IMPOSING, Grade II-listed Hurlditch Court stands in some 14 acres of formal gardens, parkland and pasture on the edge of the ancient village of Lamerton, about four miles north of the lively market town of Tavistock, Devon, and five miles west of Dartmoor. House and grounds have been sympathetically renovated by the current owners, who acquired the property in 2015 from its previous long-term custodians. Hurlditch Court is now for sale through Knight Frank, with selling agent Hamish Humfrey (020-7861 1717) seeking 'offers over £3 million. According to Ordnance Survey Archaeology, the original Hurlditch mansion was built in 1570, but destroyed by fire in 1905, except for the kitchen, which was incorporated in a new house built by the architect Walter Sarel for Reginald Morshead. His father was the Revd H. J. Morshead, rector of nearby Kelly; his mother was the eldest daughter of Sir William Trelawny of Trelawne, Cornwall, a leading Cornish landowner and diplomat.
The Trelawny family's Devon seat was Collacombe Manor, near Lamerton. A long-standing partner in Tavistock Bank, Morshead retired from business in 1889 and thereafter devoted his time and considerable energies to public work, representing Tavistock on Devon County Council for 23 years. He was also chairman of the Tavistock bench of magistrates, chairman of the trustees of Kelly College, vice-chairman of the governors of Tavistock Grammar School, an income tax commissioner, a member of the Devon Education Committee, chairman of the Lamerton Hunt and a member of the Tamar and Plym Conservators.
By comparison, relatively little is known about Sarel, apart from a list of his architectural commissions compiled by his widow, Charlotte, following his death in 1941, which includes 20 new houses built for wealthy clients. He also worked with Gertrude Jekyll on at least seven projects, including the design of an Arts-and-Crafts garden at Little Halings in Buckinghamshire.
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