Rainy Saturday.

Needed to take a trip to Bradford to pick up a few business things from a supplier so we had a quick Google/TripAdvisor search about what there was to see in the area and ended up at Bolling Hall.

This is a wonderful, charismatic house that dates back to the 1300’s but weirdly is situated in the middle of a housing estate just a mile or two from Bradford city centre.

It looked almost derelict and we nearly didn’t go in but glad we did.

It was almost empty apart from ourselves and two museum staff, one of whom told us the best ghost stories ever about what he’d seen and heard in his years working there.

He might have been winding us up a bit but the kids listened to him, eyes growing wider as he told the story of the very real, solid-looking man in 18th century clothing who stood and watched him disarm the alarm on arriving in the building one morning…

…before vanishing into thin air.

He told us about the white lady in the ‘ghost room’, the phantom children in the nursery (WAY creepier than the ghost room) and warned us to keep a ‘nose’ open for the overpowering scent of roses that pervades one of the haunted corridors.

Finally in the civil war room we found the death mask of Oliver Cromwell. Not sure if I was supposed to take a pic but couldn’t see any signs telling me not to, so I did.

Anyway if you get chance I’d recommend a visit to Bolling Hall. Admission is free and it’s a great way to spend an hour scaring yourself on a wet afternoon. Very interesting, a little creepy.

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