Killerton House

We had not been able to do any site-seeing for several weeks, but last Saturday Ron got home from work in time to go somewhere close.
Killerton is the former family home of the Acland family, a wealthy and prestigious family from Devon, England. The house was built in 1778-9. In 1944 Sir Richard Acland gave the house, garden, and 10-acre estate to the National Trust. (The National Trust owns many historical sites in England. Visitors can purchase a yearly membership that enables them to visit any National Trust site for free----it is really a good deal!) The house is furnished with antique furniture and family portraits. There are also displays of lots of period clothing in the upstairs rooms of the house.
As in all of the old houses, we could not take photos inside the house, but we could take photos in the laundry room (no priceless furniture or paintings there!).
The following is an innovative "clothes dryer". The clothes were hung on the racks, which were then pushed into the wall. Heat from an oven was forced into the wall, thus drying the clothes! Wish I had one of those in my apartment! (Yesterday the humidity was so high, that even though there was no rain, the clothes did not get dry all day!)

The following photos are of the grounds. The garden was designed in the 1700's. Plant hunters were sent around the world to bring back unusual and exotic trees (for that time period) to be planted here. In the 1800's even redwoods from California were planted.






This building on the grounds is known as the "Bear Hut".

The restrooms (which used to be used as a dairy storage room) have a thatched roof!