The cottage was built in the Cotswolds in the 17th century. When Henry and Clara Ford visited England, she was so taken with the traditional Cotswold architecture that Henry bought a cottage to have it disassembled, shipped, and reassembled on their estate so she could have tea with her friends in a "traditional English" setting. (When you're the richest man in the world, you can do things like that.) When he founded Greenfield Village, he included the cottage in it, but the outdoor tea room has only been there for the last few years.