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.
