Tea-House At Se Corner Of Kitchen Garden, Melsetter House, Hoy

The site includes a doocot, a tea-house, a chapel, and associated walls and gatepiers, all within the kitchen garden at Melsetter House on Hoy. The doocot likely dates to around 1738, with additions and alterations made around 1898 and 1900 by W R Lethaby, and repair work carried out in 2000.

The rectangular kitchen garden is enclosed by tall, exposed random rubble walls with a flat wallhead. The north corner is harled on the exterior and topped with a ball finial. There is an opening in the east wall, and plain doorways to the southeast and west, all with timber boarded doors.

The tea-house is a two-storey, square-plan building located in the southeast angle of the kitchen garden. The ground floor contains an apple-house, with the tea-house occupying the upper floor. The exterior is of exposed sandstone rubble with dressed sandstone surrounds to the openings. A forestair leads to the exterior garden wall, with a plain timber handrail. The east elevation has a door to the left of the forestair and a leaded window to the right. The south elevation has a first-floor tripartite window. A square-plan stack rises from the garden wall to the left, breaking the eaves. The west elevation has a ground floor door to the left and a first-floor tripartite window to the right. The north elevation mirrors this, with a ground floor leaded window and a tripartite window above. The tripartite windows have stone mullions, and the outer lights of the north-facing one have leaded windows. A conical slated roof covers the tea-house, and a pole with a weathervane is situated in the inner angle of the garden wall. Inside, the tea-house has floorboards, timber panelled walls, window cills, and a decorative timber panel above one window. It also features timber benches, a central table and chairs, and a fireplace with a sandstone surround, a mantel, and green glazed tiles to the jambs.

The two-storey, square-plan doocot is located in the southwest angle of the kitchen garden and is constructed of rubble stone with harling. The ground floor contains a shed, and the doocot itself is above. The east elevation has a ground floor door to the right. The west and north elevations are plain, with the north elevation featuring a central ground floor window and a first-floor door. The windows and doors were removed in 2000. The doocot is covered by a conical roof with stone slates, and the interior contains stone nesting boxes.

A low rubble wall encloses the rookery to the south of the kitchen garden. To the southeast, the approach to Melsetter House is bordered by a dry stone wall, punctuated by a pair of circular sandstone gatepiers with conical coping stones and ball finials. A second, identical pair of gatepiers is located to the west, bordering the roadway. Dry stone walls also line the roadway leading to the steading; a curved west wall echoes the quadrant gatepiers of the Laundry House.