Brookside and Brookside Cottage

Brookside and Brookside Cottage, now part of the White Hermitage Hotel, is an Italianate stucco villa dating from around 1850. It is included in the listing partly for its historical significance, as John Keble stayed here from October 1865 until his death in March 1866, but mainly for the picturesque quality of its south-east corner tower, which is situated on an elevated position above the Pleasure Gardens.

The tower is four storeys high and features coupled windows with round arches and flat heads on the first and second floors. The 'belfry' stage has triplet windows of a thin stepped Moorish design, topped with a pyramidal slate roof. The south front of the three-storey house has continuous balconies on the two upper floors, positioned between the tower and a three-storey canted bay under a gable at the south-west corner. The building also has overhanging eaves.