"[4] Thomas Fox and his wife Sarah, however, built their Palladian Villa house in 1801 or 1807 beside their woollen mill.

[5][3] Edward Fox (1719–1782) was married to Anna Were (1722–1788), whose family had long been established as textile manufacturers in Wellington in the county of Somerset.

[8] The bank established its Head Office at the old family house in Fore Street, Wellington (today the Lloyds Bank branch) – they opened branches at Wellington, Exeter, Crediton, Minehead, Taunton, Bridgwater, Weston-super-Mare, Torrington, Bideford, Barnstaple, Ilfracombe and South Molton.

John Howard Fox began talks with Lloyds Bank in early 1921 and a takeover was completed later that year.

Neither the guests nor the local inhabitants saw a future for this sport, though they conceded that it was quite a good way of getting about compared with snow shoes.

[10] In March 1902 a committee was appointed by Wellington Urban District Council to examine ways in which land for the creation of a public park or recreation ground could be obtained.

Fox Bros appointed Robert Veitch & Sons of Exeter to design and lay out the park, the landscape scheme being provided by F W Meyer.

Harry Fox (30 September 1856 – on or after 30 August 1888) was an English gentleman (also lived at Tone Dale House) who was a sportsman and adventurer.

In 1888, he travelled with William Frederick Donkin to the Caucasus Mountains in the Russian Empire in a bid to be the first people to climb Koshtan-Tau, but the pair, along with their Swiss guides, died in an accident.

His business memoirs cover 50 years of the history of the firm, which, though modestly written, reveal his business sense; especially in the demolition of official bumbledom at the start of World War 1, which led to the firm winning huge orders from the military.

Wilson Fox (1831–1887) was born at Tone Dale House; he did not live there but visited on several occasions.

[22] In 1859 he married Miss Emily Doyle, and settled at Newcastle-under-Lyme, where he became physician to the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary.

[23] Tone Dale House is set in 4 acres (1.6 ha) of gardens on the Devon and Somerset borders, 2 miles (3.2 km) from junction 26 of the M5 motorway.

The house faces south; with windows looking out across the gardens to a distant view of the Blackdown Hills, the mill stream flowing slowly by, until it disappears into the shrubbery, where it cascades over the weir.

"[4] The garden, which is mostly laid to lawn, includes an old tennis house and a two-hundred-year-old Cork Oak tree; all bordered by a ten-foot sandstone wall and the mill stream.

The gardens (like Wellington Park) were designed by Robert Veitch & Sons of Exeter with the landscape scheme being provided by F W Meyer.

It is run by the Big House Co and can be hired for celebrations, anniversaries, weddings, parties, holidays, reunions or corporate events.