Both the exterior and interior of Rode Hall have been altered multiples times, including work by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard and Lewis Wyatt, resulting in an irregular and complex layout.

[3] The Wilbrahams were prominent local landowners and descended from Sir Richard de Wilburgham, the Sheriff of Cheshire in the mid 13th century.

The estate passed through the male line until 1900 when General Sir Richard Wilbraham died, leaving it to his only daughter Katherine.

[5] The hall has been updated by successive generations, most notably in the early 1800s, when a bay was constructed to join the two houses, and in 1927, when the front portico was added.

Since then an extensive restoration has been performed with the assistance of English Heritage, including tackling an outbreak of dry rot in the late 1980s.

[9] On the other hand, historian, archivist and Maltravers Herald Extraordinary John Martin Robinson, in The architecture of Northern England, noted the 'complex building history' of the hall, describing it as a 'substantial and elegant Georgian house'.

[6] Connecting the library to the staircase hall and the drawing room is the ante-room, which is furnished with pieces commissioned by the family in the late 18th century.

[11] Wyatt implemented a design featuring gilded acanthus leaves and vines on the ceiling with large-scale egg-and-dart molding around the upper sections of the wall, scagliola columns and a black marble fireplace with bronze ornamentation.

'[15] The room is furnished with original pieces of furniture designed and made by the English manufacturer Gillows of Lancaster and London; of note is the mahogany dining-table and the semi-circular sideboard built into the apse.

A Royal Crown Derby dinner service, purchased by Mary Wilbraham-Bootle for her son Randle Wilbraham III in 1809, is on display here.

Repton's proposal was not implemented until 1803, when Richard Wilbraham III employed a John Webb to construct a new driveway, create two artificial lakes, the smaller one called Stew Pond and the one-mile long Rode Pool, and lay out a "Wild Garden".

Alongside the west wall is a private path, known as the Colonel's Walk, used by the family to bypass the kitchen garden on their way to church.

There are traces of original chimneys built into the wall supporting espaliered fruit trees, added to maintain an optimum temperature for year-round growth.

[20] The garden is still in use today and includes traditional and exotic varieties [of vegetables], and fruit bushes, some of which are used to make jams and chutneys for sale in the hall's tearooms.

[7] The red-brick and rubble grotto was constructed in either the 18th or 19th century, and is built around a brick barrel vaulted tunnel, decorated internally with plasterwork and shells.

As with the main house, the block is constructed in red Flemish-bond brickwork, with ashlar quoins and banding and a slate roof.

Dating from 1754, the castle was built by Randle Wilbraham III and designed by the Hiorne brothers, the architects who worked on the 1752 improvements to the hall.

[5] The castle fell into disrepair a number of times in the 19th century and several programmes of restoration were completed, including the replacement of the doors at a cost of £4 4s.