After breakfast we travel by coach to Forde Abbey. Founded by the Cistercians in 1141, the buildings were sumptuously embellished by Abbot Chard in the early Tudor period as a residence for himself. After the Abbey was dissolved in 1539, it became the residence of Cromwell’s attorney-general, Edward Prideaux, who transformed the monastic buildings into one of the most impressive houses of the Commonwealth period. The interior has outstanding woodwork and plasterwork of the period, whilst the beautiful gardens are a special feature of the estate. We enjoy lunch and a private visit to Came House (1754), a Georgian Palladian house with magnificent Rococo plasterwork, and important furniture supplied by the great Georgian cabinet-maker William Vile.
Our final visit of the day will be to Kingston Maurward, an estate much loved by Thomas Hardy; there the Old Manor House is the perfect Elizabethan house. In 1717-20 George Pitt, (cousin of William Pitt the Elder), wanting a grander house, built the present impressive Baroque mansion, possibly designed by Thomas Archer. Return to Evershot.