Coleton Fishacre

Country house in Devon, England

Coleton Fishacre is a property consisting of a garden and a house in the Arts and Crafts style, near Kingswear in Devon, England. The property has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1982.

The house at Coleton Fishacre was built as a country home for Rupert D'Oyly Carte and his wife, Lady Dorothy Carte, between 1923 and 1926. The architect was Oswald Milne, 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 interior. The structure is built of local slate rubble with a Delabole slate roof. 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. The house is a Grade II listed building.

The garden at Coleton Fishacre runs down a narrow combe 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 subtropical 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.