Thanks cheapnchic - have looked at Speke Hall on Internet and it doesn't look like it - Speke is "tudorish", but the place the Boswells stayed in appeared to be a stone-built home.
mmm, it will come to me, cos I do remember reading where it was once. Got to be around liverpool somewhere. It wasnt knowsley, may have been somewhere on the wirral or southport.
have sky plused it this morning, will have a look see if i jogs my memory. got to be around cheshire or wirral is my view cos a lot of the scenes were filmed in birkenhead and you can see the lovely hills in north wales (where I live of course LOL)