BUY NEWTON SURMAVILLE and you will be the owner of a remarkable series of 17th-century tapestries listed as part of the house. In better times this wonderful Jacobean house would surely have been a prime candidate for acquisition by the National Trust — just as would Dumfries House, the 18th-century Palladian mansion offered for sale for £6.8 million last week by the 27th Earl of Dumfries.

Newton Surmaville needs a history buff who would also acquire many of the contents, including the immense pewter dishes displayed on a dresser by the staircase, the racks of 18th-century pistols and swords, and the metal frame for roasting a suckling pig on the spit. For those seeking perfection, the house, on the edge of Yeovil in Somerset, is a beautiful and romantic early 17th-century manor of middling size. It has barely been touched by the 20th century; reawakening the house could be the experience of a lifetime. Newton Surmaville takes its unusual name from the de Salmonvilles and comes with all the trimmings of an estate — a long drive, parkland with river running through it, carp pond, ice house and walled gardens, and, best of all, a splendid 1740 banqueting house (which is now a tenanted farmhouse) on top of the hill with spectacular views.

The house is one of the wonderful series of gabled stone-built manor houses in the West Country owned by clothiers. It was built by Robert Harpin, a rich wool merchant; his initials and the date 1612 are on the rainwater pipe heads. The three-gabled main front is satisfyingly symmetrical with matching bays containing entrance porch and oriel window each topped by a graceful balustrade. The second show front to the east is dominated by a spectacular phalanx of tall chimneys, as if to proclaim that here you will never be cold. Other chimneys have curious stone hoods, like jesters’ hats, complete with tassels.

Inside, the thrill is the extraordinary number of well-preserved panelled rooms as well as some remarkable plumbing archaeology. To the left of the entrance hall, the breakfast room is the natural place to live cosily in winter. To the right the panelled great hall has two delightful built-in pagoda-topped, Chippendale-style, glass-fronted bookcases, and an Arts and Crafts fireplace with the word “Welcome” inscribed on the brass surround.

The tapestries filling the walls of the drawing room portray scenes of Elijah Rising into Heaven and the Melting of the Golden Calf — in sculpted gold frames.

The dining room comes with splendid early 18th-century oak panelling and an heraldic stone fireplace. The large Victorian library upstairs, pictured top right, retains frilly leather flaps to keep dust off the top of the books. Many of the bedrooms have handsome four-poster beds, the best — with rich gilt cresting — in a bedroom with more floor-to-ceiling tapestries.

The plumbing glories include an outsize Doulton lavatory for the squire (inscribed “large” in robust Victorian fashion). In the attic we peered down a large inverse chimney with a hole at the bottom. “Don’t ask what this was for,” our guide said. On a back stair is an even more remarkable survival of the Victorian practice of slopping out — a lavatory (without seat) elevated on a window ledge. Are such rarities covered by listing, I wondered? MARCUS BINNEY

Price: £6 million through Savills, 020-7499 8644

FACTFILE

WHAT YOU GET: Grade I listed Jacobean house with seven bedrooms, five cottages, 290 acres. 14,827 sq ft.

WHERE IS IT: Three miles from Yeovil, 130 miles from London.

WHERE TO EAT: The Lord Poulett Arms, Hinton St George, Somerset, or The Riverside, Bridport, Dorset.

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