One of the things that I got up over the weekend was assisting one of our volunteers in carrying out the Tower tours. These run Thursday and Sundays over September and October as well as February to May.
The Water Tower from the Courtyard
You may be wondering why there is a three month gap in the summer – from June to August – this is because we have brown long-eared bats that use the attics in the tower to roost and raise their young. Only the females and their teenage babies will roost here, whilst the 1 male in the colony will roost elsewhere. With around 20 females in the colony, each one has a single baby. So you can imagine it is quite busy up there!
The Slate Tanks
Today was the first chance that I got to up the water tower since I started here, nearly 3 months ago (time just flies by!) and I would definitely recommend a visit. As you can tell by its name, the water tower, it was used to filter all of the water that the Beales’, and their servants, used, from washing to drinking. It is a rather complex system using vast tanks hidden underneath the ground to collect rain water, which is then pumped up to the water tower using slate tanks and lead lined pipes (surprisingly all of the Beales lived to ripe old ages!) .
The Kitchen Garden from the top of the Tower
At the top is a viewing platform, that has beautiful views of the surrounding countryside and the Weir Wood reservoir. It also shows how much land that the Beales owned and most of the 12 acres of gardens. As well as being used as a viewing platform, Maggie and Helen (the 2 unwed daughters) used to sleep up there on hot nights under the stars.
Weir Wood Reservoir and surrounding countryside
