Hi we’re, Chris and Penny, we both work within the heritage sector. Chris runs his own design consultancy and Penny works for one of the South West’s regional museums.

We moved to Babbacombe in 2006 after falling for Emlea, our Edwardian villa. Over the years, Emlea had fallen on hard times. However, her last owners had completed sympathetic renovations to the house and gardens and it’s a pervasive habit we’ve caught. The house is now the warm, comfortable, elegant property it had once been.

Emlea started life as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers. Although now a large semi it was probably built as one house. A connecting door under the stairs to next door is the visible legacy of this phase. The 1911 census lists the first owner as a retired army officer. Further research has shown he lost his only son in France on 20 April 1917 - hence the military connection.

	Torbay History