She Said:
Excellent drive from Wells to Dunster by Ian, husband of our tour organizer, Suzanne.
Arrived at our accommodation for the next week, The Luttrell Arms. Wifi was a bit wonky in our fab first room, so I called down to reception and asked if there was a comparable room, with good wifi connection, available.
We are now ensconced in what is surely the largest, most comfortable, most historic, and most delightful room in the entire hotel. Oh, and the wifi is lightening fast.
Our view is of the High Street and the 1609 Dunster Yarn Market, built by George Luttrell. "Luttrell" is THE name in Dunster. (There is a cannonball hole in the market roof beams, sent by the warring Parliamentarians, from the Dunster Castle up on the hill.)
This hotel was recently (2014) acquired by the Way family (who also bought The Royal Castle Hotel in Dartmouth, where we should have stayed instead of the Claddagh House, though the CH grew on me, and the Royal Seven Stars Hotel in Totnes, where we will certainly stay if we ever get back that way). They have worked wonders and are still improving the premises. Very well done.
We had a soup and roll lunch down the street at a local, small tea room, then off to the Dunster Castle on the hill.
The Luttrell's owned everything in the area (8000+ acres) from way back when (1540).
Including the Dunster Castle.
Brief Dunster Castle Luttrell history:
1642 - the Luttrell's were actually Parliamentarians during the beginnings of the Civil War.
But...
They surrendered Dunster Castle to the King in 1643, since it looked obvious that the Royalists would win the Civil War.
1644 - the King pardoned the Luttrell's for siding with the Parliamentarians.
1645- Ha! The King's army started losing! The Parliamentarians attacked Dunster Castle and won!
1645-51 - The Parliamentarians garrisoned at Dunster Castle and stayed 5 years, but when Luttrell guaranteed not to take up arms against the Parliamentarians and paid them £6000., they left him alone and didn't destroy the castle.
One enters the Castle through the "Oubliette", or dungeon. Extremely dungeon-ness. Prisoners were lowered into the dungeon through a small opening and, in effect, forgotten (except for the odd morsel/water thrown down to them.) Yikes. The medieval times sucked for everyone except the ruling classes.
Later Luttrell's renovated/remodeled the Castle (1868), and more on that to come.
The first, great, old painting that is on view is of Sir John Luttrell, 1540. He is painted, bare-chested, emerging from a stormy sea. (Perhaps Jane Austin saw this painting and forever imagined her heroes emerging, bare-chested, from water.). In any case, Sir John is depicted quite virile and handsome. He loved adventure and went everywhere where there was a war (mostly Scotland) - leaving his wife and kids behind in the pursuit of adrenalin rushes.
The remodel/renovations:
Geoffrey Luttrell, in the colonial British times, often hosted the Indian Polo Team at Dunster Castle. Practical Joker that he was, one dinner, he and the Maharajah planned a trick on the dinner guests. Geoffrey would serve a curry, as hot as it could be, except for his own meal. He got a good laugh out of all his guests drinking loads of wine to cool their mouths. What a guy.
(An aside - our hostess at Stoberry House was from Swaziland, in South Africa, and had a decidedly British colonial bent to her home, actions, and attitude. Everything was either inherited or acquired through who knows what means. Although all was luxurious, there was a weird hint of "yeah, I got this all because I was white and I suppressed the blacks" - at least that's what I think.)
In the 1950s, the Luttrell's of that time redid the Dunster Castle kitchens in the updates of the day, and they look so much like mid-century modern in CA.
A little later back, there was a listening/speaking tube in the kitchen area so that the butler could talk to the kitchen downstairs without having to run up and down (think Downton Abbey).
Back to the 1680s, the grand staircase was absolutely grand. Each individual panel was carved from 23c thick elm tree slabs. When it was first encountered by the renovators, it was painted/washed white! The restored, oiled wood looks so sumptuous.
Hanging on the wall of the staircase is a Cavelier portrait, painted in 1683. Handsome and amazing.
The Wisteria Room, as remodeled in 1920, was used as a guest room. The Luttrell's, at that time, hosted many hunting and shooting parties, so needed many guest rooms. The Wisteria Room, as displayed now, shows the accoutrements of a gentleman visiting for a hunting weekend in the country. Not just tweeds, but a tuxedo also laid out for dinner by the valet.
The Dunster Castle installed the first indoor bathroom in all of Somerset.
Alys Luttrell, the lady of the house, had a spectacular bedroom, with a blue sink!
(Really, though, to me the best thing about most of the rooms in the castle is the view - out across the green, green fields to the Bristol Channel. So peaceful and beautiful.)
We stumbled into the Leather Gallery, and not knowing what is was, R said, wow, looks at those tapestries.
But, they weren't tapestries.
The room was lined with full wall panels of LEATHER paintings! Calf skins. Specially cured and prepared. Late 17thc.
The panels depicted the love affair between Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
Oddly, though, since the artists really didn't know what Romans looked like, the men all had hair and mustaches like late 17thc guys (Roman guys would have been clean-shaven) and the women were all dressed in Flemish late 17thc clothes (since that was the style of dress for women at that time).
A and C met, they fell in love, they forged a relationship, they said forget Rome we can rule the world, A thought C killed herself to avoid Roman murder, A tried to fall on his sword, A heard C was still alive and was transported to C where he died in her arms, C got an asp and had it bite her, they both ended up dead.
Very pre-Romeo and Juliet.
Anyway, the painted leathers are spectacular and so rare - only one or two other large-scale painted leathers exist in the world.
The billiards room was another revelation.
A full sized billiards table is huge! And, originally, the game was played as a table-top croquet game, with hoops and wickets. Which is why the felt cover of a billiards table is still slate covered in green felt. The green mimics a lawn!
The Muniment Room held the legal papers and documents for the Castle.
The Gun Room was exactly that - a room where the guns were kept. When guests arrived for hunting or shooting parties, they were met at the Castle entrance and the servants would take their guns and store them in the racks in the Gun Room.
The Library was equally amazing, but it was getting towards closing, so we had to leave.
I checked out the Crypt, where I could push a button and hear stories from Castle employees about ghost encounters they had had in the Castle. Wonderfully creepy.
Bats also live in the Castle.
The Stables are housed in a quite beautiful building below the Castle. Most of the horses were used for Polo.
Part of the Stables is now cleverly used for the Gift Shop, with each stall holding a special gift section - gardening, kitchen, tea/jams, kid stuff, etc.
Dunster Castle was a really great experience.
The Luttrell's were forced to sell Dunster Castle in 1949 (taxes) but bought it back in 1954 and when Alys Luttrell died, it was willed to the National Trust.
Thank you, Luttrell's.
We ordered excellent room service to our excellent room and are now happily digesting and looking forward to our Exmoor walk tomorrow.
Total miles:
1.58 miles - Ha! (in and around Dunster)
He said:
A day of travel from Wells to Dunster on a gray but light gray day. We arrived midday to check in. Once settled, we went out to explore and find a quick lunch. Then it was on to explore Dunster Castle. E has written a much more complete description of this historic castle than I could or would. The castle was quite dark especially on a gray, slightly damp day, so some photos were hard to get.
A sunny morning in Wells
In Dunster
Dunster Castle
The first ever bathroom in Somerset
To see more photos from May 19, click here
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