Adrian Mourby writes: "For those who might think of Devon as a county of beaches and cream teas Bovey Castle offers a total alternative. Yes, champagne cream teas are offered in this stately home, but there is also a lot of comfort and a manic amount of recreation. In the foothills of Dartmoor, this Edwardian hotel rises above the local village (pronounced Buvvy if you live nearby), surrounded by acres of grounds.
In the days when the Smith family holidayed at their grandfather’s stately home, the local villagers would be paid to stand outside their cottages and wave flags as charabancs drove the family and friends to Bovey Castle.
Who were the Smiths? The main Smith was the great Victorian entrepreneur William Henry Smith. W.H. Smith famously took advantage of Britain’s railway boom to open newsstands at railway stations, selling books, stationery, and newspapers. His son, Frederick Smith used the family firm's success as a springboard into politics, becoming a Member of Parliament in 1868 and serving as a minister in several Conservative governments. He eventually rose to be First Lord of the Admiralty. He also had the dubious honour of being lampooned by W.S. Gilbert in Sullivan’s opera HMS Pinafore for is total lack of experience in the job:
“Now landsmen all, whoever you may be,
If you want to rise to the top of the tree, [-]
Stick close to your desks and NEVER go to sea,
And you all may be rulers of the Queen's Navee!
For his loyalty, Smith was eventually ennobled as Viscount Hambleden but in the 1930s crippling death duties required the family to sell off their holiday home at Bovey. The main building became an hotel owned by Great Western Railways known as The Manor House. The house was cunningly extended with two long wings facing across the valley.
Later, Sir Peter Savary, who owned the property from 2003 to 2006 and whose family still visits, built a village of lodges. Finally, Smiths Brasserie—a great place for lunch—was added to complement the Great Western Dining Room, where the Smith family used to entertain. These days, the whole complex is known as Bovey Castle and is part of the Eden Collection of six rural hotels.
When arriving at Bovey Castle for the weekend (via some eccentric GPS coverage), you enter via a rolling golf range (to which a new undercover driving range will soon be added).
The winding, tree-lined route brings you to the back of the mansion where young people in tweeds rush out to collect your bags and park your car. There is a lovely sense of the English country-house/ Edwardian weekend on your arrival. Rather than check in at reception you are led to the Great Hall (two floors high with its own minstrel’s gallery) and offered tea, coffee or anything else while the paperwork is completed.
When you transfer to your bedroom where the estate’s own sloe-gin awaits as an aperitif. The best rooms are at the top of the main staircase, particularly Room 18 known as Easdon Suite where Viscount Hambleton (son of the Smith who built Bovey) originally slept. It even has its own stone balcony from which it is possible to see Easdon Tor on the skyline, a perfect place for early morning coffee.
But before that – and even before dinner in the GWR (Great Western Restaurant) - explore the activities on offer at Bovey. There is archery (increasingly popular for families), air rifles, clay-pigeon shooting (with laser pistol versions for kids), fly-fishing in a lake created by the Smith family, three tennis courts with a coach hired in on request.
Bovey also offers the services of a falconer, a bee-keeper and a driver who will take you off-road through muddy forests if you don’t mind the occasional near-death experience.
And should you have come here to get married instead there is a summer house at the end of a very long lawn which is licensed for weddings.
Dean Gunston, the managing director of Bovey Castle is committed to the idea that Devon is about much more than beaches and cream teas and he is certainly proving his point. Bovey is Action Devon with Fine Dining and Rural Weddings thrown in.
WHAT TO SEE NEARBY
Castle Drogo sits seven miles north of Bovey. Designed by Edwin Lutyens, it is often referred to as the last castle built in Britain. It was constructed between 1911 and 1930 as a country house for the Drewe family who had made a fortune in the Home & Colonial Stores. Despite its fortress-like granite exterior it’s actually a beautiful, gracious family home from the interwar period."
