| Overbeck’s is a National Trust property near Salcombe,
South Devon. An Edwardian house with a lovely sub-tropical garden, it enjoys
spectacular views over Salcombe Estuary and Salcombe Bay looking towards
Prawle Point. The Edwardian house was built on the site of a Victorian Villa
and was once known as Sharpitor House until it was bought by the eccentric
scientist and inventor Otto Overbeck. Nowadays 6 rooms of the house contain
the Overbeck’s Museum, the remainder of the house being leased to
the Youth Hostel Association. The museum contains his diverse collection
of curios with natural history objects, nautical artefacts reflecting Salcombe's
ship building heritage, a ‘secret’ room designed for children,
Victorian phonogram (played every 30 minutes during the day) and a cabinet
devoted to Otto Overbeck himself. The cabinet includes his popular electrical
rejuvenator which earned the scientist his fortune.
The gardens at Overbeck’s enjoy a mild micro-climate which enables
the growth of many tender plants giving the whole garden a Mediterranean
'feel'. The garden is a series of small enclosures designed in the early
1900s by Edric Hopkins. It was developed by Mr and Mrs George Medlicott
Vereker after they purchased the house and garden in 1913. Otto Overbeck
bought the property in 1928 and developed it further planting many more
palm trees as well as growing bananas, oranges and pomegranates. The garden
contains a rich collection of trees, shrubs and flowering plants including
an entrance lined by an avenue of Chusan Palm trees which Otto also planted
throughout the garden, Echium pininana from the Canary Islands, with its
incredible 16ft tall lavender-blue flower spikes, banana trees (Musa basjoo)
and the most famous plant in the garden; a one hundred year old Magnolia
Campbelli planted in the original garden design and whose deep pink blossoms
can be seen from far beyond the garden. The house, collections and gardens
were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1937 by Otto Overbeck in his
will.
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