Forde House is a Jacobean mansion built around 1610, still largely original despite a long history of royal visits and bureaucratic owners. It now serves as the Teignbridge District Council headquarters, but parts of it — including the great hall and the Stuart-era staircase — are open during occasional heritage open days.
It sits in a small park off the road to Torquay and is a five-minute walk from Newton Abbot railway station. The exterior is worth a look even when the house is closed; the long gabled front and mullioned windows are among the best surviving examples of early 17th-century domestic architecture in Devon.