Clevedon Court

Clevedon Court is a Grade I listed manor house built in 1320 by the de Clyvedon family, bought in 1709 by the Bristol merchant Abraham Elton and given to the National Trust in 1961 by the Eltons, who still live here and open it on the Trust's behalf. A great hall and staircase lead to rooms holding Eltonware, the studio pottery made on the premises by the 8th baronet, a roomful of Nailsea glass and industrial prints. Thackeray modelled Castlewood in Henry Esmond on the house. Behind, a Grade II listed 18th-century terraced garden climbs the sheltered hillside towards the Mendip Hills, praised by Gertrude Jekyll as one of the noblest ranges of terraced walls in England. Reviewers single out the guides in every room and say the lived-in feel makes a small house unusually engaging. The Trust warns that the free car park is on a grass slope and that the terraces are reached only by steep steps and loose gravel, with no accessible route; a cafe by the car park serves drinks and snacks.