The estate at dusk, seen across the valley

Established Eighteen Ninety-Two

The Ashcombe

A restored estate of thirty-one rooms, held between
the old walled gardens and the sea.

The Invitation

A house that has kept
the same fire lit since 1892

Six generations have tended these walls. The stone is Devon limestone, quarried a mile from where you will sleep; the panelling was cut by hand in the winter of 1894 and has never been replaced. We have added light, warmth and a very good cellar — and changed almost nothing else.

Discover the house

A garden room, made up at first light — The Garden Rooms

Seed and soil in the kitchen garden — The Kitchen Garden

The long library, shelved to the ceiling — The Long Library

The rose walk through the walled garden — The Walled Garden

The panelled drawing room of the east wing

Our Lineage

Held in trust,
never in trade

The Ashcombe has passed by inheritance alone. No auction, no consortium, no rebrand. What follows is the whole of its record.

1892Sir Edmund Ashcombe lays the foundation stone on Midsummer's Day. The walled garden is planted the same season.
1919The east wing opens to guests for the first time, having served four years as a convalescent home.
1963The cellar is dug deeper by hand. Eleven thousand bottles are laid down; two thousand remain.
2021A five-year restoration begins — lime plaster, original glass, and every hearth reopened.

Rooms & Suites

A true sense of place

Thirty-one rooms, and no two alike. Each was drawn around what was already there — a window seat, a chimney breast, a run of afternoon light — rather than the other way about. Linen is Irish, the beds are made here in Devon, and every room keeps its own working fire.

A principal bedroom, with its own hearth

A room made up for the evening, fire lit

I The Garden Rooms Ground floor, opening directly onto the walled garden from £420
II The Long Gallery Suites Original panelling, working hearth, sea to the south from £680
III The Ashcombe Apartment The whole of the west wing, with private terrace from £1,450

The Days Here

Slow hours,
properly kept

The Dining Room

Two Stars · Nightly

Nine courses, drawn almost entirely from the walled garden and the boats at Brixham. One sitting a night, at eight, with the kitchen open to the room.

Reserve a table

The Bathhouse

Guests Only · Dawn to Dusk

Fed by the same spring that served the house in 1892. Steam room, cold plunge, and four treatment rooms working with oils pressed on the estate.

View treatments

The Forty Acres

All Seasons

Walled gardens, orchard, and a coastal path that reaches the water in twenty minutes. Riding, sea swimming and gundog walks arranged by the hall porter.

Plan a day

The Cellar

By Arrangement

Two thousand bottles laid down since 1963, tasted at the long oak table by candle. Our head sommelier keeps the book by hand, as it has always been kept.

Ask the sommelier

The House Craft

Three things we
will not hurry

Provenance

Where did it come from?

Every material in the restoration was sourced within forty miles, or salvaged from the house itself.

Continuity

Who keeps it now?

Nineteen of our staff have served the house for over a decade. Four were born on the estate.

Stewardship

What is left behind?

The gardens run without chemicals, the kitchen without waste, and the house on its own water and heat.

The estate at dusk, seen from the coastal path

“One arrives expecting a hotel and finds instead a house that has simply been waiting, with the fire lit and one's name already in the book.”
Condé Nast Traveller — Gold List

Reservations

Your name in
the book

Book directly with the house for the best available rate, a hand-written welcome, and the first refusal on the table by the window.

Or speak with the hall porter — +44 1364 000 000