The boundary plan
The holding plotted parcel by parcel, each with its acreage and hectarage, and hand-keyed by colour: curtilage, the extent of the grazing licence, woodland, and the line of the stream. Plotted at 1:9000.
Documents
Papers & Plans
The plans, written papers and restoration albums that go with the house, readable here page by page.
Nothing needs downloading. Select any page to open it large enough to read; the original PDF is linked beneath each document for anyone who wants to keep a copy.
Plans and papers first, then six albums of photographs taken during the restoration, and finally servicing certificates for the drainage and the chimneys.
The original estate perimeter
A historic Ordnance Survey sheet showing the earlier perimeter of the estate, with the old parcel numbers and their acreages — a considerably larger holding than the forty-four acres that go with the house today. Halshayne is named at the left of the sheet.
The Halshayne Manor Summer House
A written account of the summer house — how it came to be here, what it is made of, and what has been done to it since. The source for what is said about it on the gardens page.
Summer house photographs
The summer house at dusk, approached up the lit path through the trees, and the interior with its doors open — the tiled floor, the leaded windows and the lined curtains.
The restoration albums
Work in progress, photographed
Six albums of photographs taken while the work was being done, and kept afterwards. They are scans of prints in a ring binder, annotated in pencil — not a presentation, just a record. They are the evidence behind everything said on the restoration page.
Re-roofing the barn ranges
The longest album, and the most useful. It follows a traditional range from stripping the old tiles, through the exposed rafters and the laying of insulation boards above them, to the reclaimed tiles going back on. Pages eight and nine show the insulation in place between the rafters and the depth of the boards being measured against a tape.
Rebuilding the chimneys
Stacks taken down and rebuilt in brick from the scaffold, re-flaunched, with new pots and a rain cowl set on top.
Underfloor heating
The ground floor taken up, and the heating grid laid across the whole room before the screed went down and the slate flags went back.
The kitchen, as drawn
The joiner's elevations for the kitchen — every door, drawer and shelf set out before anything was cut, including the recess for the Aga.
The front door
A plank-and-muntin oak door under its segmental brick arch — and, on the second page, the stump of the tree it came from, annotated in pencil oak stub.
The magnolia and the clock tower
The magnolia at its best, and — almost incidentally — the only photographs anywhere in the papers of the clock tower on the barn range, with its weathervane above and the archway through to the lower garden below.
Floorplans for the house and the cottage are on the house and cottage pages, where they sit alongside the rooms they describe.
Servicing and inspection
Certificates
Recent maintenance records for the private drainage and the chimneys. Both have had the householder’s name, address and signature removed before publication; the complete originals are held with the papers.
Septic tank — service and condition report
Emptied on 5 August 2025 by ABBA Cleansing Ltd of Axminster, who have serviced it for many years. Their written report: a septic tank with soakaway system, “a very clean and intact system. No cracking visible. Ball valve fully functional and very clean. Flow after emptying satisfactory.”
Chimney sweeping certificate
Both woodburners swept on 27 January 2025 by S W Chimney Sweeps of Colyton, a member of the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps. The Winter Study stove and the library stove, each swept by brush and vacuum, with the pots, stack, ventilation and smoke evacuation all checked and passed. Next sweep due January 2026.
