Saturday Style: Elizabethan Montacute Country Estate

I saved the grande dame of all country estates (well at least for this week) for Saturday Style, as this beast set the stage for the word country to follow-- considering it was crafted in the 16th century. I found this  Somerset, UK mansion on the pages of Conde Nast Traveler as a part of an author's foodie spread; a journey where she traversed Southern England's West Country (their version of Marin County) which has embraced the Slow Food movement, or as she says, "growing on your own."

According to Wikipedia:

This house is a textbook example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical; this has resulted in Montacute being regarded as one of the finest houses to survive from the Elizabethan era.

Scattered with culinary destinations and grand estates, this property and others are now managed by the National Trust:

The agricultural depression in the late 19th-century took its toll on the whole estate at Montacute. The house was gradually stripped of its contents, as they were sold off by the family. The Phelips finally left their ancestral home in 1911, after which Montacute was leased to a succession of tenants. In 1915, the house was taken over by the illustrious Lord Curzon, an early advocate of preserving the ancient buildings of England. He invested in redecorating Montacute.

However, Montacute was put up for sale in 1929 and valued ‘for scrap’ at £5,882 in 1931.

In 1931, Ernest Cook, the grandson of Thomas Cook (of the travel company fame), funded the purchase of Montacute by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). They presented it to the National Trust, to safeguard it for ever, for everyone.

As they say, let them eat cake, as long as it's organic...

Snow settled on this hedge in the winter of 1947, imprinting this curvaceous look by the time it melted weeks later.

It served as a backdrop for Kate Winslet in 'Sense and Sensibility'