The restoration of the Witch House in progress, 1998.

The restoration of the Witch House was aided by the discovery of an old photograph that had originally appeared in a mass market periodical to which automobile enthusiast, Teddy Portman (1856-1911), had subscribed. The Car Illustrated 25 Apr. 1906, featured a story, entitled ‘Cars and Country Houses: No. 205 – Hestercombe’. Restoration was further supported by garden archaeologists, who located the original foundations of the structure in 1997. The Witch’s House was re-created in just five weeks by rustic buildings specialists, Andrew & David Raffles.