Land Ahoy!

These three beautiful properties on the water’s edge have been tempting sailors to dry land for centuries

- Penny Churchill

THE crenellated west façade of Belvedere at Lympstone, near Exmouth, Devon, has long been a familiar landmark for sailors passing up and down the picturesque Exe Estuary. Now for sale through Knight Frank (01392 848842) and Savills (01392 455717) for ‘offers over £5 million’, the intriguing Georgian house, listed Grade II, stands in splendid seclusion within almost 13 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens and woodland, with far-reaching views over the estuary to the countryside beyond—itself unseen except from the water.

Historically, Belvedere was part of the Nutwell estate, which spanned both banks of the River Exe and descended through the Drake family of Buckland to the notoriously unsociable Sir Francis Drake, 5th Baronet and the last of the Drake male line. He left Nutwell to his nephew, Francis Eliott, 2nd Baron Heathfield, who died without a male heir in 1813.

The estate eventually passed through a female line to Sir Francis and Lady Eliott Drake who, in 1894, let Belvedere to a Mr White, a local farmer, whose eldest daughter, Annie, born in 1897, compiled a memoir of those early years: ‘Sir Francis was an invalid and did not live long after their arrival, but Lady Drake was an able and revered ruler of the little kingdom set like a fortress within its high brick walls… [she] was always The Ladyship and her orders were simply given and firmly enforced. Sometimes she would call to inspect the trees in the avenue which formed a beautiful crescent around part of the field in front of our house, for trees were her great delight.’