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The Agent's House and Cottage, Rushay
An Edwardian country house and cottage on the Jurassic Coast
Rushay is a beautiful 9 bedroom Edwardian country house and cottage, with a tennis court and huge gardens. It can sleep 20 people, and stands just a mile from the beach at Charmouth, in England’s only natural world heritage site.
With four reception rooms, open fires, two fully equipped kitchens, and excellent shopping in the lively market towns of Bridport and Lyme Regis, there’s a huge amount for family groups and holiday makers to enjoy.
We have a tennis court, an Argentinian ‘asado’ barbecue on the terrace, table football, loads of board games and the inevitable TV in both house and cottage, with fast wifi connections everywhere.
Built for the agent of this Dorset estate in 1906, with a converted stable cottage across the yard from the kitchen, Rushay’s principal rooms face south and west, with high ceilings and waxed wooden floors. Their bay windows overlook the garden to the unspoilt countryside beyond, and fill with light.
Two huge king-size bedrooms * Three further double bedrooms, en suite attic ‘dorm’ with four single beds, three bathrooms *
In the cottage 3 double bedrooms, including ground floor bedroom en suite *
Drawing room with open fire * Study with widescreen tv * Dining room seats 18/20 * Kitchen with traditional tiled floor, Aga, electric oven, induction hob, island * Pantry with full-sized American-style fridge freezer *
Separate utility room with washing machine * Downstairs lavatory * Cottage with second kitchen and its own sitting room * Exclusive tennis court *
Set in huge private gardens with croquet lawn, west-facing terrace, barbecue, dining table *
20 minute walk to the beach (5 mins by car)
Wellies, beach bags, snorkels, coats, live in the boot room, with tennis racquets and balls (provided).
From the boots, you cross the study-cum-sitting room, with its piano and well-stocked bookshelves, into a handsome hall. From there you can step through double doors onto the west-facing terrace, with a long outdoor table and chairs, and the Argentinian asado-style BBQ.
Beyond the hall lies the drawing room, with a log fire and lots of comfortable places to curl up.
Another door opens into the dining room.
The dining room was opened into the kitchen in the 1960s, and we have updated the kitchen with plenty of prep space on the mahogany island and counters.
You’ll find a two-oven Aga, an electric hob and oven, microwave, and all the equipment you could need, from big pots and pans to colanders, utensils and scales.
Two doors lead into the laundry, or the pantry with its big American-style fridge-freezer.
The second fully equipped kitchen in the cottage sometimes comes in handy for prepping a feast (and it’s good for people who are grumpy at breakfast time)!
Rushay is a great house for cookery (but ask about hiring a private chef for an evening, too!)
At the top of the oak stairs, white floors and walls in the two king size bedrooms and three double bedrooms off the landing corridor emphasize the sense of air and space. Each room is markedly individual, but all are beautifully decorated and have plenty of space for hanging your clothes – or draping them over a chair! At the top of the back stairs, a broad winding flight takes you to the attic dorm with four single beds (and a shower room en suite).
All the beds are comfy and are made up for you with fresh white linen. Towels are provided, too – but remember to bring your own towels for the beach. Your favourite shampoo, too!
You’ll find lots more bedroom photos on our gallery page.
The house was completely renovated in 2020/21, using local recycled materials wherever possible and keeping to the Arts & Crafts aesthetic. The house is naturally bright and spacious, and we’ve aimed to make it as comfortable as it is beautiful.
Everything from beds and furniture to the rugs and pictures has been chosen with serious thought; Kate’s house-making has been featured in World of Interiors, The Bible of British Taste and Ben Pentreath’s book English Decoration. Jason is a novelist and historian, who also writes a column for Country Life.
Across the yard, opposite the kitchen, the cottage has been newly renovated to match the house, with one en suite ground floor bedroom for easy access, two upstairs bedrooms, and a further bathroom. It has its own kitchen, and a sitting room with an open fire.
So between the house and the cottage we have two king-size bedrooms, six double bedrooms, and the attic dorm with four singles.
The garden around the two houses is down to lawn, with beech, oak and ash, cherry, walnut and hazel, as well as an apple orchard, paddocks and a stone terrace to the west, perfect for a bbq on warm evenings. In Spring the sunken croquet lawn is awash with wild orchids. You can walk right out of the garden to the sea in about twenty minutes.
This part of Dorset is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. From the garden, a mile through open countryside, you can walk down to Charmouth’s two beaches, one perfect for families and the other the jewel in the Jurassic coast’s fossil crown. Lyme Regis – with the Cobb, and dinosaur museums – is three miles away and Bridport, with its lively shops and market, ten minutes in the other direction. Axminster is a sleepy town ten minutes over the Devon border, with a mainline railway station (Waterloo in 2 3/4 hours). See the Around Rushay section for ideas, outings, shopping and great walks.
West Dorset is home to great chefs like Mark Hix and Harriet Mansell in Lyme and Cass Titcombe at Brassica, and there are wonderful places to buy local produce, meat and seafood. Or you can leave it all behind in a moment by walking up into the hills for uplifting views to the sea, and into two counties. At least two nearby hills are crowned by Iron Age earthworks, part of a chain of hill forts across the Marshwood Vale, itself still dominated by small fields and ancient woodland.
Rushay has been the setting for all sorts of family gatherings, friends’ reunions, study groups, decorous hen parties and holidaymakers from Britain and abroad for the past three years. We have welcomed cold swimmers, writing groups, pilgrim bands, and lots and lots of dogs, and we are proud that Rushay has garnered an unbroken string of enthusiastic reviews, not least for the warm welcome that awaits you when you come to stay.
Whether it’s walking or swimming, cooking or exploring, or just relaxing with family and friends, people tell us that Rushay makes the perfect base.
In the July 2023 issue of Travel+Leisure magazine, Rushay was described as ‘the perfect place’ for walking holidays.
