Inspiration of the Week: right royal resplendence on the edge of the Somerset Levels

Somerset has many jewels in its crown: Wells Cathedral, the Roman baths, Glastonbury Tor… We could go on. Our favourite has always been hard to choose but now, with the arrival of Manor Court in Inigo’s proverbial in-tray, the league table becomes all the more competitive. As it comes on the market, we explore the 15^th-century house and declare it fit for a king – almost literally.

The venerable history of Manor Court and the village in which it’s found are intrinsic to one another. Martock has ancient regal roots (in the 11^th century it was the property of Githa of Wessex, mother of Harold Godwinson, and later her daughter Queen Edith, who became the wife of Edward the Confessor). In the late 15^th, King Henry VII gave the village to his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, having just won the Wars of the Roses – and it was Margaret that built this noble building.

Lady Beaufort didn’t design it as a house, however, but as the village court, with the long central hall-like room on the first floor, fitted with stained-glass mullion windows, acting as the court room. (In later years, this would become a schoolroom and it still bears the scars, in the form of the scrawled graffiti of rascally 17^th-century pupils.) Now used as a magnificently comfortable living room and library, the medieval room is adjoined by a bedroom that is, simply put, spectacular, decorated with a star-studded indigo ceiling ande enormous tester bed. Heavy may lie the head that wears the crown, but 40 winks in here would surely lighten the load.

The other rooms in this house are equally impressive. In more recent history, Manor Court’s fireplaces have been reopened, its windows have been releaded and its original panelling, shutters and doors have been lovingly looked after. The current owners, mindful of their duties as custodians, have continued this tradition of care. The timber-framed spaces, painted in an array of radiant colours, are simply but stylishly appointed: think modest wooden furniture, largely unpatterned textiles and a few well-chosen antiques. Such restraint allows the exquisite architectural details to take the limelight.

Here, age, elegance and princely provenance commingle to present a golden opportunity of rare occurrence. Seize it.