It was described by contemporary writers such as Henry Avray Tipping, Christopher Hussey and the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne as an 'incomparable paradise', set in its remote valley as a Sleeping Beauty uninhabited for nearly a hundred years, a picturesque ruin, much decayed and overrun with ivy, and dwarfed by enormous yew trees.
This enchanting location was described by prominent writers of the time, including Henry Avray Tipping, Christopher Hussey, and poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, who referred to it as an 'unmatched paradise', nestled in a secluded valley where a sleeping beauty lay dormant for nearly a century, surrounded by a picturesque ruin that had fallen into disrepair and was now overgrown with ivy, with towering yew trees casting a dominant presence.