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The Hardy Dining Room
Welcome to the Hardy Dining Room or Green Parlour. On first inspection it isn't obvious that you are standing in one of the oldest parts of the house. Athelhampton is a "Hall" house, a style of architecture that was used by a land-owning noble family for their manor and would consist of three clearly defined spaces, the Great Hall, the Solar and the Service Range.
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In Tudor times this room and a small part of the Oak Room next-door would have been the Service Range. We know from the archeology of the room there there are multiple concealed doors and fireplaces, indicating that at one time the room was probably divided into smaller spaces, a scullery, a larder, a buttery with the Tudor kitchen next door in the Oak Room.
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The Kitchen was moved to its current location, the Elizabethan Kitchen sometime around 1535, and after 1606, the house was divided into quarters and the use of this room changed into a parlour, the two beams that cross the ceiling were probably carved around this time.
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In 1891 the young Victorian Gentleman, Mr Alfred Cart de Lafontaine purchased Athelhampton, and refurbished this room to his own personal taste. The finest Florentine silk stretched between oak pilasters, and fine linenfold panelling carved by the local craftsmen.
As you look around the room, there are many features and items to note. In the centre of the room a regency dining suite brough to the house by the current owner Giles Keating, the seats were re-upholstered using a silk and horsehair fabric by John Boyd textiles in Somerset. The dinner service is one similar to one that Alfred Cart de Lafontaine used, and was manufactured by Royal Doulton in the Old Colony pattern.
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The Hardy Dining Room
Welcome to the Hardy Dining Room or Green Parlour. On first inspection it isn't obvious but you are standing in one of the oldest parts of the house. Athelhampton is a "Hall" house, a style of architecture that was used by a land-owning noble family for their home. Such a home would consist of three clearly defined spaces, the Great Hall, the Solar and the Service Range.
​
In Tudor times this room and a small part of the Oak Room next-door would have been the Service Range. We know from the archeology of the room there there are multiple concealed doors and fireplaces indication that at one time the room was probably divided into smaller spaces, a scullery, a larder, a buttery with the Tudor kitchen next door in the Oak Room.
​
The Kitchen was moved to its current location, the Elizabethan Kitchen sometime around 1535, and after 1606, the house was divided into quarters and the use of this room changed into a parlour, the two beams that cross the ceiling were probably carved around this time.
​
In 1891 the young Victorian Gentleman, Mr Alfred Cart de Lafontaine purchased Athelhampton, and refurbished this room to his own personal taste. The finest Florentine silk stretched between carved oak pilasters, and fine oak linenfold panelling carved by the Parsons brothers local cratfsmen from a village just a few miles away.
