to a garden at Little Moreton Hall comes from an early 17th-century set of household accounts referring to a gardener and the purchase of some seeds. Philip Moreton, who ran the estate for his older brother Edward in the mid-17th century, left a considerable amount of information on the layout and planting of the area of garden within the moat, to the west of the house. He writes of a herb garden, vegetable garden, and a nursery for maturing fruit trees until they were ready to be transferred to the orchard at the south and east of the house, probably where the orchard is today. During the 20th century the long-abandoned gardens were replanted in a style sympathetic to the Tudor period. The knot garden was planted in 1972, to a design taken from Leonard Meager's Complete English Gardener, published in 1670. The intricate design of the knot can be seen from one of the two original viewing mounds, common in 16th-century formal gardening, one inside the moat and the other to the southwest. Other features of the grounds include a yew tunnel and an orchard growing fruits that would have been familiar to the house's Tudor occupants – apples, pears, quinces and medlars. Superstition and haunting During the last major restoration work, 18 "assorted boots and shoes" were found hidden in the structure of the building, all dating from the 19th century. Concealed shoes were placed either to ward off demons, ghosts or witches, or to encourage the fertility of the female occupants. Like many old buildings, Little Moreton Hall has stories of ghosts; a grey lady is said to haunt the Long Gallery, and a child has reportedly been heard sobbing in and around the Chapel. Present day Little Moreton Hall is open to the public from mid-February to December each year. The ground floor of the west range has been remodelled to include a restaurant and a tearoom whilst a new building houses the visitor reception and shop. Services are held in the Chapel every Sunday from April until October. In common with many other National Trust properties, Little Moreton Hall is available for hire as a film location; in 1996 it was one of the settings for Granada Television's adaptation of Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders. See also Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire List of Scheduled Monuments in Cheshire