“Periton Mead,” Periton Road, Minehead, Somerset

A small country house built circa 1915-22, by Percy Morley Horder for C S Orwin; with courtyard walls, piers and cobbled surface, raised terrace and steps.

Mr C.S. Orwin (the well-known authority on agricultural economics) came into this little property just before the war. Feeling the need of a seaside home for his family from the rather relaxing air of Oxford, he decided to enlarge the very uncompromising little modern villa that occupied the site The wisdom of allowing so negligible a building to control the planning, and to some extent the design, of a new house has been questioned. At the outset it was not intended to so completely camouflage the existence of the smaller house, which only gradually got cased in to harmonise with the considerable additions. Yet, I think, any architect would agree that more individual results in planning are often obtained by some controlling influence of this kind, and it is possible that a more ordinary house might have been the result if the villa had been scrapped and a new site, and a less difficult one, chosen for a more compact and economical house. The owner would, I am sure, confess that it was not his original intention to be beguiled into so thorough an attempt to forget what existed. It all began with the question of materials. ‘The existing house was the usual jumble of red brick, with hot Minehead stone and white wood trimmings. The extensions, if economy was to be rigidly adhered to, had obviously to be in the local red stone. But, somehow, this only seemed possible to use in small quantities, for it is too much like the colour of the soil, although infinitely preferable to any kind of brick. This local stone is, by the way, very readily accessible and reasonable in price; and the general adoption of brick in place of it in this neighbourhood — whereby the natural beauty of the high ground around Minehead has been quite spoiled—is much to be deplored.

A visit to Cleeve Abbey, not many miles distant, led to enquiries as to the source of its beautiful clean grey stone. This was the beginning of developments which would have been fully justified but for the war and the cost of transit. Not far from Cleeve, at Treborough, a slate quarry was discovered, which yielded not only a beautifully varied grey covering for the roofs, but also any quantity of very thick slate for the terrace walls abd paved walks. Against this and other local material a prejudice exists, due probably to the efficiency of the builder’ merchant’s traveller: otherwise, why is any house in Minehead covered with any but these local slates?

Such beautiful stone as that from Cleeve, used in the walling, could hardly have anything but stone mullions and dressings to enrich it; so all the existing wooden windows had to go, and Doulting stone from Norton-sub-Hamdon was adopted in their place. The result is very satisfactory, and, incidentally, it possesses the merit of reducing the cost of upkeep to a minimum. Beyond an occasional coat of paint to the iron casements, there is nothing externally to renovate; even the underside of the eaves being formed with thick slates let into the walls. But if the exterior was costly, in point of material, the interior is simplicity itself. The only extravagance Was the use of oak for the doors, and, except in the little library, there is practically no paintwork anywhere. The hall floor is laid with big slabs of Treborough slates, and the sitting-room floors with English oak. All the timber was cut locally, owing to the difficulty of getting foreign wood. Even the war has not shaken the English builder's prejudice against any form of English timber, except oak: but the use of such timber here has not produced anything more than the usual slight evidence of shrinkage. A very complete plan for the gardens was prepared by the architect, but much of this awaits completion. The ground rises steeply to the west, and the series of terraced levels enclosing a water garden has still to be made, to give a proper meaning to the existing arched basin in the sunk garden below. But what has already been carried out is very pleasing, nowhere more, perhaps, than in the terrace walls and steps, which are quite delightful. When the yew, box and cypress hedges have grown into definite masses the garden plan will justify itself completely in its relation to the plan of the house. Some of us can remember Minehead before its hill was studded with houses of the prosperous, and regret the loss of its earlier character. Dunster and Porlock still keep their local charm, and the admiration they excite in the tourist might well be reflected in the future development of so popular a place as Minehead. Most of the houses there suffer from an excess of " features," and their simplification would probably meet the extra cost of employing the right local materials. No contractor could exhaust the supplies of Treborough slates and Cleeve stone: they await the enterprise of an enlightened community.

Reference    'The Lesser Country Houses of Today' Country Life, Vol 54  14 July 1923 page 67-68
Reference    Academy Architecture and Architects Review vol 50 1917-1918 page 37-38