about us
Becky
I'm sure my 15 year career within the caring industry has made me appreciate precious time with loved ones. My attentiveness and desire to help people drives me to provide fantastic accommodation that groups will want to return to year after year. I have now hung up my clinical gloves and adorn the cleaning variety.
We're very much a family business, although I'm the primary cleaner, bed making and everything in-between occasionally there's a need to draft in extra staff. Our daughter, son, their partners and other family members have been seen running around the property helping with those quick change overs. And of course my husband Neil who's my right hand man, maintenance, gardener and also great at making beds and hoovering.
Neil
When I'm not helping at The Elms I'm a beef farmer and been living and working on the family farm here in Shillingford since 1988.
Becky and I were blessed with two children and brought them up on the farm in this beautiful part of the West Country.
Exploring Devon's moorland, coastlines and picturesque villages was a major part of life for our family growing up. Spending quality time with family and friends has always and still remains very important to both of us. So when we opened The Elms our focus was to make it somewhere we would stay ourselves and we continue to develop and grow our dream holiday home.
Where it all began
It was always our wish to own this fabulous property. This was made possible by our lovely family friend who sold it to us.
Neil and I first became the proud owners of The Elms in 2021. Having been unoccupied for many years it was a dream of ours to bring 'the life' back into The Elms.
Not everyone has the luxury of gathering big groups together and all under one roof. It was our dream to provide self-catering accommodation for people wishing to holiday together, creating great memories, thus turning it into The Elms Holiday Home.
Bygone Years
The Elms and Shillingford in past times
The Elms is a beautiful Georgian property. The Georgian period began in 1714 with the reign of King George I and lasted until the death of King George IV in 1830.
The Georgian period is generally associated with the 18th century.
Properties were often built around a garden square and didn't usually have there own private gardens. It's architecture is characterised by it's elegant simplicity.
The placement of windows and doors being Symmetrical with interior rooms square and of equal size for a balanced layout and key features. Known also for it's clean lines and it's good use of natural light. Some Georgian houses were built with multiple floors (often 3 or 4). The middle floor typically reserved for the family with reception room and entertaining spaces, with the floor at the very top being used for servants quarters. Layout was typically ground floor or lower ground housing the kitchen, laundry and possibly a servants dining area. Whilst the first floor consisted reception rooms like dining room, drawing room and possibly a library. Second floor the family bedrooms and possibly a dressing room. Lastly the servants bedrooms located on the third floor were often smaller with much lower ceilings.
History of The Elms
The Elms was once a Reformed School which existed in the house, opened in July 1913 and closed in the 1930s. It was specifically for the children of unmarried parents in the days when it was not ‘socially accepted’ to have these children in the church schools.
The Elms Cottage behind and it's garden that you can see from Cedar was formerly part of The Elms until it was split and converted to become a separate dwelling.
Also part of the estate included The Elms Barn this would have once housed the families livestock. It became unused and the building deteriorated. The barn was sold and In 2023 it was finally converted and restored into a lovely family home.
When all three properties were split The Elms was fortunate to retain it's lovely orchard area.
Shillingford
The Devon & Somerset Railway ran behind the village until its closure in 1966. Today much of the track-bed, along with bridges and other railway infrastructure can be seen behind the village. Historically, the village had a Post Office, garage, chapel, saw-mill, watermill and pub. Today all of these have been sold off as private homes.
With the countryside right on our doorstep you can follow the many footpaths and enjoy some lovely local walks. Maybe even capture some of its history?