National Trust.
This is a museum of curiousities, set in an exotic semi-tropical garden. The last owner of the house, scientist and inventor Otto Overbeck, filled the house with his collections. There is a cabinet devoted to his inventions, which include an electrical “Rejuvenator”, designed to inject new life into the old and tired by passing electricity through the body. Also in the museum is a “Polyphon” a music box using large sheet steel disks, which plays music encoded as punched holes, also display photographs of various shipwrecks, and under the stairs a collection of dolls’ houses. The garden has some very steep slopes, and views over coastline and estuary.
This isn’t the easiest place to get to, as the roads leading to it are single-track, steep and twisty, and not suited for anything bigger than a minibus. There is a small car park near the house, for visitors, and if it’s full, finding alternative parking could be troublesome. If you are feeling really fit, it’s possible to park at East Soar and walk up (2 miles), or walk up from the ferry (1/2 mile). The NT handbook cautions drivers against paying too much attention to one’s sat-nav and advises following the brown signs from Marlborough towards Salcombe. As I recall, it was steep and narrow the direct way and steep and twisty by the brown sign route, neither an easy drive.
Minack Theatre, Porthcurno, Cornwall
This is an unusual theatre, being an open-air theatre on a cliff-side site overlooking the sea. I went to a play there in 2007, and found that I could hear and see perfectly well. Stone bench seating is provided as-is, and a ticket doesn’t allocate you to a seat as in a conventional theatre. You are advised to take something to sit on, and suitable clothing in case of light rain, and arrive early if you want a decent seating position. Ticket prices are quite low, compared with my local theatre.
As for the programme, they generally offer popular fare. If you are staying in the area, and the weather isn’t nasty, it would make an unusual night out. There is an on-site café. Note that the site can be visited during the day, on payment of an entrance charge (and if you want a look now, check the website’s web-cams!)
Kelmarsh Hall Gardens, Northants.
The gardens were originally laid out by society decorator Nancy Lancaster in the 1930’s, and now have a Grade II* gardens listing from English Heritage, and are also a RHS Partner garden. It includes herbaceous borders, a rose garden, a walled kitchen garden, and a traditional greenhouse. Worth a visit if you like gardens at all.
The gardens are open several days a week in the warmer months.
Kelmarsh Hall & Croome Collection, Northants.
The house was built in the 1730’s by virtuoso architect James Gibbs, and is a very attractive red-brick building of symmetrical and reticent design. The present interior decoration owes much to society decorator Nancy Lancaster, who lived at the house. Several rooms upstairs are used for an exhibition of the Croome Collection of fine 18th century furniture . Outside, behind the house are extensive and popular gardens, and surrounding house and garden is a working estate.
The house and contents are well worth a visit, and the gardens are also a popular attraction. The house is open on Thursdays only, plus bank holidays (Sun & Mon), but the gardens are open much more often. It might be wise to arrive in good time if you want to see everything, as admission to house or Croome is by two separate conducted tours. House, Croome and garden are all treated as separately charged items, but you can get combined tickets.
Hatfield House, Herts.
Hatfield is one of the great treasure houses of England, with many fine rooms filled with art objects. Outside, there are several gardens, a maze, and also the Hatfield Old Palace, which elsewhere might be an attraction in its own right. The surviving wing of the Old Palace today consists of a great hall, used for functions. Don’t miss the viewing platform in the gardens which gives visitors a clearer view of the South Front. Asides from all that, there is the wider park and estate.
There is enough here for a half to full-day visit.
Finch Foundry, Devon
(National Trust)
This is the last remaining water-powered forge in England. The buildings and workshops have been preserved and the machinery is in working order. There are hourly demonstrations and tours, when you can see the waterwheels driving the tilt hammer and grindstone.
Upstairs is a small museum giving the history of the forge. In the grounds are a pleasant garden and a teashop. A Quaker cemetery adjoins the site. From the site one can take a circular riverside walk of about a mile and a half.
An interesting site, worth a visit.
Access to the car park is narrow, with a height restriction.
Compton Castle, Devon
National Trust.
A jumble of buildings and curtain walls enclose a courtyard. There are towers incorporated into the house and curtain wall, a great hall rising to the roof, a chapel, and an ancient kitchen wing. The house was built between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, and fortified in the reign of Henry VIII, no doubt in response to French raids on the Devon coast. The house was bought back by the Gilbert family in 1930 and restored as a family home after centuries of neglect.
The reconstructed great hall and a few other rooms are open to visitors, and there are rose, knot, and herb gardens adjoining. Don’t miss the rose garden (to left of front). This is a really unusual building and worth a visit if you are in South Devon. Opening dates are restricted to three days in the week. (Bradley (NT) nearby opens on the same dates.
Access to the house is via narrow lanes. Parking (on grass) at the house is limited and additional hard standing parking is available at the Castle Barton tearooms 100 yards away.
Chysauster Ancient Village, Cornwall
English Heritage.
This Iron Age settlement was originally occupied almost 2,000 years ago. The village consisted of stone-walled homesteads known as ‘courtyard houses’, found only on the Land’s End peninsula and the Isles of Scilly. The houses line a ‘village street’, and each had an open central courtyard surrounded by a number of thatched rooms.
There are also the remains of an enigmatic ‘fogou’ underground passage.
The site was presumably in use during the Roman occupation of Britain. Nine homesteads remain, with walls up to about four feet in height. The site is on a hill, with views of the surrounding country. If I remember correctly, access from the car park is by walking a footpath uphill along the side of a field.
Buckfast Abbey, Devon
While the abbey site is ancient, the abbey church is a modern construction, erected by a community of Benedictine monks to the greater glory of God. The monks live at the abbey in a Catholic community.
Visitors are encouraged to visit the church, and also the shop and other visitor facilities.
The church is worth visiting, as it is a reconstruction in Cistercian-Norman style on the original site plan.
Berry Pomeroy Castle, Devon
English Heritage.
The castle dates from the 15th century, and within the outer walls is a great 17th century Tudor mansion, now much ruined. The site is tucked away in a wooded valley, overlooking a steep drop. There is quite a lot to look at in the way of romantically ruined structures, and parts of the castle are quite well preserved. There is an audio tour. It’s worth a visit if you are in South Devon.
Berry Pomeroy Castle is one location where the satnav is less than helpful. If you enter the postcode into Google Maps, satellite view, you can see just why I found myself on the wrong road, going in the wrong direction, and a mile from the castle. I had to ask a local for directions. The roads in the vicinity are single track, with no visibility.