Deep in the West Country, two cousins built a cottage based on the Byzantine Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna
A la Ronde in Devon has a kind of magical strangeness that as a child one could only dream of coming upon. Tiny, shoulder-width staircases are encrusted with shells and fossils – no common sight. There are diamond- shaped windows galore, as well as painted birds with real feathers, flying on the walls. Some strangely special rooms are minute, triangular and always jam-packed with curiosities. It is no common sight from start to finish. Built in 1795 by two cultivated cousins, the Misses Jane and Mary Parminter, it was the culmination of a ten-year-long grand tour of Europe, as well as marking their return to England. What a house and a half! It is a cosmopolitan cottage orné, modelled on the 16th-century Byzantine Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna and riddled through with domestic gaiety. Surprises and delights are to be found round every corner. The hexagonal, shell-covered central hall...
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