An immaculately restored Grade II* Listed house of national historic importance.History:The Coleridge family, the previous owners of The Chanters House, had always lived in Devon but the family moved to Ottery St Mary in 1760 when John Coleridge became headmaster of The Kings School. He settled his ‘Tribe', as he called his four daughters and eight sons, and this was the first of five remarkable generations distinguished by intellectual energy, athletics and good looks. They took the Coleridges high in every profession from the Army to the Law as poets, artists, judges, bishops, and Naval, military and NATO commanders. All were outshone by John's youngest son, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, born in 1772, renowned for the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He never forgot the landscape of his childhood. The little town, clustering around the church overlooking the broad valley of the river Otter, was to be poignantly recalled most famously in Frost at Midnight.The entire west wing is taken up at ground floor level by a huge library, the largest west of Salisbury and designed for Lord Coleridge's 18,000 books.The current owner has carried out extensive restorations to the house with huge attention to detail. The property now offers all expected modern day facilities.The Chanters House:The Chanters House enjoys an enviable position on the edge of the village of Ottery St Mary adjacent to St Mary's church. There are wonderful views over the parkland to the deciduous woodland beyond. The house is approached by a sweeping drive which runs up through the parkland around the walled garden and rear of the house to the cobbled courtyard at the front.The house has been refurbished by the present owners including all the sash windows and roofs. The property has been re-wired and re-plumbed with the pipes going to external mains also having been replaced. The house is finished to a high standard and boasts exceptional character features including; decorative tiles, timber floors, wooden panelling, stone, wooden and marble fireplaces, along with ornate plaster work.Ground Floor:The principal reception rooms are of breath-taking proportions and comprise the outer hall, accessed from the main entrance to the house via the porch, with vaulted ceiling and hand painted flower motif together with exposed beams with painted inset panels, decorative tiled floor and a large oak mullion window.The inner hall is a double storey room with a full height stone mullion gothic window. There is oak panelling to half room height with red painted panels above. This room has a large family crest of the Coleridge family with an otter and lion either side of the coat of arms.The reception hall with its oak flooring and panelling has an impressive staircase with a large carved oak banister, believed to be imported from another house, with the initials BJFC and date 1907-1923 carved on the post, below a carved hunting otter.The principal reception rooms lead off this hall and include the Cromwell Fairfax room, which is the dining room. The ceiling is of painted carved wood in a hexagonal pattern. The elm panelling is believed to date from the 1930's and the stained fireplace at the end of the room commemorating the name of the room which reads as follows: ‘In this convention room Oliver Cromwell in the fall of the year 1645 convened the people of the town and neighbourhood and demanded of them men and money for the Civil War. Here also on October 29th Members of Parliament on behalf of both houses presented Sir Thomas Fairfax with a fair jewel and hung it about his neck in honour of his skill and valour at Naseby fight.'The sitting room or gun room has exposed elm panelling and enjoys views out to the gardens to the south.The drawing room is a twin aspect room enjoying views over the gardens to the south and west. This
