... Wootton House is a fine country house with a Queen Anne facade on the edge of Butleigh Wootton, overlooked by the monument of Admiral Sir Samuel Hood high on Polden Ridge. The house has evolved since its original construction in the 18th cent. for the Hood family. It sits on a 1,000 acre estate comprising gardens, woods, lake, parkland and working farms. It has a large mature garden (all yours) with croquet lawn and hard tennis court; across the fields are fishponds, and there’s a small lake in the woods. At the end of the drive is the Home Farm, where riding can be arranged with the tenant farmer.

The house is comfortable, elegant, delightful - if a little frayed around the edges - and has recently been renovated and modern facilities introduced.

Downstairs: a large front hall (wood floors, oak panelling, ornamental fireplace) and equally large back hall (Steinway grand piano and upright piano – both tuned) with French windows to paved terrace and the garden (table/chairs, gas barbecue). Off the front hall, with views across the parkland to the Hood monument, one step down to the drawing room (open fire) with its original silk wallpaper and French windows to garden, and the sitting room (marble open fireplace, fine paintings, TV/DVD/video). At the back, overlooking the garden, a large formal dining room (beautiful oak dining table, enormous carved wood and stone Jacobean-style ornamental fireplace); large kitchen/diner (dishwasher, microwave, fridge-freezer, original Edwardian butler sink and terrazzo flooring, Sheila maid, 4-door Aga plus electric cooker, farmhouse kitchen table, TV/DVD, door to garden) and pantry (washing machine, tumble drier, Sheila maid, Edwardian butler sink). (Partially adjoining the kitchen, but completely private from the house, is a tenant-occupied cottage.) From the back hall, a passage leads to a downstairs bathroom and the Abbot’s Room (an enormous games room with table tennis, small pool table, darts, TV, PlayStation, Hammond organ).

Upstairs: oak stairs from the front hall lead up to the landing (original William Morris wallpaper, library area with window seats) off which are eight bedrooms – four double, one with en suite bathroom (suite), two with four-poster beds (one a 5’ wide bespoke hand-carved mahogany bed with beautiful drapes, the other 6’ wide); and four twin, two with zip-linked beds, one with en suite shower-room (suite), and two with washbasins; two bathrooms (suites, one with roll-topped bath) and one shower-room (shower, washbasin).

Professional catering available. Cautionary Deposit £250. Arrival after 4pm. A magical place that has been in the same family for generations, with extensive grounds that children, and adults, will enjoy exploring.