The 55 best historic houses and gardens to visit in the South West of England

Bickleigh Castle is an ancient water castle remodelled as a fortified manor house during the 15th Century and severely damaged in the 17th, since when it has been much restored.

One of the most interesting Tudor manor houses in Devon. Built in 1550, Cadhay retains the hall of an earlier house.

An Elizabethan Long Gallery was added to form a unique courtyard with statues of Tudor sovereigns on each side described by Sir Simon Jenkins as ‘one of the treasures of Devon’.

Castle Hill was built in 1730 as Earl Fortescue’s family home. The current custodians are the 15th generation of the Fortescue family to live in the Palladian house.

Set in magnificent 18th-century parkland with many original follies, statues and temples, a sham castle and Triumphal Arch. The woodland gardens are abundantly planted with magnolias, camellias, rhododendrons, eucryphias and many rare trees. Formal gardens include the Millennium Garden and a Topiary water sculpture by Giles Rayner.

Downes is the family home of the Buller and Parker Family. It is still lived in by the current generation of the family – Henry and Susan Parker and their children Redvers (born 1992) and Stroma (born 1995).

The attraction of Downes is the way it brings together aspects of the history of our country (particularly as the home of the famous General Buller) and the history of a family home, still privately occupied and loved by its owners, some 300 years after it was first built. It is hoped that visitors will appreciate the opportunity to share this special place.

Forde Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery dating back to the early 12th century.

It was converted into a palatial family home during the mid 17th century. The house has exquisitely ornate plaster ceilings throughout the state rooms, together with collection of tapestries woven from cartoons drawn by Raphael for the Sistine Chapel, it is a unique family house.

Fursdon House has evolved from a modest cob and thatch dwelling to the elegant Georgian manor house you see today. The Fursdon family has lived on this site since 1259 and behind its façade lie centuries of history.

Additionally, there is a lovely Victorian cottage available for holiday accommodation. Fursdon also hosts a very small number of special wedding receptions each year and can cater for small corporate events.

Hartland Abbey is a fascinating house. Built across a narrow, wooded valley leading to an Atlantic cove a mile away, Henry VIII gifted the Abbey to The Keeper of his Wine Cellar, whose descendants live here today.

Not only can visitors experience the stunning interiors, collections, beautiful gardens and walks but the Abbey exudes the warmth and friendliness only found in a family home cherished for generations. Close family connections to Poltimore House and Clovelly Court nearby are evident.

Powderham Castle has been the same family home for over 600 years. It was built by Sir Philip Courtenay in the 14th century and, despite many alterations and additions to adapt the Castle to changing times, Philip and his many descendants would undoubtedly still recognise it today.

“There is so much to see, enjoy and appreciate that we cannot take full value from it ourselves. Nor, frankly, could we afford to maintain it without the help and support of our visitors. You are therefore doubly welcome.”

Family members, Stella and Stephen Huyshe-Shires, provide personal guided tours of the lived in house explaining how it has developed over centuries to accommodate the changing needs of generations.

Set in a peaceful East Devon valley, the main house is largely Elizabethan with an adjacent mediaeval hall house and early 17th-century garden house and about 6 acres of varied gardens.

Originally built as motte & bailey castle in 1106, later rebuilt & altered down the ages. Tiverton was once the home of the medieval Earls of Devon & Princess Katherine Plantagenet. The Castle was captured by Fairfax in 1645 due to a lucky shot hitting the drawbridge chain.

Today Tiverton is a peaceful private house, with a fine collection of Civil War arms & armour, some of which can even be tried on. See the medieval loos, once cleaned out by children, interesting furniture and pictures and a beautiful garden.

Ugbrooke House is a Grade I listed stately home nestled in the quintessential rolling green hills of south Devon.

It has a fascinating history covering 900 years, originally featuring in the Domesday book of 1086, and today it remains the private home of the Clifford family. The Honourable Alexander Clifford and his wife live in the main house, but each summer, they open the doors to their house and garden to allow visitors a sneak peek into their family home.

The collection at Corsham Court contains important paintings by such masters as Fra Filippo Lippi, Van Dyck, Carlo Dolci, Joshua Reynolds and Sofonisba Anguissola. The mirrors and tables in the Picture Gallery were designed by Robert Adam specially for the room.

Capability Brown was responsible for the layout of the Corsham Park to the east of the house and in the gardens, amongst the collection of specimen trees, is the oriental plane, which is acknowledged to be the largest spreading tree in the United Kingdom.

Heale House and its eight acres of beautiful gardens lie beside the river Avon at Middle Woodford, just north of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Much of the house is unchanged since King Charles II hid here in 1651.

When visitors step into the garden at Heale House they are immediately transported into a magical and varied paradise of running streams and exuberant planting that they return to time and again to experience its many different moods throughout the seasons.

Tucked away at the bottom of a tranquil valley, a visit to the romantic, award-winning, Grade 1 listed Iford Manor Garden is like no other.

Famed Edwardian landscape designer Harold Peto designed the unique, Italiante, Grade 1 listed gardens when Iford Manor was his home, from 1899-1933. Drawing inspiration from his travels all around the world, the garden blends Italian, Byzantine, Ancient Roman and Oriental garden designs together with architecture and classical sculpture.

Longleat House is set within 900 acres of ‘Capability’ Brown landscaped gardens and is widely regarded as one of the best examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain and one of the most beautiful stately homes open to the public.

This former 16th-century Augustinian priory contains many treasures and heirlooms acquired by generations of the Thynn(e) family, some of whom were great collectors of their day. The collection comprises early books and manuscripts, magnificent paintings, exquisite Flemish tapestries, and fine French furniture all housed within 19th-century opulent interiors created by John Dibblee Crace.

Built during the Commonwealth period, 1653 – 1656, The Merchant’s House is a rare example of a middle class silk merchant’s house, containing nationally acclaimed wall paintings and decorative features.

The house, and its wonderful rooms, are available to tour. Visit the main panelled chamber with a limestone carved fireplace and oak overmantle and the dining room, built around 1670. There are also bedrooms, a suite of servants rooms, a study and kitchen; some of which are furnished according to a probate inventory of 1691.

Wilton House has been the Earl of Pembroke’s ancestral home for over four and a half centuries. Rebuilt in the Palladian style in 1647 by Inigo Jones & John Webb, with further alterations made by James Wyatt in 1801, the chief architectural features are the 17th-century State Apartments and the 19th Cloisters.

The State Apartments include the Single and Double Cube rooms which contain seat furniture by William Kent and an impressive number of portraits by Van Dyck, including the huge ‘family piece’ of the 4th Earl, as well as paintings by Lely, Rembrandt, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and Gerrit van Honhorst, amongst others.