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Coleton Fishacre - Inside the House

Coleton Fishacre has been described as "the perfect combination of the simple architecture and high standards of craftmanship of the nineteenth century Arts and Crafts movement with the modernity of the Jazz Age." I was told that there are not that many Art Deco style houses in the UK and this is one of the few private residences that are open to the public. Among the furnishings are Lalique wall lights, an eighteenth century Venetian chandelier and a carpet designed by Marion Dorn. Most of the furniture was designed by the architect of the house, Oswald Milne.   After Rowland and Freda Smith bought the house in 1949, they did not make many changes and the furnishings that they didn't use were stored. After the National Trust took over the property, they meticulously recreated the furnishings based on photographs that had appeared in Country Life magazine.   The library, pictured above and below, features a celebrated wind-dial map that was created by noted mapmaker Georg...
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Strawberry Tree


Since moving to Washington, I have discovered a great number of new trees. One of my favorites is the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo). It is a four-season tree with semi-glossy evergreen leaves and lovely mahogany bark. In autumn, clusters of white flowers appear, bearing a resemblance to Lily-of-the-Valley flowers. And then there are the little fruits, which resemble strawberries that appear at the same time as the flowers. I am not sure why, but I have only seen a few fruits on ours. I don't know if birds are getting them before I see them or what happens. The fruits are said to be edible but not very tasty (to humans).

This year, our tree is loaded with flowers, the most I've ever seen. Bees absolutely love it and so do the hummingbirds. The flowers usually continue to appear straight through winter, and it can be blooming even during the coldest periods of winter.

Aside from the fact that I have not seen much of the colorful fruits, the major negative note is the fact that the limbs seem to break easily. We have had breakage during two big snowfalls, the worst happening last winter and resulting in a big chunk of the middle of the tree leaving an ugly hole. I pruned the damaged branches back and it is slowly filling back in.

This is a Mediterranean-climate loving tree and it does well in dry summers. It doesn't mind water either and ours get regular watering. 



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Kris PetersonOctober 30, 2024 at 7:24 PM

    Mine are loaded with blooms this year too but I assumed that was because I delayed my annual tree pruning exercise. Maybe not as you're having the same experience. I don't think even the birds like the fruit ;)

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  2. Hoover BooNovember 6, 2024 at 7:12 PM

    Agree, it is a beautiful tree, the bark, the flowers, everything. Fruit just doesn't taste like anything at all, really. Bland. Once thought to be native to Ireland as well as the Mediterranean, now some think it was introduced to Ireland from the Iberian peninsula as long ago as the Neolithic--4000 years ago.

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