There has probably been a vicarage on this site since St Andrew’s Church was built in the 12th Century. The Church of England sold it in 1980 as ‘uneconomic to repair’ and little changed for 10 years. We started renovation after buying it in 1990. At the time it was so dilapidated we didn’t take many photographs…

(Scroll down for more information below the pictures)

It seems likely that a home for the local priest has stood here since St Andrew’s church was first built in the 13th century, but the earliest written record we have found is in the ‘Glebe Terriers’ of 1702. The house had a major ‘makeover’ in 1862. We think the architect at that time was Gilbert Scott, of Albert Memorial and St Pancras Station fame, because he certainly renovated the adjacent church in 1860; but we can’t prove it. It seems there were no further renovations until ours, which started in 1990 and is still continuing.

In the Glebe Terriers of 1702 the house was described as having a ‘flower garden’. Three hundred years later the emphasis remains on flowers. In spring there is a wide variety of flowering bulbs, with blossom on the fruit trees. The paired herbaceous borders, in places over twenty feet deep, are especially dramatic through summer and autumn. Roses clamber through the trees in June. Colour is important in this garden. There is a ‘flaming border’, a small white garden and the main herbaceous borders are based on a palette of silver and shocking pink. The whole garden is presided over by a large Hornbeam which must have been planted at around the time of the 1702 description.

The Vicarage lawn was the site of many village events in years gone by, but much of it was dug up to grow vegetables in the ‘Dig for victory’ campaign of World War Two. That vegetable patch was still there when we arrived in 1990, but we have reinstated the old vicarage lawn and we have held village events on it.

The terrace and courtyard in front of the house have been redesigned with help from Bunny Guinness. In 2007 we finally obtained planning permission and resources to demolish a dreadful 1950s garage. It has been replaced with something much more in keeping with the setting adjacent to St Andrew’s Church, along with a small ‘gothic’ orangery and a new terrace, formal garden and pool. To commemorate the bureaucratic nightmare of listed building consent, the new garage bears a small lead plaque identifying it as ‘An English Listed Building’. Which, despite being new, technically it is, because it is in the ‘curitlage’ of the listed house.

The dovecote built into the new garage is now home to a colony of white doves. They occasionally swoop in a flock around the adjacent church tower, which is a very pretty sight.

In 2010 we added a pebble mosaic path leading to the orchard, and beehives in the orchard. We now have four beehives – of traditional design, painted in Farrow & Ball colours! They are reasonably ‘friendly’ bees and no visitor has yet been stung to our knowledge, but if you are allergic to bees you might wish to avoid the orchard.

Then came the hens, and the construction of ‘Peckingham Palace’. You can find out more under ‘The birds and the bees’.

In 2015-16 we added a Victorain-style greenhouse in the orchard, which we built ourselves. See under ‘New for 2016’. (Cutting those curved edges for the panes of glass in the roof is actually easier than you’d think – I didn’t break a single one!).

2016-18 saw the construction of a new Garden Room, between the house and Main Street. As with the greenhouse we employed builders to do the foundations and walls, but we did all the woodwork and glasswork ourselves, including the roof. Which is why it took 2 years. A neighbour asked Sarah ‘Are you having trouble with your builder?’ The reply, of course, was ‘Oh yes, endless…’.

In 2018 Sarah was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland (see http://rutlandlordlieutenant.org/ ). The post comes with a beautiful old hand-sewn Lieutenancy flag, so we just had to install a flagpole…

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