Hotel Endsleigh in Devon
Nonchalant Luxury in a Duchess' Sensual Hideaway
The fog that rises from the Tamar River down beyond the lawn is no match for the autumn sun up the hill and leaves the grass silvery wet with dew. In the distance, a pheasant clucks and flies off. You hear its wings flapping. A woman and her dog were there before you this morning. Her footsteps carved a flawlessly straight trail in the grass—obviously someone with a purpose. Impulse, however, fashioned her dog's tracks into a zigzagging pattern, crossing hers. Two croquet mallets with a yellow and blue ball lean against an iron lounge chair in front of a palm tree like gaudy exclamation marks that ended yesterday's games. The smell of coffee beckons you inside for breakfast.
Endsleigh is a delicate assault on all the senses.
Sensual is exactly how John Russell, the 6th Duke of Bedford and a "complete sensualist whose passion for excess was renowned," according to Charles Greville, envisioned Endsleigh as a family residence in 1810. His wife, the Duchess Georgiana, had grown up in Scotland, enjoying the sporting lodges and cottages her parents owned. She wanted her Devon house to be radically different from Woburn Abbey, the Bedfords' stately family home near Milton Keynes. She wanted a cottage, not a castle.
Endsleigh is a superb example of a cottage orné that adheres to the principles of the Picturesque style, and the numerous feminine nuances found throughout the house and its gardens raise the possibility that the Duchess was heavily involved in its creation. Money was not an issue: the Duke was one of the richest men in England and owned the enormous Tavistock estate with multiple copper mines that accrued considerable recurring revenue.
Jeffry Wyatt—later known as Sir Jeffry Wyatville and best known for the extensions and alterations to Windsor Castle—designed the home with the intention to pay tribute to the gardens that Humphry Repton, one of the most acclaimed landscape architects at the time, was developing. The Bedfords weren't just building a home on their estate; within its 9,000 acres, they were creating a 320-acre landscape garden with dells, waterfalls, an arboretum, cottages, a shell grotto, and even a pleasure dairy—noblesse oblige. The Polizzi family, Hotel Endsleigh's current owners, are still maintaining the 108 acres that have been preserved.
Driving downhill through the woods, on the long and winding access road between Launceston and Tavistock, Endsleigh Cottage appears as a rambling but intimate cluster of buildings. As you approach from the north, it looks deceptively small and quaint within its horseshoe courtyard, its granite walls, and its gabled slate roofs that are rife with Tudoresque chimneys. Wyatt succeeded in making the residence shrink organically into the abundant greenery that envelops it.
Endsleigh is intimate and personal.
A heavy oak door opens into a wood-paneled hall where a vibrant bouquet, picked from the garden the same morning, competes with the Duke's bust on a pedestal, high up on the wall. He observes the comings and goings of hotel guests in Wellingtons, a hunting party in tweeds, and a local regular who wanders off into the library for a coffee and a chat. Spring-roller maps on the wall remind you that the property was owned by a fishing syndicate before the Polizzi family bought and restored it to its original beauty. The fire is blazing, and an audaciously designed white and green portiere curtain delivers a particular modernist touch. You know you have arrived home the moment you walk in.
But it's not until you step into the connecting south-facing drawing rooms overlooking the long borders that you understand the true size of this house and its extraordinary layout, designed to trap the sun throughout the day. Against the grandeur outside, the lounges are human-sized and cozy, aimed at reflection and repose. Attention to detail permeates the house. The wallpaper in the dining room has been created to complement the color of the walls in an adjoining drawing room. Cowhides for the armrests were tanned to order so that they match the orange upholstery of sofas in the library. Imprints of leaves from the garden decorate the restaurant's Wedgwood tableware.
Duchess Georgiana insisted that a fire be lit in the boathouse across the river for the pleasure of seeing the smoke rise between the trees. Olga and Alex Polizzi show the same acute sense of perfection. Whether it's the artworks on the walls, the vases on the mantelpieces and vitrines, or a life-sized dog carved in wood and sound asleep on an ottoman in front of a fireplace, every item has been selected with an accomplished eye for elegance and a compelling objective to turn Endsleigh not just into a hotel but into a welcoming residence.
No effort is spared to maintain this Grade I-listed property at its most authentic. The trompe l'oeil wall above the wainscot in the dining room has been restored perfectly. One of the suites has been painted in the original green color found on an interior door lock. You see four gardeners preparing for winter by removing the last autumn flowers from the parterre that faces the veranda with its rough tree trunk pillars and sheep knucklebone floor. A guest enjoys the afternoon sun in the loggia while her dog watches their every move.
Hotel Endsleigh is all about passion.
Running a hotel in a 200-year-old Grade I-listed property with more than 100 acres of fairy tale gardens and parklands demands relentless commitment. You need to be passionate about authenticity and tradition while providing unrivaled hospitality and service. You need to respect the building's history and simultaneously introduce modernity. You need to be able to convey your passion, ideals, and expectations to a large team of people and inspire your guests. It's not a job for the faint-hearted. But the Endsleigh team and management accomplish it with verve and integrity.
The sun sets behind the hill on the Cornwall side of the Tamar. A wet autumn chill hangs in the air as it gets dark. The shrubs along the path become black, shapeless masses. It's as if the river roils as night approaches. The gunnera along both banks of the cascade have been trimmed down; a slight whiff of decay carries the forecast of vigorous growth in spring. It's pitch black as you approach the house. Light floods from the windows onto the lawns. There's the promise of a gin and tonic in the library. A fire will be lit.
The Duchess would have approved.
https://www.aestheticnomads.com/
Contributors:
Hans Pauwels, words - Reinhilde Gielen, photographs
Locations:
Hotel Endsleigh, Dartmoor, Devon, UK