The original house on the site, dating from 1300 to 1700, was partially remodelled in 1800. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and the affect this had on the finances of the family who lived there, the house was put on the market in 1820. It failed to sell, and was then greatly reduced in size. What remained evolved into a farmhouse, with stone from the house being used to build the farm buildings. The daunting restoration project was started by the present owners in 1999, and entailed taking the only remaining facade, remodelling it, and returning the fragmented northern and southern facades to what historical research suggested may have been there before. The new western front incorporates structures of 1600, 1690 and 1730. Local craftsmen have been employed directly by the owners, with an on-site carpentry shop set up, stone quarried from the land, and cut and dressed on site. As well as re-creating historically sensitive interiors, designed as a whole with the house by C.Rae-Scott, the project includes restoration of the walled garden, the Jacobean grotto, water theatre and water gardens (after extensive archaeological surveys and reports), the 17th century terracing, the farm buildings and courtyard, and the reinstatement of dry stone walls and the medieval Devon banks and field boundaries.
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Five frankly enormous mansions, including one with its own private swimming lake, as seen in Country LifeSometimes bigger really is better.
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Playing the fool: The rich history of tarot and how it satisfies our desire for transcendenceOnce an elaborate art form that entertained 15th-century Italian nobility, tarot cards have evolved into a tool of divination. A new exhibition shines a light on their history.
