Ashley Court celebrates Devon Open Studios
This year, for the first time, visitors are invited to experience the house and garden as part of Devon Open Studios.
- Six contemporary artists will display works uniquely associated with, or made for exhibition at, Ashley Court, as part of the Devon Open Studios this September.
- The exhibition will be made up of large scale land art (Sam Photic), ceramics (Jacob Bodilly), sculpture (Andy Lendzion), paintings (Mark Entwisle & Zoe Jones) and installations (Stephanie Buttle & Zoe Jones).
Open: 6th-14th September 2025 daily
Private View: Friday 5th September 2025, 5.30-7.30pm
What is Ashley Court?
Ashley Court is a privately owned Regency country house and walled kitchen garden bordering the River Exe. Former home to three of Tiverton’s mayors, the property remains largely unaltered since the early 1800’s. This year, for the first time, visitors are invited to
experience the house and garden as part of Devon Open Studios.
What can I expect to see?
Sam Photic’s land art piece slides horizontally into view as you make your way up the drive. Outside the house Andy Lendzion’s stunning pair of frisky bronze horses will be transformed into mythical unicorns as part of a Devon Open Studios workshop.
Inside, Mark Entwisle’s paintings perfectly capture the atmosphere and textures of the house’s interiors, they will be displayed in the main hall. Here you will also find ceramics by master potter Jacob Bodilly. Visitors can also see Jacob at work in his studio in the Old
Tack Room of Ashley Court’s stable block.
Stephanie Buttle draws a thread from Tiverton’s textile history as she invites you to step into the drawing room with her installation work ‘The Inside Outside’. It moves in a procession from the formality of the house itself, out through its gardens and into its hinterlands, where an older Ashley Court once stood. Ashley Court was Zoe Jones’ childhood home for 8 years and her work is infused with the presence of the house, its gardens and grounds.
A source of inspiration
The idea for curating an exhibition of work referencing or directly related to Ashley Court arose when Tara Fraser (owner, with her partner Nigel Jones) took a trip to explore her hitherto unknown family connections with the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne last year.
Heide was the home of influential Australian art collectors and patrons, John and Sunday Reed, from the mid-1930s through to their deaths in 1981. Ashley Court bears more than a passing resemblance to Heide, a substantial Victorian house on the banks of the Yarra River, with around 20 acres of land and gardens.
Tara’s father (Leslie Stack, d.1976) was a close friend of the Reed’s and lived and worked at Heide in the 1960s. Following her visit to Melbourne in 2024, she reflected that she had ‘unwittingly replicated something of that place in this one’ and felt inspired to explore further the idea of inviting contemporary artists to create works in response to the house and surrounding landscape at Ashley Court, just as the Reeds had done at Heide.
Event details
To find out the event times please follow the link:
Ashley Court Tea Room will provide refreshments for visitors and all the grounds, gardens (including the walled kitchen garden) will be open to visitors.
Directions – Ashley Court is 1 mile south of Tiverton on the Bickleigh Road. 10 minutes drive from the M5 Junction 27 to the front door. What 3 words – lunch.gather.vibe
Enquiries, Press and Private View
RSVP to Tara on hello@ashleycourtdevon.co.uk or 07768 878015
