WRITING in COUNTRY LIFE of The Manor House, Sandford Orcas, near Sherborne, Dorset (March 3 and 10, 1966), a house he describes as ‘one of the most charming manor houses in the West of England’, the magazine’s then Architectural Editor, Arthur Oswald, maintains that ‘often the most enchanting of Tudor houses prove to have been those that were deserted by their owners in the 18th century and turned into farmhouses’. He explains that ‘although farmers might not be the best of custodians, they were unlikely to make more than minor alterations themselves, and most landlords would have been content with the minimum of maintenance. So the house would remain unchanged’.
The manor house “stands by the church, a friendly neighbour of the House of God”