FOR centuries, British diplomats, entre- preneurs and high-flying executives who ply their trades in the Middle East, Asia and beyond have dreamed of spending their golden years in a quiet unspoilt corner of the West Country. Corners don’t come much quieter or more unspoilt than the east Devon hamlet of Upexe, which sits between the villages of Thorverton and Silverton in the lovely Exe Valley, eight miles north of Devon’s county town, Exeter.
International banker Andrew Dixon and his wife, Wendy, had returned from Hong Kong via the Middle East, when, in 1997, they seized the chance to buy the enchanting, Georgian Upexe House, set in 3¼ acres of well-tended grounds overlooking the Exe, from another globe-trotting businessman who was leaving the UK. The house, listed Grade II, had been beautifully renovated and was ‘in first-class condition’, to the extent that, during their 24-year tenure, all they needed to do was add the orangery and do ‘the odd bit of painting here and there’.
Although, according to its listing, Upexe dates from the 18th century and boasts ‘a good 18th-century interior with an early18th-century dog-leg staircase’, the presence of much earlier windows and stonework suggest that its origins may be medieval or even Saxon, given that Upexe was a trading outpost on an important river-crossing in ancient times. The owner’s records reveal that the present house was built in 1800 by J. A. Gardner Esq, a barrister, who incorporated these rare medieval elements into the building’s classic Georgian design.
Denne historien er fra May 26, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra May 26, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
