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Concealed well within a network of tiny country lanes on the Dorset/Somerset borders, nestles the elegant home of the Roper family, little changed visually in almost 300 years. Once a very prosperous Cistercian monastery, Forde was also renowned as the south west centre of learning and, even today, there is still a great deal of knowledge to uncover among the transformed 13th century buildings inhabited by such scholarly monks.

During the last few years before the abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII, Thomas Chard was busily restoring Forde Abbey, enhancing it with a splendid Gothic façade. Alas his work remained unfinished, the church was demolished, and the abbey stood neglected for 100 years. In 1649 a wealthy lawyer and Parliamentarian, Sir Edmund Prideaux, bought the abbey and carefully transformed it into a stylish country mansion, incorporating much of Abbot Chard's earlier work. No major alterations have been carried out since and Forde has maintained an air of restrained monasticism amidst the subtle lines of baroque elegance.

Following a succession of owners and tenants, the abbey finally came into the possession of the Ropers at the beginning of the 20th century. The family still farm the land that the monks first tended over 800 years ago, and continue to carry out the necessary conservation work to the house and grounds. A delight at any time of the year, the gardens enable the visitor to sit and contemplate the surrounding beauty, in a tranquillity that the monks must surely have treasured.

Most of the internal decoration dates from Prideaux's work, with an abundance of oak panelling and magnificent plasterwork, which was very much in vogue in the mid 17th century. The grandest room in the house is undoubtedly the saloon, which not only boasts a fantastically lavish display of ceiling plasterwork, but also holds Forde Abbey's most important works of art. When the contents of the house were sold in 1846 these outstanding Mortlake tapestries were all that remained.

Now lining the walls of the saloon, these remarkably well preserved wall-hangings show scenes based on Raphael's original sketches used for his painting of the Sistine Chapel. Over the last three hundred years, the colours have remained quite as vivid as the biblical scenes themselves. An unusual, and imaginative use of redundant materials, has been incorporated in the screen of the library. When Prideaux's granddaughter was in France, she came by a job lot of quality Breton bedsteads that had been cast aside, presumably in favour of something more fashionable, and bought them home to create this striking feature beneath the minstrels gallery.

Many of the rooms are so obviously of monastic origin that a great sense of humbleness and dignity pervades the house. The dormitory, although sliced in half down its length by the creation of 18th century bedrooms, still extends 100ft and has its original 14th century oak roof in situ, but now covered by a plaster ceiling. The chapel, once the central administration centre of the abbey known as the chapter house, and the present day restaurant has been situated among the vaulted arches of the 13th century undercroft. Forde Abbey cannot fail to leave a lasting impression on even the most unwilling explorer of country houses.