Devonshire manor house, restored and extended in the local vernacular.
Modbury, Ivybridge, Devon, PL21 0TW
Shilstone is a lovingly restored Georgian house in the heart of the Devon countryside, overlooking an important historical landscape, which includes the only known and nationally important seventeenth-century water theatre in the UK.
House and Garden Tour
Visitors will be guided through the ground floor of the house, and some rooms upstairs, looking at architectural styles of 1600–1730; the formal gardens and wider designed landscape. Guests will explore the history of the site through its surviving archaeology and rare architectural features before seeing the results of a 20-year project to restore the house.
Historic Landscape Tour
Guests will spend the afternoon rambling through the terraced formal gardens, before leaping over the ha-ha, and into the nationally important water garden with its ornamental and cascading rills. Along the way, they will visit the walled kitchen garden, with its very own banqueting house, and see the remnants of the only known, late seventeeth-century Italianate water theatre.
All tours are conducted by resident archaeologist Abi Gray and begin at the Devon Rural Archive where guests can view artefacts from the site, historic documents and photographs from the restoration project. Visitors will be guided through the ground floor of the house looking at architectural styles of 1600–1730; the formal gardens and wider designed landscape. Guests will explore the history of the site through its surviving archaeology and rare architectural features before seeing the results of a 20-year project to restore the house.
Tours that are scheduled will be listed below. If none are scheduled yet, please check back later, or find other tours you might enjoy on our tours listing page here.
Shilstone House & Garden tour, Devon
Shilstone House
TOUR DURATION
Historic landscape tours 1.5 hours
Tours including the house 2 hours
TOUR PRICES
Historic landscape tours £15.00 per person
Tours including the house £16.00 per person
REFRESHMENTS
No refreshments included. Café on site
ACCESS NOTES
Disabled access by prior arrangement but restricted to the ground floor of the house and immediate gardens. Disabled cloakroom at the Devon Rural Archive.
RESTRICTIONS
No dogs.
VISITORS’ VIEWS
“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.”