| Hestercombe House | |
|---|---|
 Hestercombe House | |
| Location | West Monkton, Somerset, England |
| Coordinates | 51°03′11″N 3°05′03″W / 51.05306°N 3.08417°W |
| Official name | Hestercombe |
| Designated | 1 June 1984[1] |
| Reference no. | 1000437 |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Hestercombe House |
| Designated | 17 May 1985[2] |
| Reference no. | 1060513 |
  Location of Hestercombe House in Somerset | |
Hestercombe House is a historic country house in the parish of West Monkton in the Quantock Hills, near Taunton in Somerset, England. The house is a Grade II* listed building and the estate is Grade I listed on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.[3]
Originally built in the 16th century, the house was used as the headquarters of the British 8th Corps in the Second World War. Somerset County Council assumed ownership in 1951 and use the property as an administrative centre. Hestercombe House served as the Emergency Call Centre for the Somerset Area of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service until March 2012.[2]
Hestercombe House is surrounded by gardens which have been restored to Gertrude Jekyll's original plans (1904–07) and have made it "one of the best Jekyll-Lutyens gardens open to the public on a regular basis",[4] visited by approximately 70,000 people per year. The site also includes a 0.08 hectare (8,600 sq ft) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 2000. The site is used as a roost site by lesser horseshoe bats.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
nhlegardenwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Historic England. "Hestercombe House (1060513)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- ^ "Hestercombe Gardens" (PDF). European Garden Heritage network. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ^ "Somerset". GardenVist.com. Retrieved 25 April 2011.