Sunnycroft

Sunnycroft is probablyFact|date=March 2008 the only surviving example of a Victorian suburban villa in the United Kingdom.

Location

Located in the market town of Wellington, Shropshire, England, and owned by the National Trust as one of their more unusual properties.

Suburban villas were almost 'country estates in miniature' that attempted to emulate upper class mansions on a middle class budget. Most have either been modernised, renovated or refurbished out of recognition over the last 60 years or so or have been demolished and replaced with later housing, converted into offices or residential care homes, or have been broken up into flats and smaller residences.

Rare Survivor

Sunnycroft remains intact, complete with the origial interior fixtures and fittings, many of which are still in place and therefore has a unique character and intimacy that is often lacking from larger properties but very evocative of its time and place.

It is located close to the town centre in Wellington, on the B4380 Shrewsbury to Wellington road.

Sunnycroft was built in 1880, and extended in 1899. Uniquely the house remained in the same family from its completion in 1899, until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1997.

The National Trust summarises Sunnycroft as:
* A late 19th-century gentleman's villa – typical creation of Victorian era suburbia
* Rare unaltered interior, with an elaborate conservatory
* A mini country-estate, with pigsties, stables, kitchen garden and orchards
* Colourful borders and summertime flower displays
* Superb long avenue of Redwood trees and lime trees

External links

* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-sunnycroft/ Sunnycroft information at the National Trust]