Parish's House

The building of this exquisite Regency villa is said to have been funded by the booty from a captured Spanish treasure ship.

SWTJTmx6GUwoZRjZErGzcD.jpg

Somerset may be more readily associated with cider than with water, but the launch onto the market of Parish?s House, at Timsbury, near Bath through Savills (01225 474543), at a guide price of £3m recalls the county?s swashbuckling maritime past.

The exquisite Regency villa, listed Grade II*, was built in about 1816 by Captain John Parish, who fought with Nelson at the Battle of the Nile. Its construction is said to have been funded by bounty money earned from the capture of a Spanish treasure-ship. Subsequent owners include Lady Mount Temple, and shipping magnate Bernard Cayzer, who bought Parish?s House after the Second World War and commissioned the interior decorator Jean Monro to refurbish its elegant interior.

This article first appeared in Country Life magazine on April 20, 2006.

Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.