Due to the steep slope of the land the house is entered on the first floor. The ground floor, which had little natural light, originally housed the staff quarters.
Inside is a central octagon 10.7m (35ft) high from floor to ceiling. Eight doors lead to a series of interconnecting rooms, each originally with a lobby on either side. It was once possible to make a complete circuit of these rooms without entering the lofty octagon itself.
The Parminters, returning from a Europe in turmoil, may have believed that A la Ronde would provide a means of escape in the event of a French landing at Exmouth. The stone walls are nearly 1m thick, and perhaps they thought they could hide from Napoleon by going from room to room around the house!
The building's ingenious design was intended to catch maximum sunlight. Sash windows were built on the angles and the rooms were laid out so that the ladies could follow the sun around the house during the day.
They would start on the eastern side and move round to finish with tea in an oval room on the west in the evening.
Everything was designed to conform to the building's unusual shape and awkward angles: cupboards and bookshelves have sliding covers, doors slide back into the walls to save space, and flaps come down between each of the doors in the octagon to provide extra seating.
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