A VISIT TO COLETON FISHACRE

At last I have finished editing and sorting all the photos I took at this beautiful National Trust property situated in South Devon, UK, not too far from where we live.

Coleton Fishacre

Coleton Fishacre is a large family home built in the Arts and Crafts style and furnished throughout with Art Deco items. It was the home of the D’Oyly Carte family, famous for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company which for so many years staged the light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. The house is set in extensive and magnificent gardens planted on a steep slope down to the sea. Because of its sheltered location and the mildness of the climate, the garden is full of many exotic plants.

On arrival

The office and reception, shop and cafe are uphill from the house. Outside, I was delighted by the bed of wildflowers growing so prolifically.

The approach to the house is a delight. It seems to nestle in the landscape. Interestingly, the architect was an assistant of Sir Edwin Lutyens, who designed Castle Drogo, which we visited the week before.

The house is on a much smaller scale than Drogo, and one could well imagine living here. As you will see from the photos, the National Trust have tastefully arranged things in the rooms, with articles of clothing laid casually on the furniture, and dresses hanging on wardrobes ready for wear; you could almost imagine the family and their friends coming in from a tennis match, chatting, dressing for dinner… There is also plenty of mock food laid out which was amusing – the meringues didn’t look all that appetising, we had to agree!

The main lounge has a gorgeous Art Deco carpet, and I love how it appears that the lady of the house has kicked off her shoes in readiness for relaxing with a cocktail! A great friend of mine plays the piano in this room on a regular basis for the National Trust, and she loves the house as much as we do.

A simple but elegant staircase, not over-grand.

There are many interesting Art Deco light fittings throughout the house.

This fascinating relief map and wind direction indicator is installed about the fireplace in the library. As we watched the dial moved to show the changing wind.

In one of the rooms, a conservator was working on a magnificent enamelled silver dressing table set. I had a long chat with her and whe was quite delightful, and let me photograph the various pieces. She was cleaning and repairing the delicate bristles and the wood which had shrunk away from the silver on this brush.

The dining room with Art Deco furniture and plenty of fake food!

Smoking was all the rage in the 20s and 30s, of course, and was consdered the sophisticated thing to do, and there was plenty of evidence of this in the house.

The loggia, a kind of covered patio.

One of several genuine Lalique glass light fittings. I simply adore Lalique…

As is usual in National Trust houses these days, the servants’ quarters are now open to the public, and it is fascinating seeing the articles they would have used, and the conditions in which they lived and worked.

A simpler staircase for the use of the servants.

Lots of fake food in the kitchen!

At least they could have some music while they worked, via the wireless.

Back in the family’s part of the house again, this beautiful furniture is on the landing.

The main bedroom

This was one of the most intriguing rooms in the house. It was full of interesting things, including a dressing case with more enamelled brushes. Note the fabric on the right, used for the curtains. More on this later.

The National Trust had to furnish this house virtually from scratch when they acquired it, obaining Art Deco furniture and artefacts from many sources. This particular bedroom had only two original pieces of furniture in it, one of which was this wardrobe.

A beautiful evening jacket laid our on the chaise longue, covered with exquisite white glass beadwork. The volunteer steward in the room told us that it was incredibly heavy, which I could well believe.

The intricacy of the work is astonishing, and there must be literally hundreds of thousands of beads, all sewn on by hand.

The furniture in the room is limed oak, which is a beautiful soft finish.

The only other original piece of furniture in the room is this dressing table stool.

I just loved the dressing table with all the lady’s bits and pieces laid out. Note the earring stand, and her beautiful Art Deco jewellery and clutch bag.

One of my favourite pieces: an inlaid wooden powder compact in the Art Deco style.

You can see how the limed finish brings out the grain of the wood on the furniture.

I love this little manicure stand. I have a small nail buffer very similar to this, which I inherited from my grandmother.

A general view of the room, showing the barrel vaulted ceiling.

Now for the intriguing part. This is a photograph taken in 1930 for “Country Life” magazine, showing the room as it was. You can see the stool there, and everything very much as you see it today. From this photograph and the two original remaining pieces, they were able to restore the room exactly as it was. A cabinet maker from Cornwall made the furniture and they were able to obain the same black and white fabric for the furnishings. It is a remarkable achievement.

A view from the window down into the garden.

Other rooms upstairs

I particularly loved this assemblage!

I love this style of Art Deco photograph frame. I have something similar with a photo of my grandmother in it.

Another beautiful dressing case, complete with its contents.

You can imagine the family having house guests. Don’t you just love the scarf and the stocking thrown nonchalantly over the end of the bed?

Fascinating doorways and corridors.

Another beautiful room. Note the interesting light fitting.

Little Art Deco touches everywhere. I adore this little clock!

Gorgeous wood grain on these bed heads, and a pretty pink silk nightgown case.

A nod to Gilbert and Sullivan – original props from “The Pirates of Penzance.”

A model of the house.

I love the old leather suitcases. I have three small ones in my studio, inherited from my parents.

For my final photo of the inside of the house, I made this montage of the painted tiles from the bathrooms. They are charming representations of the daily activities of the aristocracy in the 20s and 30s, in that unique Art Deco style.

The garden

Moving outside, I was captivated by this archway.

Just inside, there was a “Private” sign and a traffic cone. Through the wonders of modern technology, I have “vanished” them!

There are many interesting views of the house from the garden, with glimpses of the sea beyond.

Wherever I go, there is always something to satisfy my passion for old walls!

A clouded yellow butterfly.

We were then privileged to see something most unusual – a hummingbird hawkmoth. I had never seen one before but knew about them and had seen pictures. This extraordinary moth flits about from flower to flower in exactly the same manner as a hummingbird, hovering over the flower as it sips the nectar.

I made this montage of one of the photos I took. It was hard to see the moth against the busy background, so I edited it to show it better.

I also made this video, which clearly shows its distinctive flight.

Running along the length of the house is a raised terrace with the gardens below.

Walking along the path below the terrace, there was a long bed with many succulents planted. I love the incredible variety of these extraordinary plants.

An interesting architectural feature in the centre of the terrace wall is this fabulous eyelid-shaped pond.

You will remember seeing the rooms inside the house, in this round projecting tower, with windows with fine views over the garden.

As the path winds down the slope away from the house, you become aware of how sheltered the garden is, and see many exotic plants and trees. They provide such interesting variations in colour and texture.

The path became steeper and we didn’t go further down as it was pretty inaccessible for us! We had to leave the majority of the garden unexplored. There is a lot of it!

There are many parts of the garden that consist of woodland rather than cultivated garden. I love the variety and contrast.

Looking down into the lower garden, you can see how steep the land is, extending right down to the sea.

Steep rocky cliffs!

My hubby enjoying the view from the best vantage point.

The roof of this viewing point, covered with climbing plants and providing shelter from the sun, and looking back the way we had come.

Finally, here is the guide book for the house. They have chosen the bedroom furnishing fabric for the design, which is a lovely choice, and definitely something that inspires me for another page in my new Black Organics Album!

This is the book I bought in the shop, celebrating the Art Deco era. I did a blog post about it here.

I hope you have enjoyed another virtual tour around one of our local National Trust properties. How privileged we are to live in such a beautiful area, where there are such gorgeous places to visit!