Killerton House

On Thursday we went to Killerton House and Gardens - a National Trust property gifted in 1944 by Sir Richard Acland.

The House is not particularly remarkable (though I shall do a post about the interior on another day) - being built in 1778 - but the gardens, part of a 6,399 acre estate, are fantastic. The house, designed by John Johnson, was originally intended as a temporary dwelling while a grander building was created on the slopes higher up but the larger house never materialised.

The entrance porch is one of a number of additions to the house, having been added in 1924 by Sir Francis Acland, the fourteenth Baronet.

The ship's cannon on the forecourt are from the Acland family's yacht 'The Lady of St Kilda' in which Sir Thomas Acland and his wife \lydia made many intrepid voyages in the 1830s. The guns were last fired in 1935 to celebrate the double victory of Sir Francis Acland and his son Richard in the general election.

The house looks out over beautiful East Devon countryside.