Stars of the West

Wonderful houses of the West Country are enhanced by characterful owners, from the man who bought the whole of Exmoor to Jane Seymour and Sir Terence Conran

- Penny Churchill

ONE of Somerset’s most intriguing country houses, Grade I-listed St Catherine’s Court stands in 14 acres of famous gardens and grounds, overlooking a hidden wooded valley some five miles north of the World Heritage city of Bath. Originally built as a priory grange for the monks of Bath Abbey, the manor takes its name from the Grade II*-listed, 12th-century parish Church of St Catherine, which is within the grounds.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII granted the manor to his tailor, John Malte, whose son, also John, an Elizabethan courtier, sold St Catherine’s Court to John Blanchard in 1591. Blanchard’s son, William, remodelled the house in the early 17th century and, in 1610, the porch was added and a terraced garden was laid out. Following several generations of Blanchard ownership, the house passed to the Parry family, who failed to maintain it and, by the 18th century, it was in a serious state of disrepair. In 1841, Col Joseph Holden Strutt, a long-standing MP, bought St Catherine’s Court and renovated the house and church. The manor remained in the Strutt family until 1976.

In 1984, St Catherine’s Court hit the headlines when British actress Jane Seymour and her then husband, David Flynn, bought the house and lavished a reputed £3 million on its refurbishment. However, the couple spent little time there and, following their divorce and Ms Seymour’s marriage to American film producer James Keach, the manor was rented out as a film set, recording studio and wedding venue. Finally, in November 2007, Ms Seymour sold St Catherine’s Court to an unknown buyer.