Page 17 - cn - ah national trust society and nature 25-03-24

Overbecks, Devon.

Overbecks affords spectacular views over the Salcombe Estuary. The home is set in a 7acre garden filled with exotic
and tender plants. palms, salvias and olive trees growing alongside bananas, agaves and acacias. The garden is arranged
in terraces with each affording its own individual view and vantage point of the surrounding coast and garden.
In 1892 a small house was built. It was in 1901 that the garden surrounding the house took shape when Edric Hopkins ,
a keen gardener, purchased “Sharpitor,” {as it was named- referring to Sharp Tor a nearby craggy outcrop}. The garden
is on a steep slope so it took great effort to create level terraces, this was achieved by introducing retaining walls to
form the basis of the garden. The house was purchased by Captain George Medlicott Vereker, an equally passionate
gardener. The Vereker’s built a larger house on the same site and consequently the garden was further developed. In
1928 the chemist Otto Overbeck bought “Sharpitor”for his retirement and lived there until his death in 1937.
He had arranged for the estate to be left to the National Trust, on the proviso that the house and gardens would be
renamed “Overbecks”. Otto Overbeck was one of a long succession of gardening enthusiasts that had refined and added
to the collection of plants and trees. The palms act as a visual linkage between various sections of the garden. Many of
the chusan palms were planted by Otto Overbeck in the 1920’s and there are in all eight different varieties many being
self- seeding.

The Palm Gardens
20 x 24 inches -o/p