I confess to taking some liberties with geography. Although Woodhuish does lie on the southeast Devon coast, Woodhuish Abbey is actually based on Hartland Abbey, in northwest Devon, with its gothic façade and walled gardens. And my Woodhuish has many more trees than the real Woodhuish.
Woodhuish House is reminiscent of Mapledurham House, which is in Oxfordshire, rather a long way from Devon. The Tudor brick chimneys look extremely similar to those at Hampton Court Palace, in Richmond upon Thames.
The cave system is loosely based on Kents Cavern in Torquay, about ten miles north of Woodhuish. (At the time this story is set, it was known as Kent’s Hole.) Roman coins were found in Kents Cavern, as were the remains of cave bears, cave lions, saber-toothed cats, wolves, cave hyenas, wooly rhinos, and mammoths. I like to think that Marcus would allow members of the Linnean Society access to the Woodhuish caves, and that similar items might be discovered there.