The Octagon

The Octagon was the heart of Jane and Mary’s home, from which the other ground floor rooms radiate. It was a circulating or meeting area between rooms and, with its fine acoustics, was an ideal location for the musical performances that were so important in family entertainment of the time.

There are eight doors around the Octagon, of which seven open into the principal rooms of the house, each with a fanlight and surrounded by painted marbling in yellow and green. The hinged panels sunk into the jambs convert into shelves or seats and tuck away neatly into the door surrounds. One door is false and doesn’t open.

The Shell Gallery can be viewed from the Octagon. Because of its extreme fragility, close viewing is solely available by a 360-degree online tour. The Octagon's height is 10.7 metres from floor to ceiling and is a unique space in the centre of the house topped by the Shell Gallery.

When Ursula Tudor-Perkins arrived in 1974 the walls were, in her words, “a dull Victorian green”. She redecorated it yellow, but this didn’t suit, so during a university vacation one of her sons, painted it pink. These colour layers have been rediscovered with paint analysis and the original design and colours as seen by the Parminters found and re-created.

The rustic chevron-painted decoration, a scheme probably dating from the Parminters' time, is thought to represent either a seaweed-covered undersea cave lit by the shell grotto above, or perhaps a flame-stitched textile.

There is an original patch above the door to the Entrance Hall (high up) which is the earliest known paint scheme in the room.