Heritage Open Day is an annual event in which building that are normally closed to the public throw open their doors. It happens every September and has become the largest festival of heritage in the UK - which, of course, means that a single day has grown to be a weekend, or a week or even longer in some places. Cirencester has a weekend with a growing list of extraordinary places to visit.
This year I had particular interest in visiting the micro-brewery, Corinium Ales, with the address ‘The Doghouse, The Old Kennels, Cirencester Park’. The event blurb indicated that the brewers had no knowledge of hunting (why should they?) making reference to “dogs howling in their dog house”, all a bit romantic and tinged with The Hound of the Baskervilles. The old kennels were built in 1837 for the Vale of the White Horse Hunt. At that time, it must have been cutting edge design. Built in local stone, the lodges and yards for the hounds, with ancillary buildings for the supporting activities, the stables and tack rooms for the hunt horses and housing for the hunt staff were all arranged with compact efficiency. Today, while the stables are still functioning, the hound side has been converted into small offices for local businesses. There is almost no evidence left of its previous use except for a small stone fox poised on the wall above a yard that is now filled with tables for beer drinkers. The brewery, which consisted of shiney steel vats located in a whitewashed room, displayed a single A4 sheet of notes for the heritage visitors and had a reproduction of a victorian painting of the hunt, with certain riders from local families identified. The beer, however, was very popular and I discovered another activity for Cotswold Horse Tours to offer - beer tasting.