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New
Garden to open this
year... in aid of the Two Moors Festival's Chelsea garden... next year
Accott
Manor, near
Gunn, Barnstaple
Sunday July 5th, 12.00 -
5.30pm
Recital
by North Devon Music Centre’s Double Reed Trio, The Quirkië Trio
Izzy Brookes, Zoë Cartlidge and Jack Wensley
Ploughman’s
Lunches and Cream Teas 3.00pm
Entry £3 per person; under 12s free
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Accott
is a small but unusual and original garden created in the last two years
within the ruins of an ancient Devon Longhouse Manor on the old Accott
Lane. It is inspired by the old house and combines traditional features
with contemporary creativity. The work has involved months of up-rooting
hawthorn, elder and brambles from the remaining manor walls, prising up
concrete and flag-stones from the floors and excavating tons of stone
which were replaced with soil to create lawns and flower-beds in the old
parlours.
The disintegrating stone walls have been stabilised and the kitchen,
complete with the original fireplace and bread-oven is a barbecue area
with herb borders. The old wash-house is a particularly effective ‘room’
where a tiled floor effect is created with alternating squares of stone
and flowering thymes.
When the rubble was cleared from the front of the building a cobbled path
was discovered; it has been painstakingly restored and is the theme for
the new landscaping between the house and the old lane. Here, in complete
contrast to the interior of the ‘house’, a rill is set in gravel
apparently flowing to a circular lily-pond; the power for the
re-circulating of the water is provided by a solar panel and small wind
turbine. The style here is more contemporary and includes a unique
hemispherical sandstone water feature.
Accott is reputed to be named after Acca, a local Saxon landowner who also
gave his name to Acland, Landkey and is believed to date from the 12th
century though all that remains intact is a private chapel which was used
for Roman Catholic services in the late 1500's after the dissolution of
the monasteries by Henry VIII. The Manor, which comprised several farms,
originally formed part of the estates of the Bishop of Exeter and at one
point in the 13th Century was exchanged for a "sore goshawk" and
a life annuity. The estate was later sold by three sisters who had
inherited it jointly when their two brothers, who were wild characters,
had killed each other in a quarrel. The Chichester family of Hall owned
the farm for over 300 years and it was probably the scene of a battle
during the Civil War of the 1650's as some cannon balls were found
embedded in the walls.
After the Chichester Estate sold Accott in the early 1900’s the cob
manor house was only used for storage purposes and the thatch was not kept
in good repair. The building disintegrated and the stone chimney was
dismantled in 1952. After that the scrub took over and by the 1980s very
little of it could be seen.
The Quirkië Trio is comprised of 16 and 17 year old students from
Barnstaple schools and colleges and has been playing a wide-ranging mix of
classical and new music together for several years. The two oboists and
bassoonist have performed in the Queen’s Theatre and all have musical
talents such as singing, the cello and the clarinet, as well as being
exceptionally proficient on the instruments which they will be playing on
this occasion.
The Two Moors Festival began in 2001 to bring people back to Dartmoor and
Exmoor following the devastation caused by Foot and Mouth disease. Now an
annual event bringing classical music at the highest possible level to
rural places, the Festival became a charity in 2002, has a partnership
with Classic FM and a Patron in HRH The Countess of Wessex. The Chelsea
Show Garden will bring the Festival in October to the notice of an
audience of thousands and will underline the relevance of the Two Moors
area as a visitor destination during an out of season period.
Directions: Accott Manor is 3½ miles from
Swimbridge towards Brayford and will be signed from Swimbridge, and from
the A361 at South Molton and east of Barnstaple.
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