and has a particularly welcoming atmosphere. The gardening team (mainly volunteers) concentrate on nurturing plants that are historic, well established, or interesting, rather than trying to achieve weed-free, designer-garden perfection. It is just a short, downhill walk from the railway station, and it offered me a welcome respite from the turmoil of our troubled times. I could lose myself in the maze, stroll through the 700-year-old walled gardens, or sit and share a picnic in the woodland glade. There were a variety of themed areas to enjoy including a productive vegetable plot, a “Shakespeare Garden”, an area planted for mindful moments and a nature trail through wildflower meadows.
The building evolved from an open hall house though Jacobean manor to Georgian edge-of-town house. The first owner was Peter del Croke (hence the name Crook). Medieval occupants may not have been crooks exactly, but they included Northumberland knights caught up in the constant strife of the borderlands, including some fiery and violent characters. Perhaps it was from this period that the legend of the ghostly “White Lady” originates. She is said to be “young and comely to look on, if somewhat pale”, but as the house closed at 5pm I was unable to confirm the veracity of the tale. Other highlights are the minstrel’s gallery and an excellent second-hand bookshop. Books unsuitable for sale are crafted into decorative objects, and those unsuitable for that go to the garden’s compost system.
Which brings me to the compost demonstration area which offered a fascinating, down to earth (and pleasantly amusing) open-air seminar on domestic garden composting techniques. Making wooden bins from pallets, Hotbins, Daleks, Tumblers, mixing green and brown and what NOT to put in. Done properly the unwanted products of the gardener’s toil are thus transformed into precious, black humus to feed and heal the soil.
Crook Hall (and gardens) originated in, and lived through, times of bitter conflict, but they have now become a special place of calm and peace. History shows that it is possible to process the lessons from past human conflict and, given time and will, transform them into wisdom for future peaceful flourishing. “Neither shall they learn war anymore.”
Bob Turner