Old Mother Hubbards Restaurant

Old Mother Hubbard's Restaurant is a house that was formerly divided into two cottages and is now used as a restaurant. It dates from the early 16th century and features a hall house design with an inserted floor. The building is constructed of painted stone rubble and has a thatched roof, gabled at the west end and hipped at the east end over a lean-to extension. There are large stone rubble chimney stacks, one at the right-hand (west) gable end, one on the front to the left, and another at the center rear, which heats the hall. Inside, there is an additional inserted stack that heats the hall and backs onto a cross passage but is truncated below the ridge.

The house is two storeys high and has a three-room plan with a hall at the center. There is a doorway to the cross passage with the hall in the center, and another doorway to the cross passage with a park. A projecting stair turret is located to the left of the doorway, with thatch swept over the porch. The entrance features a plank door and a casement window with glazing bars. The inserted floor in the hall has a chamfered ceiling beam. The screen to the cross passage and the stairs in the projection have been removed.

The house has been known as Old Mother Hubbard's Cottage and is associated with Sarah Martin's Mother Hubbard Rhymes (The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog). It is said that while staying at Kitley House, Sarah Martin based the rhymes on the old housekeeper at Kitley, who is believed to have lived in this cottage. Reference: Peter Holloway, Yealmpton Yesterday, 1981, page 6.