MIKE Miles spoke about Baron Ash of Packwood.

Graham Baron Ash was born in 1889 in Acocks Green. He always used the name "Baron", it was not a title.

There was family business, Ash and Lacy, metal working firm. It was from this the family fortune was made.

Even as a schoolboy, Baron was interested in history. When he was only 15 he noticed an advertisement for the sale of Packwood House, described as an old fashioned country house with 134 acres of ground. He persuaded his father to bid at the auction and so the Ash family came to Packwood in 1905.

Baron decided against university. Instead he went on a world tour, visiting countries in five continents. All the time he was writing notes about the fine buildings and the people he saw. Some of the artefacts which he collected on his travels are still in Packwood House.

On his return he worked at Ash and Lacy but, when war broke out, Baron served as a medical orderly. He joined the Royal Flying Corps but, after several crash landings, he became a balloon artillery officer reporting on enemy positions.

After the war, Baron and his father Alfred decided to remove all signs of recent development and to return Packwood to a Tudor residence. They sought out materials and artefacts which would help, visiting old houses which were being modernised or demolished and buying panelling, fireplaces and timbers.

But Alfred died and work on Packwood House did not begin until 1925, when the old cowshed was converted into the Great Hall .

The entrance hall and bedrooms were transformed and a new Tapestry Gallery was built.

Summer houses were built in the gardens and wrought iron gates were erected. The Sermon on the Mount garden was developed.

In 1933, the gardens were opened to the public in aid of District Nurses.

In 1941, Baron was persuaded to give Packwood House to the National Trust, with 113 acres of land and an endowment. He continued to live in the house.

After the Second World War, Baron left Packwood and bought Wingfield Castle in Suffolk where, once again, he embarked on a programme of restoration and refurbishment.