the restoration project

After the smoke had cleared and the gossip had died down, everyone wondered what would happen to 16th-century Parnham Park. A fire ripped through the house in 2017 and burned for five days, scorching the inside of the building to charcoal and dust and rubble. The roof completely caved in and the floors collapsed on themselves. Remarkably the original stone facade survived the intense heat, though it looked like the southern elevation was practically being held up by the ancient wisteria. It would take great guts, energy, vision and deep enough pockets to rescue such an architecturally important Grade-I listed manor.  

The west wing has already undergone a layered revival, with five bedrooms to take over with friends and family. An incorrigible collector, James started as a teenager going to the antiques markets at dawn when everyone else was rolling out of nightclubs. While Aynhoe was all about his curation of taxidermy and classical plasterwork, the focus here is more on the fossils and skeletons of the nearby Jurassic Coast. James calls the look “elegant decay”. There are damask swags and ostrich feathers, vintage flags and Bridgerton-style four posters. It was never going to be Farrow and Ball formulaic. “This isn’t the Cotswolds”, he smiles.  

He and Sophie are supremely generous hosts, arms open to all, going to bed only after the last guest has called it a night, getting up for morning drives to the sea or fitness sessions on the lawn to blast away the cobwebs. A stay here is not just about a bed to crash out in, it’s about sinking into the rhythm of the estate, roaming the landscaped gardens, wandering round the lake, spotting the herd of white deer, silent and still like sculpture.

Sophie’s sister Harriet runs the restaurant at the far end of the walled garden. Here the flowerbeds have been lovingly tended to produce a bounty of herbs and seasonal vegetables for the menu. At the pass, chef Robin Rea’s passion for pickling reveals itself in jars of preserved lemons, magnolia petals and kimchi, while sharing plates that feel curious and unexpected are served to a vibey soundtrack. You can visit without staying in the house, to sit in the elegantly renovated greenhouse, which feels like Petersham Nurseries has come to the West Country, and feast on Dorset crab toast, pink fir apple potatoes, dived scallop sashimi and, in spring, wild garlic with everything. Lunches occasionally go on long into the night.  

It is always intriguing to see how estates like this can not only survive but also thrive. There are plans for more rooms, a boat house, holiday lets and of course parties. Formal but utterly informal, grand, historic, but also future facing, Parnham is rising from the ashes.