A Chase Brides Christmas

Snowshill Manor

(Inspiration for Lakefield House)

Ford and Violet’s home was inspired by a real house called Snowshill Manor. Taking literary license, I’ve placed Lakefield House on the bank of the Thames near Windsor, although Snowshill Manor is actually in the Cotswolds.

Snowshill was owned by Winchcombe Abbey from the year 821 until the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century, when, with the dissolution of the monasteries, it passed to the Crown. Thereafter Snowshill had many owners and tenants, until 1919, when a man named Charles Paget Wade returned from the First World War and found it for sale.

A bedroom in Snowshill. (My model for Ford's bedroom pre-renovations.)

The house was derelict, and the garden was an overgrown jumble of weeds with a sundial, all of which play a part in Ford's book, Never Doubt a Viscount, where Ford restores everything much as Wade did in real life. Wade removed the plaster ceilings, moved partitions back to their original places, unblocked fireplaces, and fit Tudor paneling to many of the rooms to recapture the original atmosphere. He scorned the use of electricity and modern conveniences, so the house appears today much as it would have during Ford’s time.

Exterior view of Snowshill Priest's House ("the cottage," seen on the left)
and main house (right).

Wade never lived in the house. Instead he lived in the adjacent Priest’s House (the “cottage” in this book) and used the main house to showcase his amazing collection of everyday and curious objects, literally thousands of items including musical instruments, clocks, toys, weavers’ and spinners’ tools, and Japanese armor. He also accumulated a massive assortment of bicycles, which are currently displayed in the space I used as Ford's laboratory.

The home is now owned by the National Trust and open April through October to view the house and collection. If you’re ever in the Cotswolds, I recommend a visit!

More pictures of Snowshill Manor

Back to top ↑