Country House Stays in the South Hams: A Long-Weekend Guide

A proper country house stay does a few specific things well. It puts you somewhere with grounds you can wander before breakfast. It gives you a fire in the bar and a kitchen that takes dinner seriously. It leaves you within twenty minutes of a market town, a river and a coast. Country house stays in the South Hams cover all three, and for a long weekend in the Dart Valley you have a strong shortlist to pick from.

The South Hams is the chunk of South Devon between Dartmoor and the sea, with Totnes at its head, Dartmouth at the river mouth, and Salcombe to the south. The country running between those points is small-field, deep-lane, hedge-banked, with estates that have been quietly providing rooms to travellers since the eighteenth century. Here is how to put a weekend together.

Estate Hotels Near Totnes

For a classic country house feel within ten minutes of Totnes, look at Buckland-Tout-Saints at Goveton, a Queen Anne manor with seventeen rooms, walled gardens and a candlelit restaurant. Doubles from around £180 to £280 (££ to £££). The dining room takes the local supply chain seriously and the bar feels like someone’s clubby drawing room. Dogs welcome in some rooms; on-site parking; weekend dinners typically two or three courses.

Further west, on the edge of Dartmoor, Boringdon Hall at Plympton runs a more polished spa-hotel operation with a Michelin-starred restaurant in the form of Acleaf. Doubles from around £220 (£££). It is just outside the South Hams strictly speaking, but it is the obvious choice if you want a destination spa weekend with a serious dinner attached.

Medieval Inns With Rooms

If you prefer an older, more characterful stay, the Cott Inn at Dartington has been doing this since 1307. Five double rooms above what is reckoned to be the second-oldest inn in Britain, with thatch, inglenook fireplaces and a kitchen that won Overall Pub of the Year and Pub Garden of the Year in 2024. Doubles from around £120 to £170 (££). You are five minutes from the Dartington estate, ten from Totnes and twenty from the sea.

Down on Bow Creek at Ashprington, the Waterman’s Arms offers a similar feel in a seventeenth-century riverside inn with fifteen rooms. Doubles £100 to £160 (££). The river setting at Bow Bridge is genuinely peaceful, the bar is properly run, and the kitchen is known locally for its Sunday roasts. Dogs welcome in the bar but not the restaurant.

Dartington Hall and the Estate

Dartington Hall itself sits on a thousand-acre estate north of Totnes with a medieval Great Hall, sculpted gardens, the White Hart pub and the Cider Press Centre. As of 2026, the Hall’s heritage rooms are generally only available for group bookings of fifteen or more, so it is not on the shortlist for a couple’s weekend at the moment, but it is well worth a day visit. The gardens are open daily and the White Hart serves Sunday roasts in the medieval feasting hall under a sixty-foot beamed ceiling. Worth a long lunch.

If you want the Dartington atmosphere without the group-booking constraint, the Cott Inn or one of the holiday cottages on the estate (managed via the Dartington Trust) gives you the same access to the grounds.

South Hams Country Houses Further Out

For coast as well as country, South Sands Hotel at Salcombe puts you above a sandy beach with twenty-seven rooms, a beachside restaurant and a clear view of the estuary. Doubles from around £200 to £350 (£££). Half an hour from Totnes through small lanes.

Out at Hope Cove, Hope Cove House is a smaller, more boutique option (eight rooms) with sea views and a relaxed daily-changing menu. Doubles around £180 to £260 (££ to £££). Both are working hotels rather than estate hotels in the strict sense, but they sit in country-house style with grounds and proper dining attached.

Putting a Long Weekend Together

A clean three-night itinerary using country house stays in the South Hams: arrive Friday and check in at the Cott Inn or Buckland-Tout-Saints, with dinner on site. Saturday morning, drive into Totnes for the market and a slow lunch at the Bull Inn. Saturday afternoon, head to Sandridge Barton for a Sharpham wine tasting. Sunday, walk along the Dart from Totnes to Sharpham or drive down to Blackpool Sands for the beach, then a long roast lunch back at the White Hart at Dartington or the Waterman’s Arms.

Practical notes: most of these places have limited rooms and book up months ahead for May, July and August weekends. Dog policies vary by room and by season; always confirm at booking. Bring proper shoes; the lanes round here are muddy more often than not.

For a wider look at the area, our piece on the best pubs around Totnes, Dartington and Buckfastleigh is the obvious read alongside this one.