The Weaver's House

In July 2017 we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the restoration and opening to the public of The Weaver’s House and its garden. We had a fantastic Open Day with lots of happy visitors, many of whom spent several hours exploring the site. When you consider that we have no rolling acres of land and the house itself has basically three rooms – this just goes to show that there is still much to discover and enjoy!

Whether it was trying out our Tudor games…

or just enjoying the garden…

We had a steady stream of visitors all day.

The weaving project, which has run throughout our Open Days and pop-up events this year, was an Open Day feature and it is nearly finished. We’re wondering if the upcoming Open Day on 12 August will see it completed?

A nearly-finished piece of Coventry Blue!

As it was our tenth anniversary, we were pleased to see some visitors drop by who had been involved in the project over the years. One of these was David Gaut, who worked on the restoration of the house. Here he is standing on the path that he built on the day before the house had its very first Open Day!

David Gaut revisits the house after ten years. He approved!

One of our special events for the anniversary was a walking tour exploring the medieval architecture of Spon Street, led by our trustee Dr Nat Alcock.

There was much to learn about these medieval buildings. Visitors commented that they discovered things that they had never known despite a lifetime living in Coventry. “I thoroughly enjoyed that tour through medieval Spon Street. Amazing facts I never knew and I’m a #Coventry girl.”

One of the buildings that was moved from its original location

Most of the courts (developments behind existing houses) were pulled down

It might not look it, but there’s a medieval building here! And the Watch Museum too.

We hope to rerun these walking tours as they were extremely popular and booked up very quickly. In the meantime why not try one of the Priory Visitor Centre tours?

We received lots of lovely comments, not only in our visitors book but also online:

“I love this little house with its gardens, a great place to visit with lovely volunteers and yummy cakes ⭐️”

“Fantastic visit. Thoroughly enjoyed and thanks to all the volunteers who make this house so welcoming. The cakes were lovely as well. ?”

“Had a lovely time at the Weaver’s House, and also a lovely chat with a new friend :)The place is definitely worth a visit!”

“Fantastic local historical site. My children who are 4 and 6 loved it. Lots of activities to do. Tea and refreshments available. Happily spent hours there.”

“We ate cake, wove a snake, played quoits & had a go at weaving! A good afternoon.”

After we said goodbye to our visitors, we closed our little wooden door, downed tools and then downed a refreshing drink. Our volunteers work really hard maintaining the house and garden, giving tours and weaving demonstrations and ensuring that the tea and cakes are flowing! It was time to relax with suitably medieval drink in the form of ale from Byatt’s Brewery and tasty offerings freshly cooked by The Seventy-Five Company, and we even had a visit from Lady Godiva and Lord Leofric!

And of course, there was cake!

Thank you to all our volunteers! We couldn’t do it without you – Happy Anniversary!