Bovey Castle is a large early 20th-century mansion on the edge of

Dartmoor National Park Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...

, near

Moretonhampstead Moretonhampstead (anciently ''Moreton Hampstead'') is a market town, parish and ancient manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe (), and ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and is now a hotel with 59 individually designed bedrooms in the hotel and 22 three-storey country lodges nearby.

History

The house was built in 1907 to designs by

Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...

, for Frederick Smith (the son and heir of the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician and stationery magnate William Henry Smith). By 1930 it had become a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

operated by the Great Western Railway, known as the Manor House Hotel. In 1948 it was taken over by the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

. Expanded under new ownership in the 1990s, the castle was purchased and refurbished by the entrepreneur

Peter de Savary Peter John de Savary (11 July 1944 – 30 October 2022) was a British businessman. The bulk of his business career was spent in the shipping, oil and property sectors. He once owned or managed 13 shipyards around the globe and had global oil-tr ...

in 2003 and renamed 'Bovey Castle'. In 2006 de Savary sold Bovey Castle to Hilwood Resorts. In 2014 it was sold to The Rigby Group plc as part of their Eden Hotel Collection.

Architecture

The main building was built in 1907 in Jacobean style, with a Great Hall into which a floor was inserted in the 1980s. The interior is of high quality, with panelled rooms and elaborately carved features. Extensions were built in the 1930s. The garden front is set above terraces overlooking a lake and the

River Bovey The River Bovey rises on the eastern side of Dartmoor in Devon, England, and is the largest tributary to the River Teign. The river has two main source streams, both rising within a mile of each other, either side of the B3212 road between More ...

Golf

The hotel estate includes an 18-hole championship golf course that was designed by John Frederick Abercromby in 1926.

References

{{reflist Country houses in Devon Hotels in Devon Grade II* listed buildings in Devon Grade II* listed houses Houses completed in 1907 Country house hotels Golf clubs and courses in Devon