Dartington Hall is a medievel hall built in 1388 for John Holand, Earl of Huntingdon, half-brother to Richard II. After John was beheaded, the Crown owned the estate until it was bought by 1559 by Sir Arthur Champernowne, Vice-Admiral of the West under Elizabeth I.
It was mostly derelict by the time it was bought by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhurst in 1925 and renovated. In 1935 the Dartington Hall Trust, a registered charity, was setup and they have run the estate since.
The estate has been the site of many events, conferences, and social experiments, certainly since the Elmhirsts renovated the place with this in mind and hosted a variety of social and artistic groups to work there. The gardens feature an amphitheatre and nice sculptures. There is an ancient Yew and rumour has it Knights Templar buried in the graveyard there.
The estate comprises various schools, colleges and organisations, including the Shumacher College , Dartington College of Arts, Dartington Arts, the Summer School, a Steiner school, a sawmill, a textile company.
The colleges has a history of socially informed work which has recently been curbed in order to expand the estate's reputation as a business. The Hall now functions as a conference centre and Bed and Breakfast accommodation.
