Story saved the Old Medicine House and gave birth to The Blackden Trust.

In 1968, eleven years after Alan Garner moved into Toad Hall, conditions were primitive. The house had electricity but no drains. That changed when Granada TV commissioned Alan to adapt his novel The Owl Service for an eight part television series. His fee covered the cost of putting in a septic tank and extending the house by two rooms and a bathroom.  The solution the Garners chose was to move The Old Medicine House.

Recent events

Nick Hennessey inaugurated the chimney as a performance space, when he created a show for a fundraising dinner for First Light, a collection of essays edited by Erica Wagner, which was published to celebrate Alan Garner’s 80th birthday.

Vergine Gulbenkian told her ‘Tales of Burning’ in the chimney.

Musicians David Malkin and John Dipper, and the author, Elizabeth Garner gave a performance of ‘Gold in Your Own Backyard’; a programme of story and music.