About
Coleton Fishacre is a captivating 1920s Arts and Crafts house and garden perched above a secluded valley running down to the sea near Kingswear in South Devon. Built between 1923 and 1926 for Rupert and Lady Dorothy D'Oyly Carte, son of the Savoy Theatre and hotel impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, the house perfectly captures the spirit of the Jazz Age while honouring the Arts and Crafts tradition of harmonising architecture with landscape. Designed by architect Oswald Milne, a pupil of Sir Edwin Lutyens, the house sits within 24 acres of spectacular gardens that cascade from formal terraces down a sheltered coombe to the cliffs above Pudcombe Cove.
The interior reflects the glamorous lifestyle of the D'Oyly Cartes, who entertained lavishly and filled their country retreat with the finest Art Deco and Arts and Crafts furnishings. The saloon, with its barrel-vaulted ceiling, stone fireplace, and ocean views, served as the heart of house parties where guests enjoyed cocktails, music, and dancing. The library, morning room, and bedrooms feature period wallpapers, bespoke furniture, and decorative details that showcase the transitional aesthetic between Arts and Crafts sincerity and Art Deco sophistication. Original bathrooms retain their distinctive Lalique-inspired fittings, coloured tiles, and chrome fixtures that epitomise 1920s luxury.
The garden is equally remarkable, exploiting the sheltered microclimate created by the steep-sided valley to grow an extraordinary range of tender and subtropical plants that would not survive in most British gardens. Formal areas near the house give way to informal planting along winding paths through the wooded valley, passing streams, pools, and viewpoints before reaching the dramatic coastal cliffs. The combination of architectural distinction, period interiors, horticultural richness, and stunning coastal setting makes Coleton Fishacre one of the National Trust's most atmospheric and complete house-and-garden experiences.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Monday, Tuesday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Late spring for peak garden colour, or autumn for Mediterranean garden highlights
💡 Visitor Tips
- Allow at least 3 hours to explore both house and garden properly - the garden alone deserves 90 minutes
- Wear sturdy shoes for the garden paths, which are steep and uneven in the valley sections
- Visit in late spring (May-June) for the best garden colour, or autumn for Mediterranean garden highlights
- Free for National Trust members - otherwise book online for the best price and guaranteed entry
- The walk down to Pudcombe Cove is steep but rewarding - allow extra time and bring swimming gear in summer
- Arrive before noon on summer weekends as the car park can fill up
- The cafe serves cream teas and light lunches using local Devon produce
- Combine with nearby Greenway (Agatha Christie's house) for a full day of National Trust visits
Highlights
The Saloon
The heart of the house is the magnificent saloon, a double-height room with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, large stone fireplace, and floor-to-ceiling windows framing dramatic views across the garden to the sea. This was where the D'Oyly Cartes entertained their guests with cocktails, music from the gramophone, and dancing into the small hours.
The room perfectly balances Arts and Crafts solidity with Jazz Age glamour, its walls hung with original artworks and its furnishings reflecting the relaxed luxury of 1920s country house life.
The saloon captures an era when wealthy young socialites escaped London for house parties filled with tennis, swimming, and sophisticated evening entertainment.
Art Deco Bathrooms
The original 1920s bathrooms are among Coleton Fishacre's most delightful surprises, surviving intact with their Lalique-inspired light fittings, coloured tilework, chrome fixtures, and distinctive period character. Lady Dorothy's bathroom features green tiles and art glass that epitomise the refined Art Deco aesthetic of the era, while other bathrooms display different colour schemes and decorative treatments reflecting each guest bedroom's individual character.
These intimate rooms reveal the D'Oyly Cartes' attention to every detail of their home, where even functional spaces received careful artistic treatment.
The bathrooms provide tangible evidence of 1920s luxury standards and the emerging importance of bathroom design in domestic architecture.
The Garden and Subtropical Valley
Coleton Fishacre's 24-acre garden is a horticultural triumph, exploiting the sheltered microclimate of a steep-sided coombe running down to the sea to grow an extraordinary range of tender plants rarely seen outdoors in Britain. Formal terraces near the house feature clipped hedges, herbaceous borders, and a rill water feature, while paths wind down through increasingly informal planting into the wooded valley.
Tree ferns, palms, mimosa, agapanthus, echiums, and other subtropical species thrive in the frost-free shelter.
Spring brings camellias, magnolias, and bluebells, while summer fills the garden with hydrangeas, agapanthus, and the heady scent of Mediterranean plants. The garden culminates dramatically at the cliff edge above Pudcombe Cove.
The Library
The library served as the intellectual heart of the household, its built-in oak bookcases filled with the D'Oyly Cartes' collection reflecting their wide-ranging cultural interests. The room's Arts and Crafts character shows in its honest use of materials, fitted woodwork, and the quality of its proportions and detailing.
A comfortable, intimate space compared to the grander saloon, the library was where the family retired for quiet reading, letter writing, and private conversation.
Period furnishings and personal objects create a sense of the room as it was used, while the views through leaded windows to the garden connect this interior world with the natural landscape that was central to the house's appeal.
Collections
The D'Oyly Carte House
Period rooms showing 1920s Arts and Crafts and Art Deco interiors as the family lived
The Garden
24-acre garden with subtropical valley, formal terraces, and coastal path
The D'Oyly Carte Story
Family history connecting Savoy Theatre and hotel empire to Devon country life
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.