Selworthy Green, with its rough circle of thatched cottages around a central green, is one of the tourist highlights of Exmoor. What is not perhaps clear is that it has not grown up haphazardly over the years, but could be described as an early form of “sheltered accommodation”. It was built in a deliberately old-fashioned style in 1828 by Sir Thomas Acland, then owner of the huge Holnicote estate to provide housing for retired or infirm workers from his employment.