Status Symbol

Four miles west of Yeovil in Somerset lies the village of Montacute. It is quaint and pretty, largely built from caramel-coloured stone, with a population of fewer than 1,000 people. It’s hard to believe that this was once a bustling thoroughfare – and, as such the perfect choice for a wealthy, self-made man to build his dream home.

Sir Edward Phelips employed local architect William Arnold to build Montacute House. It was completed in 1601, right on the main road so that as many people as possible would be able to catch a glimpse of this feat of Elizabethan Renaissance architecture with its Gothic influences. The scale of the E-shaped building, as well as its walls of glass, turrets, obelisks and statues of influential figures including King Arthur, remains impressive today, so one can only imagine how the minds of ordinary