Last Monday was the last day of our holiday in Scotland. We’d reached Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway on Sunday night, and just had the journey down the A74(M) and M6 to reach home.

Two hours is about as much as I can take driving on the motorway before I need to take a break. And we had discovered that there was a National Trust property, Rufford Old Hall, in Lancashire just south of Preston, about equidistant between Lockerbie and home. The ideal place to stretch our legs, have a bite to eat, and enjoy another of the Trust’s delights. In fact, it seems that many holidaymakers have exactly the same idea. One of the volunteers told me that Monday is usually a busy day, with many visitors breaking their journey north or south at the hall. Rufford Old Hall is very convenient to the M6, just a handful of miles west of Junction 27.

Formerly the home of the Hesketh family, Rufford Old Hall (is there a new one?) has two main wings: an original timber-framed Tudor one built in 1530 for Sir Robert Hesketh, oriented east-west, that may have once also had another wing on the west side (there are two ‘external’ doors on the west wall) but this no longer exists; and a later seventeenth century brick wing, north-south. The main entrance opens into what was once the kitchen, but that was moved to another location in the same wing at a later date.

Rufford Old Hall is an L-shaped building.

The main entrance in the seventeenth century wing.

The bow window of the Great Hall.

On the south side, there is a dining room and an upstairs gallery in this bow-fronted part of the building.

The exterior of the Great Hall on the south side. The skylight was added in the 19th century.

The crowning glory of course is the Tudor wing, which consists primarily of the Great Hall with its magnificent bow window and small section of original Tudor stained glass. The roof of the Great Hall is a wonder to behold in timber architecture and construction. There is also a moveable screen just inside the hall. Photography is permitted only inside the Great Hall as the National Trust does not own all the items on display elsewhere throughout the property.

Bow window in the Great Hall with original Tudor stained glass.

The east end of the Great Hall, with the large moveable screen.

The screen from the floor above.

The impressive roof and ceiling.

The skylight was added during the Victorian era.

A billiards table was positioned beneath the skylight that allowed more light directly below.

On the west end of the Great Hall, these two doors now open to the exterior, but may once have provided access to another wing that no longer exists.

There is a small formal garden, with renowned squirrel topiaries, and walks through orchards, woodland and meadows alongside the Rufford Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (built in 1781) on the east side of the property.

One of the two squirrel topiaries either side of the main path in the garden, looking south.

A wisteria on the south wall of the hall yard.

The south face of the hall from the woodland.