Post by Dave on May 13, 2016 19:23:18 GMT
Arlington Court & Carriage Museum
Arlington Court has been on my must visit list for a long time now and even more so since I learnt the Royal Speakers Coach had been loaned to the carriage museum. It’s about a two hour drive from Paignton so Lyn and I set off just after 9am for North Devon.
I have been in much bigger houses but this one was very special for so many reasons. The interior of the house is crammed with a eclectic mix of period furniture and unusual items collected by the Chichester family over the years. The bulk of the collections were the work of Rosalie Chichester, an inveterate traveller. Among the larger and more unique collections are model ships and a wide variety of shells, but there are a huge number of other objects, including stuffed birds, pewter plates, and tea caddies, as well as unusual curios gleaned by Rosalie Chichester on her travels across the globe.
Her father had left her the estate in his will, not his own wife who was to later marry after his death but she did not move her new husband in. He lived elsewhere and came to visit her at weekends on his horse. Two years before her death in 1949, Rosalie Chichester gave the whole estate comprising of well over 3,000 acres that included the hamlets of Arlington and Loxhore, plus some 19 farms and 40 cottages to the national trust.
Arlington Court was built around 1820 by local Devon architect Thomas Lee for John Chichester. Lee designed a stuccoed Regency house in the style of an intimate villa. The Arlington estate was in the hands of the Chichester family from the 17th century. Rosalie’s father Sir John Palmer Bruce Chichester, 1st Baronet had built a large extension to the house in 1873 that almost ruined the family financially.
The national trust has now relaxed its policy on photography in a bid to me more customer friendly and it is a very welcome move as it is so good to be able to capture all you see when on a visit to any of their properties.
The Stable Block is home to the National Trust's collection of historic horse-drawn carriages. There are over 50 carriages in the collection, ranging from an ornate State Coach to a more practical Hansom cab.
You can pay for a ride to the stable block on a golf type bogie, but it’s not that far to walk to them and on route is a delightful small garden with a pond that is just so full of colour that is a must see.
The carriages are a joy to see and the one I really wanted to see was in a room on its own. It is sealed behind a glass screen I could not believe how big and grand it was.
The Speaker's State Coach is the oldest of the three great State Coaches of the United Kingdom. Like the Gold State Coach and the Lord Mayor of London's State Coach it is elaborately carved and gilded, and is decorated with allegorical paintings by G. B. Cipriani. The coach was originally designed for King William III in 1698 by Daniel Marot
It was last used for the wedding of Charles and Diana and has now been retired but not before it was fully restored to its former glory. What an amazing coach to be standing so close to and almost worth the visit on its own.
We wanted to walk some of the estate after viewing all we could and decided to take one of the longer walks to the old lake. It turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as it was almost empty of water. We talked to some local walkers at the lake who said they had never seen it looking so empty and normally it was beautiful to look at.
We carried on our circular walk that finally took us back to the house and then drove to ilfracombe which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as well. We were at least able to buy a meal as we were very hungry by this time before setting off on our journey back to Torbay.
WE Both really enjoyed today and I'm so glad I finally made it to Arlington Court.
