A La Ronde — Attraction in East Devon

I've been a National Trust member for over 14 years and have visited A La Ronde (as one of my local NT sites) countless times. Last weekend, I had my most recent visit, and it was probably my best visit yet.

The scaffolding is down meaning you can see the exterior in all its glory, a couple more rooms have been opened up to give you a better idea of how big the interior is, the shell gallery has been cleaned and restored and is no longer boarded up meaning you can see the real beauty of this place, the interior paint work has been restored using original methods.

I love this 16-sided house, with all of its angled quirks, feathered features, shell artwork, natural world collections from around the globe, and its story of 2 female cousins who scream 'girl power' and independence from a male-led world. And now that you can see it in all its glory, I love it even more.

If you're ever in South Devon, I'd highly recommend you take a couple of hours out of your day to visit this unique place.

Parking onsite is easy.

It's an easy place to get to.

As well as it being a lovely house to visit, the grounds are nice to walk around too. I love their bee-friendly secret garden.

If you want a drink or something to eat, there is an outdoor van and outdoor seating. The toasted...

We visited this lovely place it’s an amazing sixteen sided house dating back to 1796 and built for Jane and Mary Parminter her we’re cousins.They certainly had it built in a lovely place with panoramic views across the River Exe,on a clear day you can see for miles.This unique building was set in 20 acres but parts of the land were sold to keep hold of the ownership.......This couple certainly love collecting their seashells from every part of the world and as you will see there are displays of them in almost every room,some have been made into lovely works of art as you will see in my photographs.With lots of other interesting artefacts this place is well worth a look around.......With a lovely on site cafe with plenty on the menu indoor and outdoor seating plus a gift shop and second hand book shop it makes a great few hours in a beautiful part of Devon a...

A La Ronde was built by a couple of female cousins in the 1790's, they had the idea of making full use of the sun by building a round structure so they could move from room to room as the day progressed. There is a good NT cafe in the lower part of the house formerly occupied by the servants. The upper stories are built around a central atrium and the rooms can be reached from the atrium or from the adjacent room. The cousins had a fascination for sea shells and there are many fine examples as you look around. On the uppermost level there is a gallery decorated entirely in shells and, although this was being conserved at the time of my visit, you can view it using remote cameras. There are some fine views over the Exe estuary. I thoroughly...