At first, it didn't seem as though Devon had as many interesting houses to visit as some of the other regions. And then, we went to Coleton Fishacre. Strange name for a positively lovely house.
This house was built specifically for the D'Oyly Carte family of theatre fame. They bought up the rights to all of the Gilbert and Sullivan plays and put on several of them each season. They also bought almost every high end hotel in London which produced enough income to build this house and still have a fortune left over.
They had the right idea when they designed this house. It was immensely livable. Even just to walk through, one could feel like a weekend guest. The rooms were comfortable, the house had central heat (still not all that common in the 1930s), it had lovely gardens and it was in a peaceful setting with just short walk down the cliff to the beach.
What was not to like about this? Only the fact that it was so close and yet so far away. It seemed to take forever to get there because of the long one-lane road and then a very long narrow driveway. What a gem once we got there.
It was such a pleasure to visit a house that was in good condition and had most of the rooms open to the public. I find it disappointing to go to a huge manor house or castle and just have the great room and the kitchens and stables open. I'd rather be able to see the other rooms even if they are not ready for prime time.
This room was so inviting. Just as we entered, a young boy was playing the piano (very well) which is at the far end of the room. At many of these houses, "confident amateurs" are encouraged to sit down and play. That just astonishes me because I have never yet been to a house in the US where anyone could play the piano.
In this mildly Art Deco styled house, I could swear that I could just picture Cole Porter and his gang sitting around, talking, drinking, smoking and most of all playing the piano.
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Fans of Miss Marple, Inspector Poirot and Mousetrap can absorb some of the aura of Agatha Christie at her summer home, called Greenway -- named after the village nearby. The family's furniture and eclectic collections are still there, presumably as they left them. This sitting room looks like Christie just went to the kitchen for tea and will be back presently.
This is such a great summer house. It has windows and doors in just the right places for catching the summer breezes coming up from the river below.
These lounge chairs were so inviting that visitors took turns sitting in them and having their picnic lunch.
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A couple of days ago, we went to a house, Castle Drogo, which was built by a wealthy merchant who retired at age 33 to be a family man and country gentleman. A self-made man who really enjoyed his wealth.
Then, we went to this house, Knightshayes. The builder of this high Victorian country home could not have been more different from the merchant. This owner was the grandson of the man who started a lace mill business and lived a modest, respectful life. Then the son inherited the lace business and also lived a relatively quiet, respectful life running the business. Then, the grandson came along and he decided that he did not want any part of running a lace mill. He wanted to hunt, shoot, have parties and live in a big, extravagant house. And so he did.
This was definitely a lavish house worthy of the lifestyle that he was hoping for.
Of all of the houses that we have visited so far, this had the best location. The drive up to the house was impressive. The outbuildings were placed so that they did not in any way detract from the house itself.
In front of the house were terraces, each in full bloom with tulips, daffodils and colorful ground cover. There was also the largest kitchen garden of any of the 300+ properties owned by the National Trust.
One unusual thing about this house is that photos were not allowed inside of the house. The normal reason for this would be to keep the light level down to protect fabrics and artwork, but that did not seem reasonable here because the drapes were open and the sunlight (yes, finally sun!) was streaming in.
Most often, visitors are cautioned just to not use flash inside of the house and that keeps the light down. And, certainly, we visited quite a few houses which were more important in terms of national history or the delicate nature of the furnishings. So, we have no interior shots.
When I viewed my photos of the day later on that evening, I noticed that I had inadvertently taken several photos of the floor! I guess that I didn't turn the camera off and that I kept hitting the button by mistake.
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This is the oldest house in Devon that we visited, called Cotehele (pronounced Cote-heel). This is an Elizabethan era house but of course, like most houses, it was built over the years, a section at a time. In this photo, you can actually see the different types of stonework indicating an addition.
It's amazing how builders were able to add on, substract from, and generally modify the buildings. Some buildings have evidence of old windows blocked up, and some "new" windows not quite matching the stones of the rest of the house.
The great thing about this house is this!
Just look at all of that armor and the high ceiling. This room was, to my mind, magnificent. It was also chilly because this house has never been modernized. There's no central heat and there might not be any plumbing. There is minimal electricity to run a few lights, so as not to use candles, and also to run the alarm system that every property has.
One way that the residents of this house chased away the chills was to have large fireplaces in each room. If the room was large enough, there might be two fireplaces. They also hung tapestries on the walls and covering the doors to catch drafts. This house still had the original tapestries, in reasonably good shape considering their age. Every wall surface of the private rooms was covered with tapestries. I have never seen so many. The odd thing is that they must have used tapestries from other places because they were cut and pieced to fit with no regard for how the pieces fit into the scene depicted. Thrifty, these 16th century rich folks!
I'm always interested more in the later generations who lived in the properties than the original owners. I'm interested in how the family came to give up a large house and estate that has been in the family for maybe 600 years. I would not want to be the last generation to own these places -- the one to always be known as the one who couldn't keep it up and had to give it away.
So, as usual, I asked the room guides about the last owners and I got quite a surprise. The owners, sometime in the 1500s or early 1600s got even richer and felt that this huge house was not big or fancy enough to represent their wealth, so they built an even larger home and used this as their "summer home". They only used it for entertaining guests. Since there were no further permanent residents of the house, it never really got a facelift. Evidently that armor on the wall has been hanging there ever since it was first put there. Amazing.
This house was like a time capsule.
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