Constructed in local salmon-red sandstone, The Citadel was built by Sir Rowland Hill for his mother and sister Jane in the 1820s. Ingeniously designed in the form of three interlinked towers set to the points of a triangle, round every bend is something to catch the eye – a Victorian grotto, a shady glade full of acers or even a walled potager – where vegetables and flowers happily intermingle.
There are three guest bedrooms in the North and West towers. Two have separate bathrooms and the third has en suite shower and toilet facilities. All have clear views of the North Shropshire countryside.
The 3 acre garden, laid partly to lawn, lies to the South and West of the house. At its core is a sandstone rocky outcrop with paths that wind right round and over it. On the far side of the garden is a thatched Victorian-style summerhouse. From there you can look across the kitchen garden, which provides nearly all the vegetables and soft fruit for the house and has the protection of a high Victorian brick wall. This part of the garden is formal in design, with interconnecting paved paths, and is as much ornamental as functional. It is more accurately described as a potager, once the staple of English country house gardens.
The Griffiths family have lived at the Citadel since 1957, and current owners Sylvia and husband Beverley own the farm, some 200 acres, which surrounds the property.