Located in Devon, England, Arlington Court is a country house built in the 1820s near Barnstaple. The house belonged to the Chichester family, and it replaced an earlier house for the family that was constructed at another location in the 1790s. In the mid-1800s, the new house was expanded to what it is today. Visitors can explore the house, many acres of park land, the Carriage Museum, the stables, and the walled garden.
The house and grounds at Arlington Court were donated to the National Trust in 1949 by the unmarried Rasalie Chichester. Rosalie Chichester was strong-willed and an artist, and she loved the natural world. Although her father kept hunting hounds and hunted, she forbid it on her land and had clashes with others in the community as most people in Devon did support hunting in those days.
I visited Arlington Court in mid-September, and the house was not fully open due to the pandemic and one-way systems. There were a couple of rooms open, so I could explore a little bit. The first room entered is the hall and the reception room with grand staircase. This large room was glimpsed and explored later due to the one-way system in place.
The dining room is located off the main room with the staircase. The walls were decorated with a green material pattern. We were told about some of the items in the house by the volunteer.
The dining room leads to an open area with table and display cabinet filled with items relating to ships and naval history.
From here, the room opens into a small parlour.
The house contains a collection of antiques and family momentos, including a room for a "museum" of items collected by the family. Model ships, shells, and fossils seem to be popular items collected by the family. One item that caught me is an old manuscript with artwork.
One of the rooms that we could peek into is the Boudoir, a room for ladies to hang out in. The walls are covered with a red silk. The windows were not open, so it was difficult to see inside the room.
The museum room contains a lot of items collected by the family. The room is off the central hall the with staircase.
The central hall contains a lot of ship models, and the staircase has impressive wooden carvings.
There was also a small library and office room to walk through.
After leaving the house, another attraction here in the grounds of Arlington Court is the Carriage Museum filled with horse-drawn vehicles and horse stables. The museum has vehicles for different occassions, such as state visits for different social statuses, horse-drawn hearses, horse-drawn carriages to help people with mobility concerns, and carriages for transport of people or goods. There are over fifty vehicles on display in the museum.
A short walk away from Arlington Court house is the walled garden with a conservatory that was rebuilt in 2012. Dahlias and late summer flowers were in full bloom.
Not far from the walled garden is a small church. I had a peek inside.
On the way to the Carriage Museum, I saw some ruin structure in the sheep pasture. When I looked at the map, it labels this as "1887 Jubilee Cairn". So, it looks like it was built in 1887 as a commemoration to the Jubilee for Queen Victoria.
I also passed by a building that was used to store grain. Lifting the building off the ground helped to keep the grain dry.
I decided not to walk around the park grounds, but I will do that on my next visit!
I hope to return to Arlington Court to see the full house and walk around the grounds.
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