Tapeley Park

Tapeley is a historic estate in the parish of Westleigh in North Devon, England. The present mansion house known as Tapeley Park is a grade II* listed country house, built or enlarged from an existing structure in about 1704, remodeled in the 19th century and again in the early 20th century when pilasters, portico, pediment and parapet were added to create a Queen Anne style building. In the mid 19th century the estate was inherited from the Clevland family by William Langham Christie of Glyndebourne in Sussex. His grandson was John Christie (born 1882), the founder of Glyndebourne Opera Festival, who bequeathed Tapeley to his daughter Rosamund Christie (1933–1988), who passed it onto her nephew Hector Christie (born 1963), who briefly turned it into a hippie commune. In 2011, Tapeley Park was the subject of an episode of the Channel 4 television programme Country House Rescue, presented by the hotelier Ruth Watson, who advised on restoring the estate to a sound financial position. The gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. They are open to the public on a regular basis and feature Italianate terraces, a working kitchen garden and a permaculture garden. The estate, now mainly owned by the Christie Devon Estates Trust (trustees of the Christie family), comprises about 6,000 acres, and covers Saunton (including foreshore and beach), Braunton Burrows (sand dunes, partly a nature reserve and leased to the Ministry of Defence), Instow (including the foreshore purchased from the crown estate) and the village of Westleigh.