Milson Cottage

Milson Cottage is a Grade II listed cottage located on the north side of Fore Street in Otterton. It has origins dating back to the 17th century but was rebuilt in the late 18th and 19th centuries, with modernizations made around 1970. The cottage is constructed from plastered cob on stone rubble footings, featuring stone rubble stacks topped with 19th and 20th-century brick, and has a thatch roof.

Originally, Milson Cottage was two separate cottages that faced west-south-west towards Box Cottage. The larger of the two rooms is the one nearest to the street on the right (south), which has a projecting rear lateral stack. The left room features a large projecting gable end stack and is set back slightly from the right room. Although the property seems to be part of a larger 17th-century house with a three-room-and-through-passage plan, no remnants of that early structure remain.

The cottage is two storeys high with an irregular arrangement of windows, consisting of 20th-century casements with glazing bars. The first-floor windows are half dormers, with the thatch roof raised above them. The front doorway is located on the left side of the projecting right room and features a 20th-century panelled door with a contemporary gabled porch that has a thatch roof. The roof is gable-ended on the left and half-hipped on the right, facing the street. Each floor on the street end has a similar 20th-century casement window with glazing bars.

At the rear, the thatch eaves extend over the shoulders of the stack. The interior has been significantly modernized since around 1970, with both fireplaces rebuilt and the only visible crossbeam in the main right room appearing to be a replacement from that period. The roof space is not accessible. Milson Cottage is part of a charming group of listed buildings along Otterton Fore Street.