Oldway Gardens

Oldway Gardens are part of the Oldway Mansion and are situated just off the Torquay Road in Paignton. This superb mansion and gardens are a Grade II listed building.

It was built around the turn of the Century by the late Isaac Merritt Singer, founder of American sewing machine company. The build costs at the time were little more than a quarter of a million pounds. A million pounds is not a big sum by modern day costs, but back towards the late 1870's it was an absolute fortune beyond the scope of most imaginations.

As well as being very rich, Isaac was a very imaginative man. He employed a local architect called George Bridgman to design and build Oldway. In 1874 Bridgman had created a magnificent building but Isaac died just before the mansion was completed. In 1904 Isaac's third son, Paris, made some changes to the building and that's how we arrived at the building we see today.

The use of Oldway as a family residence was short lived, as at the outset of the First World War, Paris Singer personally funded the adaptation of the mansion to an American Women's War Hospital. It was a harsh irony that more American troops died there as a result of a flu epidemic, than from wounds and were buried in Paignton. Following the war, their bodies were taken back to the USA.

Oldway Gardens are one of the Jewels of Torbay's horticultural features. It has to be the most photographed garden in the Bay, as many couples 'tie the knot' in the Register Office enclosed within the building. The amazing box pattern that has been carefully maintained by the Council's Parks staff makes a superb backdrop to the treasured photos of the happy couples and families.

It has all the features you would expect of a mansion house of the late 1800's. High quality lawn tennis courts are a particular attraction not often found for municipal use, and many a budding tennis champion can be seen practicing their 'grunts' and 'pose' in the summer months.

A walk around the beautiful gardens serves as testament to those staff who over the years have taken care in maintaining the grounds exactly as the Singer family intended them back in the 1870's. Other facilities include 15 Tennis Courts, a Putting Green, two Bowling Greens and a croquet lawn.

Many social events are held within the Mansion and it is still one of the main buildings to host civic and social functions.

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