Lympstone Manor – a Georgian house re-grown around a vineyard

On the tidal edge of the Exe Estuary in east Devon, Lympstone Manor is Michael Caines' version of a country house rebuilt for the present day. The Grade II listed Georgian mansion, mainly built in the 1760s around an older farmhouse for the banker Charles Baring, had fallen into disrepair under the name Courtlands when Caines, after two decades as chef at the two-Michelin-starred Gidleigh Park, bought it in September 2015. He reopened it in April 2017 as a 21-room hotel with three dining rooms, a wine cellar and, soon after, vines planted on the slope running down to the foreshore. The restaurant took a Michelin star within six months of opening and has kept it ever since; in October 2024 the MICHELIN Guide also awarded the hotel itself Two Keys. The result reads less like a renovation than a rewriting: every room, terrace and dining table is pointed at the same view, out across the water towards the Jurassic Coast and Lyme Bay.

01The house

Lympstone Manor's bones are older than its name. The house was mainly built in the 1760s around an earlier farmhouse, for Charles Baring, a wealthy banker, and it passed through two centuries of private owners under the name Courtlands before Michael Caines bought it, run down and in need of significant restoration, on 15 September 2015.

The rebuild took sixteen months and cost close to £9m, raised from eleven of thirteen investors Caines approached, with the chef himself holding the largest stake. He worked with architect Rud Sawers on the layout and extension, and with the London design studio Meraki, whose furniture was made by 2install in Glasgow and whose interiors were partly inspired by the American furnishings brand Restoration Hardware. The hotel opened to guests in April 2017.

02Rooms and suites

The 21 guestrooms and suites are each named after a bird of the Exe Estuary and furnished with hand-painted original artwork by the local artist Rachel Toll, taking its avian namesake as design inspiration. Categories run from Classic and Deluxe Rooms at the front of the house, overlooking the entrance fountain and lawn, up through Deluxe Estuary View rooms with private balconies, to Junior and Master Suites and the largest Grand and Superior Estuary Suites.

Insider tip

Dog-friendly; Pool House and vineyard tours open to non-residents; closest station Exmouth, 7 minutes' walk.

The higher categories add private terraces with outdoor soak tubs and fire pits and panoramic estuary views — the Grand Estuary Suites, for instance, come with a freestanding bath and walk-in shower as well as the outdoor tub. Six further Shepherd Huts stand in secluded woodland at the foot of the vineyard, each named after a woodland animal, with their own kitchenettes, log burners and outdoor tubs.

03Where to eat

Caines' fine-dining restaurant unfolds across three rooms of the house named after landmarks visible from their windows — Powderham, Mamhead and Berry Head — where he expresses what the house calls his 'Terroir Cuisine', built on the Exe estuary and the wider South West larder, with dishes such as chicken and truffle mousseline with Wye Valley asparagus, Scottish girolles and a Madeira cream sauce. The restaurant holds one Michelin star, five AA Rosettes and an AA Notable Wine List Award, and has been named among La Liste's World's Best Restaurants.

Wine is treated as seriously as the cooking: two cellars hold 600 bins sourced from around the world, overseen by a sommelier team who match pours to each course, alongside a tasting room devoted to Devon-grown wines including the house's own sparkling cuvées.

04The Pool House

For looser dining there is the Pool House Restaurant and Bar, built around the hotel's heated outdoor pool, serving locally landed fish and shellfish, grass-fed meats and just-picked vegetables alongside wines, beers and cocktails that now include the first vintages from the estate's own vineyard. Guests can swim, then eat on the terrace watching the sun go down over the estuary and the green hills of Haldon.

The leisure side of the Pool House also runs to a tennis court and croquet lawn, with showers, changing rooms and loungers for a full day outdoors before or after a swim.

05The vineyard

Caines planted the Lympstone Manor vineyard in May 2018, setting 17,000 pinot noir, meunier and chardonnay vines across what is now 10.8 acres of the estate's 28 acres of gardens, grounds and parkland. The flagship is the Lympstone Manor Cuvée, alongside estate wines such as the Triassic Pinot Noir 2020, Isabeau Rosé 2022 and Edwards Chardonnay 2022, plus a more recent house gin and eau de vie de marc, sold through the estate's own wine shop and poured for guests on vineyard tours overlooking the Exe.

06The neighbourhood

Exmouth sits where the Exe meets the sea, with the Jurassic Coast and Lyme Bay stretching away to the south-east and Exeter around twenty-five minutes inland. The hotel's own 28 acres include a Sculpture Walk through the grounds, and the estate is dog-friendly, with the Pool House restaurant open to dogs as well as guests.

07Making the most of a stay

Beyond the table, the Manor hosts The Celebration of Speed, an annual motoring festival reflecting Caines' own enthusiasm for cars, which has drawn visits from Williams F1 and the racing driver Damon Hill. Regular guests can also take up House Membership for repeated, unrestricted access to the hotel's amenities, while vineyard tours, afternoon tea and private dining experiences round out a stay for those not passing straight through to dinner.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.