Shilstone House, in the heart of the South Hams countryside, is a lovingly restored Georgian home, overlooking an important historical landscape.

The 1086 Domesday Book provides the earliest documentary evidence of Shilstone, and tells us who owned the land before and after the Norman Conquest. Any structures at this time are likely to have been built using local timber and have long since vanished. A high status 3-room house had been erected at the centre of the site by the 14th century and, along with 16th and 17th century additions, was the structure recorded by Benjamin Donn’s 1765 map of Devon’s gentry seats. At this date, the estate was owned by the Savery family who had bought it in 1614, made changes to the house and also created the formal gardens, including terraces, parterres, and walks as well as a unique Italianate water theatre connected to a network of ponds, rills and cascades. The water theatre is the only known example of such a feature in the UK and makes Shilstone of great national importance.

The library

In the early 19th century, the Saverys demolished the existing house and replaced it with a courtyard mansion, similar in plan to the current house, but soon after it became a busy agricultural holding and was tenanted well into the 20th century. In 1997 Lucy and Sebastian Fenwick purchased Shilstone and undertook a sympathetic restoration of the house and gardens using the findings of research by the Devon Rural Archive.

Tickets £16.00. Food and drink available to purchase from on-site café.

What our visitors say:
Thank you for such an insightful tour of Shilstone and its gardens on a glorious summer's day. The water theatre was, I thought, most interesting. I do so hope that it will eventually be restored, especially as you said it's the only one of its kind in the country.

Disabled access by prior arrangement but restricted to the ground floor of the house and immediate gardens. Disabled cloakroom at the Devon Rural Archive

No dogs