Betley Court is an 18th-century country house in the ancient village of

Betley Betley is a village and civil parish in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England, about halfway between the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Nantwich. Betley forms a continual linear settlement with Wrinehill. SchoolBetley ...

, near

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The house was built for John Cradock in 1716 and was later altered by architect George Wilkinson. In 1783 extensive gardens, including

parterres A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...

and water features, were laid out by

William Emes William Emes (1729 or 1730–13 March 1803) was an English landscape gardener. Biography Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post ...

. In 1809 the property was largely rebuilt in a two-storey seven bay

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...

to designs by John Nash. It was further improved in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by architect Douglas Caroe. The country house and estate passed by female descent to the Fenton and Fletcher families and as a result of the 1814 marriage of Elizabeth Fenton to Francis Twemlow, to the Fletcher-Twemlow family. The house fell into disuse following the death in 1976 of Charles Fletcher-Twemlow. The Grade II listed stable block was converted to residential use and new houses were built in the grounds. New owners carried out extensive refurbishment to the House. In 2008 the current owners launched a garden restoration not-for-profit membership organisation called 'The Emes Society' (after

– see above) with the intention of looking after the garden and developing it for the 21st Century, with open days for the public including, e.g. a Bluebell Walk. The formal part of the garden includes a magnificent Cedar of Lebanon planted by William Barron. On 23 August 2019 Betley Court suffered a devastating fire believed to have started in the roof space.

References

Grade II* listed buildings in Staffordshire Country houses in Staffordshire Houses completed in 1716 1716 establishments in England {{UK-listed-building-stub