Property market
THE fertile Vale of Taunton Deane, bounded by west Somerset’s three hill ranges—the Brendons in the west, Quantocks in the east and Blackdowns in the south—is an area of rich soil and plentiful water, described in 1609 by cartographer and antiquary John Norden as ‘the great paradise of England’. According to the Victoria County History, the manor of Taunton Deane provided ‘a princely income’ for its powerful manorial landowners, among them the bishops of Winchester, who owned it from the 10th century and built the great castle at Taunton.
The parish of Fivehead, nine miles east of Taunton, lies on a ridge of reclaimed land that stretches from the small town of Langport to the Blackdown Hills, and overlooks Sedgemoor, part of the Somerset Levels and the Vale of the Isles. Fresh to the market through Strutt & Parker comes Grade II*-listed Langford Manor at Fivehead, an impeccably restored Elizabethan manor house built around a 15th-century core and set in 7½ acres of immaculate gardens and grounds with views over open countryside. Selling agent Oliver Custance Baker (01392 229405) quotes a guide price of £5 million.
According to its Historic England listing, there has been a house on the site since at least the 13th century. The present house is built on a double E-plan with a central 15thcentury, east-west range; it was enlarged and remodelled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, substantially restored in 1905 and again in the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1518, the manor was left to the Dean and Canons of Exeter Cathedral, who owned it until about 1860, during which time it was mainly occupied by tenant farmers.
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin June 08, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin June 08, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
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
