As History Intended

Two West Country gems have retained the purity of their centuries-old design, one overlooking the wooded valley of the Mells River, the other once owned by Glastonbury Abbey

- Penny Churchill

It is rare indeed to find a classic country house that hasn’t been altered, extended, remodelled or generally ‘mucked about with’ in the course of the 20th century. this makes the launch in last week’s Country Life of the exquisite Grade II*-listed Hapsford House at Great Elm, near Frome, Somerset—at a guide Property market Penny Churchill price of £2.5 million through Strutt & Parker (020–7629 7282)—all the more refreshing, in a market that’s only just starting to find its feet after a long and dreary winter.

The core of the elegant, white-painted house, which was originally called Hapsford Cottage, was built by an unknown architect between 1815 and 1820 for George George, a Frome woollen-cloth manufacturer, and extended some 15 years later, when George bought additional land from Sir Henry Strachey, the lord of the manor. the gardens and pleasure grounds, which are listed Grade II and designed in an intimate style to suit the house when it was first built, were extended in the mid 1800s.

By then, George had passed away and his widow, Mary, had married Capt Henry Morrish, a former Royal Marine. The couple continued to live at Hapsford House, which was also known variously as Vallis House, Vallis Cottage and Vallis Villa, a reference to the picturesque Vallis Vale, a rocky, steep sided, wooded valley of the Mells River, which it overlooks and where quarrying thrived for many years.