[1] The parish of Zeal Monachorum covers an area of almost 3,400 acres (1370 hectares) at a height of 280 - 640 feet (85 – 195 metres) above sea level.

A mile to the south-west of the village is Reeve Castle, a large turreted house dated 1900 and restored from a ruinous state in the late twentieth century.

The Lord of the Manor owned nearly 500 acres (2.0 km2), and other large estates included Beer, Sutton, the three Newtons, Burrow, Loosebeare, the Higher, Middle and Lower Burston, Barons Wood, Gillhouse, Foldhay, Higher Week, Serston, Nymphays, Waie and Tuckingmill.

The parish church dates from 1235 with a late-Saxon font and a yew tree reputed to be at least 1000 years old in the churchyard.

Regular community events are held in the village hall which is maintained and managed by a locally elected committee.

The hall was originally a primary (public elementary) school which had 108 pupils in 1923 and many more during the Second World War when evacuees arrived, but it closed in 1954.