A trip back in time

The manor, Ashcombe Park House, stands on the site of an Elizabethan mansion known as Botham Hall, a 16th-century manor house. By 1811, the new owners — William and Jane Sneyd — had built the present house and redesigned the gardens and parkland. The original estate once incorporated a deer park, although there have been no deer at the park since 1945.

In 1807-1811 the architect and builder James Trubshaw was commissioned to create the beautiful building you see today. Faced with sandstone ashlar the house features a Tuscan porte-cochère (a covered courtyard entrance), which is believed to have come from another Sneyd property, Belmont Hall.

Ashcombe Park was conceived as the centrepiece of a self-sufficient estate with stables, a coach house, a farmhouse, a dairy, cheese rooms, pigsties, barns, an extensive walled garden and an icehouse surrounded by a deer park. The property was sold by the Sneyd Family in 1936 having only changed hands once before the Pointon family purchased it in 2014.

The restoration

Carl and Adele Pointon had fallen in love with the property some years before, but it was not for sale at the time. Unable to bear the thought of a developer turning it into offices or flats, they made their purchase as soon as the property became available.

Their plans were for sympathetic restoration right from the outset, and they worked very closely with the local authority to make sure they achieved this. The restoration process started in 2021, although progress was slowed by Covid restrictions.

Working with local contractors, the couple kept and restored many of the beautiful original features, including doors and handles, windows, floors, cornices, shutters, fireplaces, wall lights, staircases, as well as the cupola.

Adele project-managed all of the interior design, sourcing the appropriate antiques to be in keeping with the period property.

The result of their careful restoration and attention to authenticity is the property you see today. A visually striking house as you approach, with stunningly ornate, perfectly detailed interiors.