The Estate
Nestled in 500 acres of Devon countryside, the landscape gardens meander gently through walled gardens, with an old stone folly, into a greenhouse scented by geraniums. At the heart of Shilstone lies our newly restored Grade II listed Georgian manor house that has been virtually rebuilt by our talented team of craftsmen.
The House
Our Grade II listed Georgian Manor House has been lovingly restored and virtually rebuilt over the past twenty-five years. Now a contemporary, light-filled family home filled with architectural historical references grounding it appropriately within its history. The stone used to rebuild the house is from an old quarry in our woods, hand-cut by Richard over a period of seven years. The majority of the rooms at Shilstone are panelled, all of which were created in our workshop by the brilliantly talented Steve and Tom. No building company was employed and everything was managed and built by our own team of talented craftsmen.
Explore the House
East Hall
Grand Passage
West Hall
Dining Room
Main Staircase
Library
Drawing Room
Gallery
The Gardens
The gardens include the terrace garden, the 17th century walled garden with corner folly, the kitchen garden, orchard, formal south and west gardens and paths mown through long grasses with wild flowers. The terraced garden behind the house has paths meandering through the wild flowers with breath-taking views over the garden and valley below.
Explore the Gardens
Terraced Garden
The recreated 17th century terraced gardens are formally planted with hornbeam, yew, portuguese Laurel, lavender and roses, together with pollarded Catalpa and Acer trees. The granite steps are from Plymouth pavements. Meandering paths through wild flowers offer stunning views down the valley.
Kitchen Garden
Beyond the north bank is the charming vegetable garden, enclosed by yew hedging and a wall with yew buttresses. The garden comprised raised beds for vegetables, salad and cutting flowers, and also two large areas of wildflowers to encourage biodiversity.
Walled Garden
The formal walled garden, with its charming crenellated folly. The walled garden has an avenue of Sorbus Whitebeam trees, and the beds are filled with roses, peonies, nepeta and sweet peas. Along the top walkway is a cutting garden with fruit trees against the back wall and with trained sweet-smelling wisteria.
Greenhouse
The greenhouse is centred around an open fireplace with a huge granite gatepost lintel, and is where all the propagation takes place. Tender plants can be placed here during the winter, with the open fire keeping it warm, and massive bulb planting takes place here thoughout the autumn.
West Garden
The West Garden is formally planted with box edged medlar trees overlooking the valley, white roses, yew and box topiary and magnificent white hydrangeas in pots.
South Lawn
The south garden comprises yew and ilex hedging and formal borders planted with yew, magnolias, nepeta, roses and peonies. The lawn below is filled wild flowers and long grasses interspersed with mown paths overlooking the magnificent valley view.
East Garden
The East Garden comprises more yew and box topiary, and white roses and hydrangeas, and white wisteria climbing through the railings to frame the house.
The Land
The land has also been lovingly restored, including dry stone walls reinstated by John and his son Woody, our resident stone masons, who have worked at Shilstone for thirty years. Over the last few years, Henry our groundsman has been traditionally laying hedgerows to create natural fences for livestock and encourage biodiversity. In addition, we have created raised Devon banks already festooned with wild flowers and ferns. The quarry in our wood was re-opened to extract the stone with which Shilstone was rebuilt.
Explore the Land
Bluebell Woods
The Valley
The Medieval Water Theatre
The Brook
The Bridleway
Land
Country Walks
There are a number of spectacular walks around the land at Shilstone, including the Valley Walk which leads down from the house, meandering around the series of medieval ponds; the woodland walk festooned with snowdrops and wild daffodils in January, and bluebells and wild garlic in the spring; and the Bridleway – an ancient farm track enclosed in a canopy of trees and wild flowers.
The Farm
Passionately farmed throughout the last few hundred years by our neighbours, the Furneauxs, who keep their stock of sheep and cattle on our land. Springtime is always an incredible time of year at Shilstone, with all the newborn lambs leaping and bleating in the fields.
What’s on
Shilstone House Tour
Lecture: Listening to the Enemy by Michael Griffiths
Shilstone House Tour
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