:''not to be confused with the 17th century

Ashwick Court Ashwick Court is Grade II* listed house on Heckley Lane northwest of Ashwick, in Mendip District, Mendip district, eastern Somerset, England, adjacent to the Church of St James, Ashwick, Church of St James. It is a country house, dating from the ...

in eastern Somerset''. Ashwick House is an Edwardian mansion in

Ashwick Ashwick is a village in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, about three miles north of Shepton Mallet and seven miles east from Wells. It has also been a civil parish since 1826. The parish had a population of 1,352 according to the 2011 ...

, four miles northwest of

Dulverton Dulverton is a small town and civil parish in west Somerset, England, near the border with Devon. The town had a population of 1,408 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census. The parish includes the hamlets of Battleton and Ashwick which ...

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. The house is located on a hillside overlooking the

Barle Valley Barle Valley is a Site of Special Scientific Interest within Exmoor National Park, situated in the counties of Devon and Somerset through which the River Barle flows. It was notified in its current form under the Wildlife and Countryside Act in ...

. It was built in 1901 by a Bristolian businessman as a hunting retreat. It sits in six acres of sprawling gardens and looks across the hills to the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...

. The house has six bedrooms, each named after trees and individually decorated. The "Ash Room" is decorated in shades of pink and green, matching the stained-glass window. In 1928 Frank Green purchased Ashwick House. He moved to

in 1930 and took as active interest in running the Ashwick Estate, which extended to several hundred acres of farmland. In those days 20 resident staff ran the house and it was regularly used for lavish entertaining. To provide for entertainment of the staff, a miniature theatre (sometimes known as the music room) was constructed in the grounds. Standing on stone pillars. The auditorium is long and wide with a wooden dance floor. The stage is deep with a

proscenium arch A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

wide. The wings have ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' paintings on canvas of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

and

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King ...

on one side and politicians including

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...

and

Austen Chamberlain Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly ...

on the other. The building has been taken over by the Moorland Mousie Trust and is being restored to serve as a heritage information centre. From 1980 the house was run as a hotel but according to its official site it is now closed to the public.www.ashwickhouse.com

References

{{reflist Hotels in Somerset Hotels established in 1980 Edwardian architecture Houses completed in 1901 Country houses in Somerset Dulverton