Visit Downes House and Gardens Stately Home

Downes House, a magnificent stately home just outside Crediton, will be open for daily tours this summer for four separate weeks - 21 to 27th April, 5 to 11 May, 26 May to 1 June, 25 to 31 August.  Once the home of Sir General Redvers Buller, Downes has been lived in by the same family for over 300 years. The house has a fascinating history, beautiful gardens and is well worth a visit. 

Downes is lived in by Henry and Susan Parker. It has been home to the same family for over 330 years. It was originally built in 1692 by Moses Gould, a prosperous merchant from Exeter. His granddaughter Elizabeth married into the Buller family in 1739 when it became the seat of the Buller family until it was inherited by Henry’s mother, Rosemary Parker, in 1975. 

The tours include all the main rooms in the house. The cosy siƫting-room contains panelling dating back to 1604 and displays 23 heraldic shields with the Coats of Arms of the Bullers and their families. 

The Main Staircase is mentioned by Pevsner in his Buildings of England. There is a splendid ceiling above it with high relief plasterwork over beaten copper in the tradition of John Abbot’s work of 1681 in the Customs House in Exeter. 

The family museum includes a painting of Henry Parker’s great-great uncle, the British Army officer, Redvers Buller, winning his Victoria Cross in the Zulu War, when he personally saved three men from certain death. 

Visitors will also see Zulu shields and spears from the elite regiments of the Zulu army. The tour takes in many stories of other members of the family depicted in portraits around the house, including that of Sir Jonathan Trelawny whose daughter married into the Buller family. He was one of the seven bishops locked up in the Tower of London in 1688 and who subsequently became the hero of the Cornish National Anthem for the refrain ‘And shall Trelawny die’. 

We hope visitors will enjoy looking around a well-loved and lived in house which is still very much a family home. Those who join the tour can also take a walk around the garden which commands wonderful views over the Creedy valley.

The house is open to the public for guided tours at 2.15pm daily during the following weeks. 

21 April to 27 April
5 May – 11 May
26 May – 1 June
25 August – 31 August

‍If you are joining a tour the gardens are open between 1.30pm – 4.30pm.

For more details and to book a tour visit the website.