[4] Following his marriage Northcote abandoned the family seat of Hayne, which sank to the status of a farmhouse, and moved to Pynes House.

[4] Renovations at the house in 1789 inspired Sebastian Emmett to write the poem Written on Viewing the Improvements at Pynes-House, the Seat of Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, Bart.

[5][6][7] An 1827 account relates that "Pynes House contains some valuable pictures, particularly a fine Van Dyke, in the eating-room, and several excellent family portraits".

[8] The building was enlarged in 1851 by the statesman Sir Stafford Northcote, 8th Baronet, who was created 1st Earl of Iddesleigh by Queen Victoria in 1885.

Walter Stafford Northcote, 2nd Earl of Iddesleigh claimed that Pynes House was the inspiration for Barton Park, which features in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.