DESCRIBED by its previous long-time owner Sir Christopher Ondaatje as ‘the most beautiful spot on earth’, magical, Grade II-listed Glenthorne House at Countisbury, near Lynton, Devon, occupies a spectacular coastal location where Exmoor meets the sea on the north Devon/west Somerset border, with panoramic views over the Bristol Channel towards Lynmouth, Porlock Bay and Wales. For sale through the Exeter office of Savills (01392 455743) at a guide price of £7 million, the imposing stone house— an intriguing mix of Georgian and Victorian Gothic with a dash of Tudor—stands in 77 acres of deep combes and ancient woodland that run down to the shore, in sharp contrast to the heather moors of Exmoor at the top of the cliffs and the rocky beaches at the bottom. The site on which the house stands is reputedly the only piece of flat land between Porlock and Lynmouth.
The original Glenthorne estate was created by the Revd Walter Stevenson Halliday, the son of a Scottish naval surgeon and banker who made a fortune during the Napoleonic wars and died in 1829. Having inherited his father’s fortune, he set out to invest in a country estate and eventually settled on Countisbury, where he gradually bought the entire parish, some 7,000 acres in all.
Denne historien er fra May 24, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra May 24, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
