Arborfield

Arborfield and Newland is a civil parish in the Wokingham district of Berkshire, England. It had a population of 2,228 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 3,115 at the 2011 Census. It includes Arborfield, Arborfield Cross, part of Arborfield Garrison, Newland and Carter's Hill.

The International Cocoa Quarantine Centre (ICQC), located in Arborfield, a suburb of Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom, is an organization aiming to reduce the amount of disease affecting cocoa plants. Cocoa plants are quarantined in a 1,000-square-metre (11,000 sq ft) greenhouse before being transported across the globe. Quarantining cocoa plants is considered important because over 70% of the global cocoa supply originates from West Africa, and therefore the cocoa market is susceptible to any catastrophic effects that should occur in that region. The ICQC is part of the University of Reading. It was founded in 1985.

Arborfield Hall was a large country house on the banks of the River Loddon near the village of Arborfield in Berkshire.

Arborfield Cross is a village in the civil parish of Arborfield and Newland in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire.

Charlton was a hundred in the English county of Berkshire. Like all hundreds, although never abolished, it effectively ceased to function after 1886. Charlton was one of the seven hundreds of Windsor Forest. It consists of the parishes of Barkham, Finchampstead, Hurst (including Twyford), Shinfield and Swallowfield. Before the early 13th century, it also included what became the parishes of Arborfield, Crowthorne, Earley, Ruscombe, Sandhurst, Sonning, Wokingham and Woodley.

Earley and Woodley is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. After the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. It is represented by Yuan Yang of the Labour Party.

Farley Castle is an early 19th-century modern house situated at Farley Hill, Swallowfield, Berkshire.The Gothic-styled, two-storey house in red brick with battlements and round turrets, was built for Edward Stephenson Esq in c. 1810 for his youngest son Henry Stephenson who farmed the estate. For the first 30 years the Castle was known as Ragg Castle. Edward Stephenson's eldest son Rowland Stephenson inherited Farley Castle in 1833 - Rowland changed his name to Rowland Standish in 1834 to inherit estates on his mother's side of the family. In 1843 Rowland died and his eldest son Edward Ferris Standish inherited Farley Castle. Edward died in 1845 and his younger brother Rowland Edmund Walter Pery Standish inherited Farley Castle. Farley Castle was rented out to the Martin-Atkins family from 1854 but in 1867 it was bought by William Hastings Martin-Atkins. On his death in 1902 it passed to his step-son Captain Henry Meredith Richards OBE, who didn't live there, but rented it out to a rich brewing family, Walter Mortimer & Louise Allfrey. I 1922 Louise Allfrey bought Farley Castle. On Louise's death in 1944, Farley Castle was bought by Owen Wilfred Beardmore who converted the Castle into a Hotel & Country Club. In 1952, it was the residence of adventurer, author & amateur archaeologist, Frederick Mitchell-Hedges, discoverer of the controversial rock crystal "Skull of Doom", who wrote his autobiographical "Danger My Ally" there in 1953/54.In 1958, Farley Castle was purchased by Dorothy Woolley who founded Hephaistos School for very bright but disabled boys. Initially a day school based in the castle, Hephaistos became a Special School with the addition of amenities including a teaching block, dormitories, dining hall, and a swimming pool. Berkshire County Council purchased the school and ran it from 1966 to 1988 when it closed. Despite being a Grade II listed building, between 1988 and 1992 Farley Castle was totally neglected and abandoned. It was purchased by developers but was allowed to be occupied and stripped by a Peace Convoy from Greenham Common and the Castle lay roofless and neglected for a couple of years. Eventually, in 1992, it was purchased by new developers and the Castle was renovated and converted to three houses. Other house was built in the grounds.

Arborfield Green is a new village approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south east of the village of Arborfield Cross in the English county of Berkshire, previously a British Army garrison called Arborfield Garrison. The army vacated the site in 2015 and it is now being redeveloped for housing, with a total of 3,500 homes planned. The Garrison and its associated housing estates are split between the civil parishes of Arborfield and Newland, Barkham, Finchampstead, and Swallowfield. Both parishes are within the unitary authority of Wokingham. According to the Post Office, the majority of the 2011 Census population was included in the civil parish of Barkham. As of 2023, the new village centre is still under construction.

Farley Hall is a large 18th-century Grade I listed country house in the English village of Farley Hill, in the civil parish of Swallowfield, Berkshire. The Hall was built in 1720s for Charles Lannoy. Plans for the landscaping were drawn up by the landscape gardener Charles Bridgeman. Formal gardens covering over 50 acres (20 hectares) have now been largely lost to agricultural and commercial development.The house stands in parkland on high ground overlooking a lake and is built in brick in two storeys to a rectangular plan. The centre and oldest part has seven bays and is connected on each side by two bay links to four bay pavilions.The 1750 acre (700 hectare) estate is bordered on three sides by tributaries of the River Thames (the Whitewater, Blackwater and Loddon). Within the grounds is a traditional working farm, a livery facility, a dairy farm, a commercial partridge, pheasant and mixed bird shoot and a range of residential and commercial properties.The livery yard opened in February 2010 and is run by Gavin Crossley, formerly of the Household Cavalry. The Farley Hall Horse Trials became a new fixture in the British Eventing calendar in 2014.The estate is currently owned by the fifth Viscount Bearsted and his family. Lady Bearsted (Dr Caroline Sacks) runs a medical practice from the Hall.

Farley Hill is a village in the county of Berkshire, England. For local government purposes, the village is within the civil parish of Swallowfield, which in turn is within the unitary authority of Wokingham.

Lower Earley is the southern portion of Earley civil parish and a large suburb of Reading, within the English county of Berkshire. It forms part of (along with neighbouring Earley, Winnersh, Woodley and Shinfield) a large suburban conurbation of over 85,000 inhabitants adjoining east and south-east Reading. Lower Earley and Earley have a combined population of around 32,000 and Lower Earley itself has developed since the late 1970s. By the mid 1980s it was considered to be the largest private housing development in the United Kingdom. Lower Earley forms a major part of Wokingham Borough. In 2014, the RG6 postcode area (which is nearly coterminous with the area of the civil parish) was rated one of the most desirable postcode areas to live in England.

Barkham Brook is a small river in the English county of Berkshire. It has sources to the north and west of Finchampstead in the Wokingham Borough, flows past the village of Barkham, and joins the River Loddon to the west of Winnersh.