A La Ronde is an unusual 16 sided cottage built in the 18th Century for two women, Mary & Jane Parminter, who were cousins.

I had a stroll around to have a look at the outside. The very top of A La Ronde houses the shell gallery. There were originally 20 rooms inside, but throughout history changes have been made.

The interesting cone on the monkey puzzle caught my eye.

There was a sign underneath it suggesting a rolypoly down the little hill.

I am fond of rolling down hills so I had a go…

It was though as the sign said, a small hill, so I didn’t roll very far!

In the centre of the house there is a room with lots of doors leading to the other rooms.

The cousins went on a ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe prior to having A La Ronde built, collecting various items as souveniers. the house is thought to be inspired by some of the buildings they saw during their travels. They were from a wealthy family but it was unusual at that time for women to go travelling alone. Here I am in one of the rooms.

The Parminter cousins like to collect shells, though these particular shells were donated to the National Trust.

A very small library in a cupboard between the rooms!

I headed upstairs towards the shell gallery at the top.

This is a ‘dumb waiter’ which was used to transport items up and down without having to carry them up the stairs.

Unfortunately visitors are not allowed to visit the shell gallery as it is very fragile, which was a tad disappointing but understandable.

I managed to peer up the narrow stairway to see some of it.

There is also a miror that some of the shells can be seen.

I continued having a look at some of the rooms. This is a gas light which was used before electic lighting became available.

The bathroom was interesting as the sink didn’t have any taps; it would have been filled from one of the jugs. The bath was installed later and has some taps.

A closer look at the sink…

In the toilet there were some very old ceramic bed pans.

The view from the window at A La Ronder is beautiful with the Exe estuary in the distance.

The Parminter cousins created the freize on the walls in this room using feathers.

Feathers and shells surround the fireplace. The big shells in the fireplace have been added recently.

In the dining room I found some very interesting urns on top of a special drinks cabinet.

Each urn has two taps, one for tea, and one for hot water. I would have loved to take the lid off and look inside, but the guide said even she wasn’t allowed to do that! Apparently there are two chambers inside and some iron bars that would have been heated up to help keep the tea and hot water warm.

Back in the middle room I had a good peer up at the shell gallery, which was created from shells collected by the Parminter cousins.

The National Trust have created a replica of the shell gallery in the basement which can be viewed. It is also possible to put on a headset and have a virtual tour but I decided against that as I wanted to get out in the sunshine!

The Parminter cousins stipulated in their will that only single females relations could inherit the property from them when they died. The National Trust bought the property in 1991

There is lots more history about the house but too much for a small bear to explain here. It is a fascinating place and worth a visit if you are in the Exmouth area of the UK.

The cafe wagon next to A La Ronde that isn’t run by the National Trust does a jolly good cream tea!

For more information see: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/a-la-ronde

Horace the Alresford Bear 2/10/2025