When's the last time you lost yourself in Grade II*-listed gardens, dozed off by the River Dart and slept in a medieval mansion? It's never too late to have a first time.
‘Unique’ gets bandied about an unfair bit. Precisely why we’re so keen to use it here. Dartington Hall is an original, a genuinely unique hotel with a conscience.
Nikolaus Pevsner, in his classic book on the buildings of Devon, described Grade I-listed Dartington Hall as ‘the most spectacular medieval mansion’ in Devon. Built for John Holand, Duke of Exeter and half-brother of King Richard II, at the end of the 14th century (1388), to walk through the gateway into the courtyard today is to step back in time. En suite heritage bedrooms are arranged around the magnificent medieval courtyard – two of Henry VIII’s wives called it home for a short spell – with no TVs in-room, encouraging you to truly immerse yourself in this special place.
The 1,200-acre Estate comprises 26 acres of Grade II*-listed formal gardens, a carefully restored 700-year-old deer park with Bronze Age walls, and sustainably-run farms.
It’s a bona fide visitor destination with plenty of things to do year-round, including footpaths and trails to explore (uninterrupted views of Haytor), a gallery showcasing arts and ecology exhibits, shopping at The Cider Press Centre, a restaurant, cafe and bar, the medieval indie Barn Cinema, and a whole host of adventure activities on the Estate such as paddle boarding on and canoeing down the River Dart.
The Dartington Estate hosts over 1,000 events each year – arts and craft festivals, food fairs, opera, short courses, plus talks focussed on wellbeing, happiness and society. A magnet for artists, architects, writers, philosophers and musicians from around the world*, Dartington is a social enterprise hub as well as a centre of creative activity, ecology and social justice. You may just leave Dartington Hall refreshed, revitalised and ready to change the world.
*The roll-call of outstanding people involved in Dartington includes Rabindranath Tagore, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim, Arthur Rubinstein, Igor Stravinsky, Imogen Holst, Benjamin Britten, Peter Maxwell Davies, Ravi Shankar, T E Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’), Bernard Leach, Paul Robeson, William Lescaze, Walter Gropius, Moholy Nagy, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, HG Wells, Yehudi Menuhin, Simon Rattle, Ben Nicholson, Aldous Huxley, James Lovelock, Rupert Sheldrake, Hazel Henderson, Amory Lovins, Jonathan Porritt, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Paul Hawken and Vandana Shiva.
Country style en suite bedroom, offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, toiletries, and hairdryer. Bath or shower. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country style en suite bedroom offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, toiletries, and hairdryer. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country style en suite bedroom offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, bathrobes, toiletries, and hairdryer. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country style en suite bedroom offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, bathrobes, toiletries, and hairdryer. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country-style bedroom with a private bathroom offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, bathrobes, toiletries, and hairdryer. Please note that a separate, private bathroom is available a short distance from the room. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country style en suite bedroom offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, bathrobes, toiletries, and hairdryer. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country style en suite bedroom offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, bathrobes, toiletries, and hairdryer. Two single beds. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country style en suite bedroom offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, toiletries, and hairdryer. more spacious en suite room, with queen size bed and upgraded decor. This room benefits from a separate seating area. Its en suite bathroom features a separate bath and walk-in shower. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Country style suite offering free Wi-Fi, ironing station, tea and coffee making facilities, toiletries, and hairdryer. The Florence Suite has a master bedroom, a separate lounge area, and an en suite bathroom with separate bath and walk-in shower. King-size bed. We want your stay to be a truly tranquil retreat. For this reason, we do not have televisions in our rooms.
Next to the medieval Great Hall, at the centre of the Estate, under the bowers of ancient trees, here is a place for feasting and flavours of the local landscape. Flagstone floors, roughcast walls, lime-oak settles and a dramatic 60-foot beamed ceiling all add to the atmosphere.
Originally a kitchen, built between 1388 and 1400, you can still see a rare example of the King's "white hart" crest in the ceiling of the adjoining Great Hall entrance. As an alternative to the lofted ceilings of the feasting hall, there's the more intimate snug and the Great Lawn terrace.
The White Hart is the proud holder of a Sustainable Restaurant Association star, serving up delicious food that's good all-round. This includes vegetables from Dartington's walled garden and Schumacher College garden; meat from its deer park and a select number of other small local producers (think farm to fork single-suckled beef and grass-reared lamb); fish from Sole of Discretion, who support small-boat fishers using rods, lines, or static nets; and UK cheeses from Totnes-based Country Cheeses. Most produce is sourced sustainably within a 10-mile radius of the Estate.
A member of Food Drink Devon, the White Hart features local classics such as Totnes sausage and mash and Dartmoor ice cream on its children's menu, and Sunday roasts every week from 12:00 noon onwards. The Guardian mentioned it in its 2021 travel article "10 of the best south Devon pubs with beer gardens".
This light-daubed space evokes Dartington's craft legacy - where seasonal ingredients sing in unpretentious dishes cooked up from scratch. There's a big open-plan kitchen and a deli-style counter offering a full range of hot and cold meals, changing daily. Sit down to enjoy a relaxed brunch, afternoon tea, cake and coffee or an honest-to-goodness lunch.
Next to the Barn Cinema, in the medieval courtyard, this space dons its double identity like a silver-screen spy - unassuming café by day, vivacious cinema bar at night - serving wine, beer, popcorn, vegan sweets and more.
Open 9am-5pm, daily, with free garden tours
You can’t really stay at Dartington Hall without strolling its Grade II*-listed gardens. For over 1,000 years, these gardens have been carefully tended to and shaped by remarkable custodians, such as Beatrix Farrand’s ‘painting’ with colour and form and Henry Avray Tipping’s formal Arts & Crafts-style hedging.
Previously of a formal Victorian design, when Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst bought the Estate in the 1920s they created a deliberate sense of natural wilderness – mossy paths, fern-covered stone walls and banks of spring flowers. Indeed, acclaimed American garden designer Beatrix Farrand helped them develop and realise their vision during the 1930s, and the gardens remain a rare example of her work outside the United States.
Twenty-six inspiringly beautiful acres reveal unfolding vistas by Percy Cane (from the High Meadow and the Glade), a tiered “tiltyard” overlooked by the “12 apostles” (Irish yews), sculpture including Henry Moore’s ‘Memorial Figure’ (‘Jacob’s Pillow’ by Peter Randall-Page and ‘Donkey’ and ‘Swan Fountain’ by Willi Soukop, too), champion trees (a 1,500-year-old yew and ancient Spanish chestnuts), and an activity trail for children with bug hotels, den building and secret paths to explore.
In the gardens, you may wander across badgers, foxes, stoats, deer, rabbits, bats and a wide variety of birds, including three species of woodpecker. In spring, woodland walks are awash with displays of magnolias, camellias and cherry blossom, and wildflower meadows are adorned by carpets of bluebells, primroses and snake’s head fritillaries. Come autumn, the maples of the high meadow and valley field turn burgundy and gold. Open year-round, the gardens are fully accessible, with a wheelchair-friendly entrance and a step-free route. Guide dogs are permitted. RHS Partner Garden and Silent Space member.
Cider Press Centre open 10am-5pm, daily. Welcome Centre Shop open 10am-4pm, daily
A carefully curated yet wonderfully eclectic range of boutiques with a firm focus on arts, crafts and local food and drink. From one of the largest collections of Dartington Crystal in the South West, right through to the UK’s first and only micro distillery creating grape-marc-spirit, Dappa, and exclusive prints inspired by Dartington. Shops and eateries include:
Box office open 1.30-8pm, daily
It’s not every day you get to watch a film in a converted 14th-century barn set in a medieval courtyard. From mainstream blockbuster to indie arthouse and kids’ classics, the Barn is an independent cinema with a eclectic program. Its film archive dates back almost a century and today it very much prides itself on unusual events that go beyond traditional screenings. Supported by funding from the BFI and the Cultural Recovery Fund.
Overnight guests at Dartington Hall get preferential rates with a range a partner organisations. Enjoy and experience everything the Estate has to offer, including ziplining, climbing, paddle boarding and canoeing in partnership with with Dynamic Adventures.
Dartington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, Great Britain
The spectacular Great Hall has a 4-metre by 11-metre stage, a minstrels’ gallery, a high-beamed ceiling and its own private garden, which can accommodate a marquee. The beautiful 14th-century Barn Cinema can also be used as a lecture theatre and seats up to 185 guests.
Theatre
Cabaret
Banquet
Classroom
Circle
U-Shape
Dinner-Dance
