Coleton Fishacre is a property consisting of a

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

and a house in the Arts and Crafts style, near

Kingswear Kingswear is a village and civil parish in the South Hams area of the English county of Devon. The village is located on the east bank of the tidal River Dart, close to the river's mouth and opposite the small town of Dartmouth. It lies within ...

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. The property has been in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

since 1982.

The House

The house at Coleton Fishacre was built as a country home for

Rupert D'Oyly Carte Rupert D'Oyly Carte (3 November 1876 – 12 September 1948) was an English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Savoy Hotel from 1913 to 1948. Son of the impresario and hotelier ...

and his wife, Lady Dorothy Carte, between 1923 and 1926. The architect was

Oswald Milne Oswald Partridge Milne FRSA FRIBA (February 1881 – 15 January 1968) was a British architect. Biography Born in Balham, London, in February 1881, Milne was the son of the architect William Oswald Milne (1847-1927), who was a partner with T ...

, a former assistant to Edwin Lutyens, who designed the house with the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement in mind: simplicity of design and quality of craftsmanship. The influence of this older movement notwithstanding, the house is influenced by its own time, especially in its

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

interior.History
NationalTrust.org, accessed 16 May 2012 The structure is built of local slate rubble with a Delabole slate roof.Coleton Fishacre: National Monuments Record
at PastScape, accessed 23 August 2010 The design has been twice featured in '' Country Life'' magazine: 31 May 1930 and 25 October 2007, the latter of which shows full colour photos of the house (exterior and interior) and the gardens. The property runs down to the sea, where there are some outbuildings. Although built as a country home, Lady Dorothy lived in the house as her primary residence by the later 1920s. After the Cartes' divorce in 1941, their daughter,

Bridget D'Oyly Carte Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte DBE (25 March 1908 – 2 May 1985) was head of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1948 until 1982. She was the granddaughter of the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte and the only daughter of Rupert D'Oyly Carte. Thoug ...

, took over the house, which her father, who lived in London, would visit for long weekends. She sold the house in 1949, after his death, to Rowland Smith, owner of the Palace Hotel in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

. Smith and his wife Freda kept up the property until his death in 1979."The people of Coleton Fishacre"
National Trust, accessed 1 July 2022 The house 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 ...

The Garden

The garden at Coleton Fishacre runs down a narrow

combe A combe (; also spelled coombe or coomb and, in place names, comb) can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill; in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through wh ...

from the house to the sea at Pudcombe Cove. It was originally planted by Lady Dorothy and features rare and exotic plants, some of which are unusual in their ability to grow outside a tropical climate due to the proximity of the Gulf Stream to this part of the coast of Devon. Lady Dorothy was noted for retrieving exotic plant species for the garden during her journeys abroad. The Cartes employed a staff of six to maintain the garden, compared with a staff of four to run the house. The garden is Grade II* listed in the

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

National Trust

Coleton Fishacre was acquired by the

in 1982 as part of its Project Neptune, with an eye to completing the South West Coast Path in that area. The garden was opened to the public immediately, while the house was let to tenants. The Trust finally opened the house to the public in 1999.Lisle, Nicola
"Return to former glories: Coleton Fishacre at Kingswear"
20 February 2017

References

External links

Coleton Fishacre information at the National Trust
{{coord, 50.346707, -3.534766, display=title Arts and Crafts architecture in England Country houses in Devon Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Devon Grade II listed buildings in Devon National Trust properties in Devon Historic house museums in Devon Grade II listed houses

The House

The Garden

National Trust

See also

References

External links