{"id":18759,"date":"2023-02-01T11:00:02","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T10:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=6140"},"modified":"2023-02-01T13:36:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T12:36:45","slug":"step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists\/","title":{"rendered":"Step inside A La Ronde: the eccentric Devon home built by Britain\u2019s first feminists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Step inside this small English property in Exmouth, and enter into the imaginative world of two remarkably independent and creative Regency women <\/p>

By Homes & Antiques\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 01 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

A la Ronde<\/a> is a house unlike any other: a Regency building with a whimsical sixteen-sided design and wildly original interior, shaped by the travels, creativity and female solidarity of its owners.<\/p>\n

In 1784, Jane Parminter and her cousin Mary set off across the Channel. \u2018At the time it was the norm for wealthy young men to go on a Grand Tour of Europe, as part of their education, but highly unusual for women to travel alone in the same way,\u2019 explains senior house steward, Chloe Reynolds. But Jane and Mary were lucky. Coming from a family of successful merchants, as unmarried women, they could spend their fortune as they chose.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s frustratingly little documentary record of precisely where the ladies went, what they did, or whom they met, but of one thing we can be sure. A decade later, laden with souvenirs and teeming with plans, Jane and Mary decided to settle near Exmouth. Here, they built a home that must have turned heads in the fashionable seaside resort nearby. With rooms shaped like slices of cake, A la Ronde\u2019s main rooms are arranged around a central Octagon on the upper ground floor.<\/p>\n

Stairs lead down to the kitchens and up to a first floor. From here, two further narrow flights lead to an open gallery looking down on the Octagon. \u2018Jane and Mary\u2019s bedrooms catch the morning light; the evening sunlight streams into the drawing room and dining room,\u2019 says Chloe. \u2018The idea for the faceted scheme might have come from the [octagonal] Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, which they would have visited.\u2019<\/p>\n

Inside, the oddly shaped spaces were put to inventive use: doors slide out of walls and tricky wedge-shaped niches are ingeniously fitted with cupboards and shelves. \u2018We think a shipwright may have helped them,\u2019 Chloe suggests. Their scheme must have challenged the craftsmen involved. Windows (some of which inspired those in the design of Shell Cottage in the final Harry Potter film) are unexpectedly placed, not in the centre of a flat wall, but on the angles. \u2018You can only imagine what the joiner might have said when they told him what they wanted,\u2019 says Chloe.<\/p>\n

When it came to decorating the rooms, the cousins gave free rein to their passion for fashionable Regency crafts. Everywhere you look, examples of Jane and Mary\u2019s creativity shine \u2013 they used shells to make models and decorate walls and furniture, and festooned the Drawing Room with a frieze entirely made of feathers. \u2018Most of which probably came from game birds and the poultry they were eating,\u2019 elaborates Chloe.<\/p>\n

\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The curious exterior of A la Ronde features diamond-shaped windows placed on the corners of the building. The dormers in the roof and the walkway above are later alterations made by Jane and Mary\u2019s relative, the Reverend Reichel, the only man ever to have owned the house.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The Entrance Hall that leads to the central Octagon. The oak settle is Scottish and belonged to the Reverend Reichel. Underneath it is all that remains of the enormous central heating system he installed. The painting above is c1800 and depicts a Lyme Mastiff \u2013 a now-extinct breed of dog, reared at Lyme Park in Cheshire. The flower vase in the foreground is made of tin and was decorated by Jane and Mary.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
A Regency japanned chair sits in the Music Room. Known as Nelson\u2019s chair, it is reputed to have been a gift from Lady Nelson (who lived in Exmouth), and is thought to have originally come from one of Nelson\u2019s ships.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
A shelf in the Music Room features a collection of Inuit models made from wood and seal skin, brought back from Canada by a relative in the late 19th century.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The wedge-shaped lobby between the Music Room and Study is filled with an ingenious array of shelving that may have been designed by a shipwright.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The Library is dominated by the large break-front bookcase that Jane and Mary used as their cabinet of curiosities. The model in the foreground was made by a relative and shows A la Ronde before the Reverend Reichel\u2019s alterations.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The shelves of the cabinet are crammed with shells, postcards and assorted souvenirs including Egyptian shabti and a box shaped like a hot cross bun.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The silhouettes above the fireplace in the Drawing Room date from 1783 and are by Francois Torond, a Huguenot refugee who specialised in ink drawings of this type. The group includes Jane Parminter holding a watering can.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The fireplace has been elaborately decorated. Inside it is a watercolour of St Michael\u2019s Mount.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
A dumb waiter, installed by the Reverend Reichel, in the lobby off the Dining Room connects to the kitchens a floor below and his bedroom above.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The alcove in the Dining Room was designed for the tambour-topped sideboard. The Piranesi prints were souvenirs. The Wedgwood \u2018Queen\u2019s Ware\u2019 on the table is thought to be Jane and Mary\u2019s.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The Octagon is the hub of the house, from which all of the principal rooms radiate. The recently restored walls are decorated with an unusual chevron design that was probably devised by Jane and Mary. The curious octagonal chairs are also thought to have been made for the room to their designs.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
Looking up at the extraordinary Shell Gallery above, the fabric coving was installed during restoration to recreate the original scheme. A large silvered globe suspended below a carved dove was installed by the Parminters to reflect and amplify the space.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""A\"<\/picture><\/div>
The decorated stairs leading to the Shell Gallery.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFurniture was painted, stencilled, or embellished with d\u00e9coupage. A table in the Drawing Room has a top they encrusted with stones and intaglio seals brought back from Italy. Displayed on the walls are unusual homemade landscapes of sand, mica and lichen. They also japanned pelmets and picture frames; carefully recorded their visitors\u2019 profiles as silhouettes and snipped intricate paperwork pictures with impossibly minute scissors. \u2018To me, it says a lot that we don\u2019t have a single portrait of the ladies but we have so much that they made,\u2019 says Chloe. \u2018They weren\u2019t showing off their wealth, they just wanted to decorate the house themselves.\u2019\n

The Octagon, at the core of the house, is a jaw-dropping space with an air of Alice in Wonderland about it. Eight fan-lit double doors, painted in trompe l\u2019oeil marble, punctuate the walls, and the ceiling soars upwards to the roof. In the centre, a silvered witch ball, reflecting and distorting the extraordinary surroundings, dangles below a wooden dove in flight. Much of the furniture was specially designed to fit the room \u2013 benches are wedge-shaped and eccentric chairs have hexagonal seats and back splats.<\/p>\n

Through one of the Octagon\u2019s doors, you enter the Library: a room dominated by the cousins\u2019 cabinet of curiosities. Shells, rocks and fossils are arranged along with postcards, samples of beadwork, sewing accessories and Egyptian shabti figurines. \u2018My favourite object is a little box that looks like a hot cross bun. When you turn it over there\u2019s a tableau of a maid in the kitchen burning her cakes,\u2019 says Sue Moss, A la Ronde\u2019s volunteer conservator.<\/p>\n

Jane and Mary\u2019s most awe-inspiring creation is not here, in the main rooms, but suspended beneath the conical roof. The narrow stairs leading to their spectacular Shell Gallery, provide a foretaste of the treat in store, heavily decorated with gothic arches and treasures from the sea. The gallery is estimated to contain 25,000 shells, as well as minerals, feathers, twigs and bits of bone, which were pressed into lime putty to adorn niches, walls and window frames.<\/p>\n

These days, conservation is in progress and the gallery is visible only from the landing or the Octagon below. But even glimpsed from afar you can\u2019t fail to be impressed. \u2018Shell grottos were the height of fashion at the time, but they are usually underneath buildings or outdoors. The size of this is truly amazing,\u2019 says Sue.<\/p>\n

Having invested so much energy in their home, Jane and Mary treasured A la Ronde as highly as their independence. According to Mary\u2019s will, the house could only be inherited by unmarried female relatives and had to remain unaltered. But by the late 19th century, things had gone awry, and a male relative, the Reverend Oswald Reichel, moved in. The house was bought by the National Trust in 1991, and we can only imagine the cousins would be relieved to learn that for the longterm their treasured home is protected.<\/p>\n

The house and grounds open on 4th February 2017 10:30am-5:30pm (last entry to the house is 4pm). A la Ronde, Summer Lane, Exmouth, Devon, EX8 5BD. 01395 265514; nationaltrust.co.uk\/a-la-ronde<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Images: Andreas Von Einsiedel<\/a><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Step inside this small English property in Exmouth, and enter into the imaginative world of two remarkably independent and creative Regency women <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18760,"template":"","categories":[1,41],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"8"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2023\/02\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists.jpg",1600,1068,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2023\/02\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2023\/02\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2023\/02\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists-768x513.jpg",768,513,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2023\/02\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists-1024x684.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2023\/02\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2023\/02\/step-inside-a-la-ronde-the-eccentric-devon-home-built-by-britains-first-feminists.jpg",1600,1068,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Step inside this small English property in Exmouth, and enter into the imaginative world of two remarkably independent and creative Regency women","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}