Historic Hotels in Devon: country inns, manor houses and more

Churston Court. Brixham.

If reviews are to be believed - and there’s no reason they shouldn’t - Churston Court should feature on the itinerary of every ‘time traveller’.

This beautiful historic hotel is quite rightly Grade-I listed (picture above centre) and boasts both Sir Walter Raleigh and his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert amongst former guests. Indeed, more recently, Agatha Christie is known to have frequented Churston Court on several occasions with Death on the Links thought to have been written here.

Offering 20 rooms in all - including four poster suites - this magnificent country house sums up the phrase “they don’t make them like they used to” as well as any other. LateRooms

Boringdon Hall. Plympton

For a building to achieve Grade-I listed status it needs to be something quite out of the ordinary. And this fine Elizabethan house - close to the edge of Dartmoor and within easy reach of the rest of West Devon and Cornwall - is exactly that.

The estate’s history very much predates the Tudor period - it is mentioned in the Domesday Book and had been a medieval monastery - but it’s historic claim to fame is very much of Elizabeth’s ‘Golden Age’. We can never know whether the rumours are completely true, but Boringdon is said to have been visited on occasions by two of English history’s most famous seafaring names: Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake. Moreover, the ‘Virgin Queen’ is also reputed to have stayed here.

Today, Boringdon Hall offers a total of 41 guest rooms and a true late-Tudor ambience. For more information visit the hotel’s site at LateRooms

The Castle Inn. Lydford

Elementary, My Dear Watson

Dating back to 1550, the Castle Inn is situated alongside a considerably older structure: the notorious Lydford Castle, a notorious medieval prison from which the inn is said to derive the restaurant’s 12th century fireplace.

This, however, might paint the wrong picture of this pretty little inn which lies on the western slopes of Dartmoor National Park. It’s most notable historic claim-to-fame, though, is somewhat more recent – it is said that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed here and that the building features in his most famous Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Find the best deal, compare prices and read what other travelers have to say at TripAdvisor

Shelley’s. Lynmouth

Known then as “Woodbine Cottage”, it was here that the great romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, spent his honeymoon with Harriet Westbrook during the summer of 1812 - although quite what the bride made of her new husband’s entourage which accompanied them is unclear!

The twenty-year-old Shelley wrote of Lynmouth: "...the beauty of it made us residents here for the summer months.. It combines all the beauties of our late residence with the addition of a fine bold sea. We have taken the only Cottage there was, which is most beautifully situated, commanding a fine view of the sea with mountains at the side and behind us."

Later, on July 5th, he penned a letter to his friend William Godwin which described his lodgings: “We now reside in a small Cottage, but the poverty & humbleness of the apartments is compensated by their number..."

Find out more at TripAdvisor

The Rising Sun. Lynmouth

And through the dewy meadow's breast...

This celebrated thatched inn, formerly the haunt of smugglers, is perhaps most well-known for its connection to the novelist R D Blackmore. It was in one of the rooms that he is said to have written several chapters of the classic Lorna Doone. TripAdvisor

More period and historic accommodation in Devon...

Burrington

Northcote Manor. An award-winning 18th century country house hotel. LateRooms

Clovelly

Hoops Inn, The. Offering fourteen guest rooms, the origins of the thatched Hoops Inn are said to date as far back as the 1200‘s. LateRooms

Dartmouth

Bayard’s Cove Hotel. A former Tudor merchant’s house. LateRooms

Honiton

Combe House Hotel. . A truly beautiful grade-I listed house whose structure is largely Elizabethan. Expedia

Kingsbridge

Buckland Tout-Saints. Elegant William & Mary manor house featuring eight bedrooms and 2 suites. Expedia | LateRooms | www.lastminute.com

Lifton

Arundell Arms, The. .Recognised as one of the country’s premiere fishing hotels, the Arundell Arms is a former coaching inn on the Devon-Cornwall border. Expedia

Okehampton

Lewtrenchard Manor. A former owner, the Reverend Sabine Baring Gould, was responsible for the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers. Today this beautiful Jacobean manor offers 14 unique guest rooms (including 4 suites). Expedia | Superbreak | LateRooms | www.lastminute.com

Plymouth

Kitley House Hotel. Centuries-old country house offering 19 guest rooms, several featuring four-poster beds. Expedia | www.lastminute.com

Sourton

Collaven Manor Cosy 15th century manor house close to the Devon-Cornwall border. The building is reputed to have a connection to Lady Hamilton. LateRooms | www.lastminute.com

Tavistock

Brown’s of Tavistock. Today a fashionable four-star town house hotel, Brown’s was once a coaching inn founded in the 17th century. Expedia | LateRooms | www.lastminute.com

Tiverton

Brambles B&B. A grade-II listed cottage dating from the mid 17th century. www.lastminute.com

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