that the access lane was too narrow and the noise excessive. Seymour won the court battle, but sold the house in November 2007 to an unknown buyer. In 2009, a planning application for a two-storey extension, including a swimming pool was submitted to the local council. This was on the site of a previous orchard from which the trees were transplanted. The house is now available for catered rental and weddings. Architecture The oldest part of the house, the north front, was built in the Elizabethan era but incorporates parts of the earlier priory grange on the site. The front has sloping gables which reduce the load on the walls beneath them. The porch which was added in 1610 has tuscan columns supporting a balustrade with a statue of "Bungey", a favourite spaniel of John Harrington. It leads into a passage and the "oak room" which has wooden panelling with a moulded ceiling and 17th century fireplace. Similar features can be found in the hall and dining room. The ceiling of the library is an imitation of that at Audley End House, while the woodwork is mostly Jacobean. The staircase to the bedrooms incorporates the base of a tree trunk growing under the house. The gardens and grounds and laid out in terraces and include a paved court with an octagonal pool and separate areas enclosed by clipped yew hedges. More recent landscaping to the south of the house is in an Italianate style with pergolas. The barn within the grounds was probably built between the 13th and 15th centuries. In 2008 proposals were submitted to turn the barn into offices and a workshop. Many of the walls and structures within the gardens, such as the central flight of steps, were built in the late 17th century. The gatepiers and flanking walls north east of the house were added in the mid 19th century. The gardens are Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. References Bibliography Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset Grade I listed houses in Somerset Manor houses in England Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Somerset