Overbeck's Museum and Garden is an

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

house and 2.75 hectare (7 acre)

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

at Sharpitor,

Salcombe Salcombe is a popular resort town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, mostly built on the steep west side of the estuary. It lies within the South Devon Area of ...

, Devon, England. It is named after its last private owner Otto Christop Joseph Gerhardt Ludwig Overbeck (1860–1937). Until 2014 the house was divided between a museum and a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

. YHA Salcombe closed in 2014 when the agreement between the National Trust and The Youth Hostel Association broke down. The part of the house formerly used as the hostel is currently (2017) unused, and closed to the public. The museum houses displays of some of Overbeck's inventions and collections of stuffed animals, and exhibitions of model sailing ships and various nautical and shipbuilding tools and effects. There are display photographs of boats and shipwrecks (such as the

Herzogin Cecilie ''Herzogin Cecilie'' was a German-built four-mast barque (windjammer), named after German Crown Princess Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886–1954), spouse of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1882–1951) (''Herzogin'' being German fo ...

). A room in the middle of the house, one of whose entrances is a secret door concealed in the wooden panelling of the room outside, contains a display of dolls' houses, amongst which is placed by staff "Fred the friendly ghost" for child visitors to discover. The museum contains a

Polyphon Polyphon is a disc-playing music box, a mechanical device first manufactured by the Polyphon Musikwerke, located in Leipzig, Germany. Invented in 1870, full-scale production started around 1897 and continued into the early 1900s. Polyphons were ...

— a large

musical box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...

which plays music encoded as holes punched in large sheet-metal discs. There is a collection of discs of popular melodies of the day which are played from time to time during the day when the museum is open. There is also a collection of photographs by Edward Chapman who worked in and photographed Salcombe – including the building of the first house on the site – during the early 20th century. The photographs have been reprinted from the original plates by Chapman's son and his grandson, Chris Chapman, who continues the family photography business in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. A tea room offers a variety of snacks and delectables, including Devonshire cream teas.

History

The original building on the site was a small villa "Sharpitor" erected by Salcombe builder Albert Stumbles. This was bought in 1901 by Edric Hopkins, who also bought more of land, creating terraces and planting exotic specimens on the sheltered site. In 1913 the property was bought by Mr and Mrs Vereker who demolished the original house and had the present one built. Otto Overbeck acquired the house in 1928 and lived there until his death in 1937. Wishing the house to be used after his death as "a public park and museum and a Hostel for Youth" Overbeck bequeathed it to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

on condition it be used as such and not as a brothel as so many in the surrounding area became."The History of Kingsbridge And Salcombe", Anne Born, (p162)

References

External links

Overbeck's information
at the

Youth Hostel at Overbeck's
{{Coord, 50.2227, -3.7831, type:landmark, display=title Biographical museums in Devon Gardens in Devon Historic house museums in Devon Houses in Devon Museums in Devon National Trust properties in Devon Salcombe