A la Ronde

A La Ronde is a sixteen-sided house built in 1796 near the village of Lympstone outside Exmouth, Devon, now in the care of the National Trust. It was commissioned by cousins Jane and Mary Parminter after an extended Grand Tour of Europe, with the octagonal early-Christian basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna widely cited as an architectural influence on its unusual polygonal plan. The interior is remarkable for an elaborate shell-encrusted gallery lining the central stairwell, assembled by the Parminter cousins themselves from shells, feathers, and minerals collected on their travels. Upper-floor windows offer views across the Exe estuary toward the coast. Grade I listed, the house is one of the most architecturally eccentric Georgian-era buildings in England and a rare example of a significant property designed around its female patrons' own vision.