Following the setting sun

They say the West Country is the best country and, looking at these homes, it’s hard to argue

- Penny Churchill

FOR centuries, British diplomats, entre- preneurs and high-flying executives who ply their trades in the Middle East, Asia and beyond have dreamed of spending their golden years in a quiet unspoilt corner of the West Country. Corners don’t come much quieter or more unspoilt than the east Devon hamlet of Upexe, which sits between the villages of Thorverton and Silverton in the lovely Exe Valley, eight miles north of Devon’s county town, Exeter.

International banker Andrew Dixon and his wife, Wendy, had returned from Hong Kong via the Middle East, when, in 1997, they seized the chance to buy the enchanting, Georgian Upexe House, set in 3¼ acres of well-tended grounds overlooking the Exe, from another globe-trotting businessman who was leaving the UK. The house, listed Grade II, had been beautifully renovated and was ‘in first-class condition’, to the extent that, during their 24-year tenure, all they needed to do was add the orangery and do ‘the odd bit of painting here and there’.

Although, according to its listing, Upexe dates from the 18th century and boasts ‘a good 18th-century interior with an early18th-century dog-leg staircase’, the presence of much earlier windows and stonework suggest that its origins may be medieval or even Saxon, given that Upexe was a trading outpost on an important river-crossing in ancient times. The owner’s records reveal that the present house was built in 1800 by J. A. Gardner Esq, a barrister, who incorporated these rare medieval elements into the building’s classic Georgian design.