Historic Vacation Home
Questionnaire
Year erected: 1700s
What is the history of the property?
Tudor cottage built in the 16th Century and split into two dwellings. The room we call 'Strawberry Sherbet' was the sweet shop/grocery store certainly by the 1900s, if not earlier. Part of the Luttrell's significant estate, in 1947 the family sold it to the then owners for the princely sum of £48.
What was the era and/or the architectural style in which the property was built?
It's a cob cottage, which is lime render over cobblestone, with a thatched roof. As with all the properties on this part of Vicarage Road, the chimneys are especially high to allow a fire to draw.
Is the property surrounded by other historic buildings?
Most of the houses in the conservation area are Grade II listed. Known as “Higher Town”, the cottages housed workers employed on the Dunster castle estate. This is the quietest, oldest and prettiest part of Minehead. The Old Sweet Shop was the centre of this tiny hamlet's daily life in the 1900s and on.
Has restoration work taken place?
Brought in January 2016, the cottage had been seriously neglected. A significant architect-led refurbishment took place, which included adding two en-suite bathrooms and major repairs throughout - all with the relevant permissions. The thatch was returned to the front door and the Victorian extension which had been tiled. The garden was seriously overgrown and many hours of hard physical work and careful replanting have brought it back to life once again.
Are there any elements of particular historical importance at the building?
Beautiful mullion windows in the front room with their original fixings and hardware. Stunning exposed beams in the front room and throughout. A large fireplace with aged scorch marks made by the tips of a hot poker on the large wooden mantelpiece. Large open spiral staircase. Tall chimneys typical of the area. A lovely thatched roof. Pretty bay shop window which is used for regularly changing window displays.
Has the property received any certifications for its historical status?
Grade II listed
Is there anything that you would like to highlight, add or clarify?
One of the original shop signs can be found in the entrance hall. Here’s what our neighbour Keith told us: “I used to pop in to the sweet shop every morning in 1959 before school for my bag of strawberry sherbet. Then I’d pop back up again after school and buy two strawberry gobstoppers. We had to go in and out quickly before Mr Arthur and Eric James, the two dairy farmers from Moor Farm. They used to bring their cows up past the shop for milking twice a day. If you were unlucky enough to bump into the cows, it could get very messy and I’d get sent home from school for being smelly!”
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