If you carried out a survey and asked people where they had been for a country cottage holiday or where they would choose to go, Devon is likely to come top of the list. There is a good reason why people refer to Devon as glorious; this English county that lies towards the south west , between the outer edges of the Bristol Channel and the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the English Channel in the south, Devon shows off with two seaside coasts, north and south.
Visit the Donkey Sanctuary near Beer during your Devon cottage holiday
From the north to the south coast is divine rolling green countryside and farms galore. Contented black and white cows chew the cud in picture perfect landscapes, wildflowers weave through Devon’s hedgerows and the birds sing exceptionally sweetly (or so it seems on holiday when we have time to listen).
People go to the beaches on the north coast of Devon to surf on the large waves and surfing tuition abounds in Croyde and along the Devon Heritage Coast. Even if you haven’t the nerve to attempt to ride the waves, those surfers make a pretty picture and add greater interest to our holiday snaps.
The Devon south coast and that string of fabulous sand or pebble beaches from Branscombe down to Sidmouth (one of the best), along to Brixham, Dartmouth, Hope Cove and the southern Heritage coast are a magnet for seaside loving families drawn to the sands and a paddle.
Holidaymakers love Devon because it goes out of its way to give them a good time. The rural holiday cottages and farmhouses are magnificent, often set in their own pretty gardens with a barbecue and garden lounging furniture, the modern seaside apartments are a dream and the pine lodges and log cabins just top it all. There is a vast choice of cottage accommodation in Devon so that everyone can find something comfortable and satisfying.
Devon cottages
There are even unique tree houses, lighthouses, windmills and unusual holiday homes to tempt the sated palate. There are beautiful gardens and parks to explore, every form of visitor attraction or activity that you can possibly imagine. And the weather is milder with more hours of sunshine in Devon. It is definitely a holiday kind county and some people reckon that it is especially pet-friendly to boot.
If you’ve never been to Devon, you’ll have to go. Just search for a country cottage in Devon that will tempt you to stay and go with the flow. Discover a little part of Devon and it will always stay in your heart.
When passion knows no limits, it is good to slip away to a romantic retreat for that private affair and where better than to Suffolk, an English county famous for its beautiful scenery and charming holiday cottages for 2. We suggest staying near the booking a holiday cottage in the village of Clare which is close to most of the popular places to visit on the tourist map, near Constable Country and various notable Suffolk locations.
Clare in Suffolk, the place for a romantic retreat
Mastercraftsmen built many of the cottages and amazing churches of Suffolk. At a time when builders took immense pride in their work, even individual cottages were created with loving care. Visitors often express pleasure and surprise at the heavily beamed, or artistically pargeted reliefs on the outside of cottages in Suffolk. The pargeted designs depict everyday country life in Suffolk: the sowing of grain, harvesting the wheat, horses dragging a plough across a rutted field. Suffolk is a mostly rural county dotted with handsome historic towns and pretty little villages. It dosn’t matter where you wander in Suffolk, the rural scenery is beautiful, the villages charming and towns impressive.
Views during your cottage holiday: golden fields of corn in Suffolk
The back lanes of Suffolk are ideal for cycling – few cars disturb the general tranquillity. Find an idyllic rural retreat for the two of you, somewhere with its own private garden and luxurious interior and a pleasureable break can be yours. View www.countrycottagesonline.com for stunning rural retreats in Clare, Suffolk.
Nature is for everyone and not a just a topic in primary school. One of the most popular BBC television programmes is ‘Countryfile’ which explores various aspects of the British countryside through the seasons and is followed by thousands. Encounter the countryside personally, not just visually through an electronic box. Take the children for a stay in the country and you will view the countryside through new eyes as you introduce them to plants and animals that they may have never seen before.
Country cottage for a magical rural break
You will need somewhere to stay in the country and rural holiday cottages and pine lodges are the most comfortable form of accommodation. There is nothing nicer than having your own spacious holiday home with a front door that you can close when you prefer to rest and be alone.
Out and about in the countryside can be most surprising. How often have you driven down a narrow lane only to be met by an enormous flock of sheep coming directly towards you? All you can do is to sit it out until they pass.
You might be amazed to find herds of shaggy Highland cattle grazing peacefully on the Isle of Wight or of fields of bison and llama in Sussex and herds of deer in lots of locations.
I love to see those fierce country ‘guard dogs’, a flock of geese protecting their patch and beware anyone who comes to close because they will follow and hiss at your heels leaving you feeling quite silly as you gingerly retreat.
Stumbling across fungi can be quite fascinating, there are those that are as large as dinner plates and others that should belong in fairyland. Children love to hear tales of fairies and goblins and circles of mushrooms may just prompt your imagination.
Fungi, a rural treasureAn old village pump in Felsham, rural Suffolk
On holiday in the country, you will encounter stiles, village greens, some with the old village pump as a momento of the past. Here is your chance to discuss the progress of technology throughout history and discuss how life is so much better now that we have hot and cold running water in our houses.
You and your family might just return from the countryside having had a wonderful time, a lot more educated and grateful that we were born in modern times.
Maiden Stone near Pitcaple, Inverurie, 9th Century
The modern idea of making forest walks more interesting by placing sculptures at intervals along trails is welcome. Take a holiday in Scotland and you’ll discover sculptors and artists of old, ancient Celts who left behind stone engraved circles or solitary standing stones covered in Pictish symbols that cause us to stand and stare and think about their origins. Visit Aberdeenshire in north east Scotland and White Cow Wood or Bennachie for good walking trails and ancient remains. There are various sites with similar mysterious stones in Orkney and dotted all over Scotland.
Any bird watchers would be dumbfounded by the numbers of sea birds that live on the rocks on the Aberdeenshire coast. The air can be a swirl of gulls and guillemots. Rocks offshore have been eroded by centuries of high winds and lashing rain into interesting natural sculptures. Walk the cliff tops to spot puffins with brightly coloured beaks and orange feet peering out of burrows and waddling across the grass with that rolling gait. Nature paints some of the most charming pictures of all.
Scottish seascapes are brilliant. Take the ferry to Skye or one of the islands of the Outer Hebrides. A fine mist creates an eerie world of gloom of some days, on others the sky is blue and the beaches lie pristine and unwalked. Leave a solitary trail of footprints across the sands as you walk by the gently lapping waves. Depending on the time of year, beached jellyfish may litter the sand in transparent lumps with pink or reddish centres. Lazy seals lift their heads to check you out and return to dozing in the sun.
Isle of Skye and remote beaches
Fishing used to play a huge part in the Scottish economy before the days of quotas. Old smoking houses may still be operational on the coast. Peer in to see batches of salmon acquiring colour as they cure in rows of pink.
Each small village has a lengthy history and a story to tell. Stop in the local pubs and chat to the locals who would dearly love to regale you with talk about witches, pirates, fishing and infamous inhabitants.
Cottages to rent for holidays in the Scottish countryside
There are lots of remote and secluded holiday cottages in rural Scotland that would be a small patch of heaven in a busy world. Go stay and discover another world, seamless with the past, full of colour, characters and mystery, art and history – both old and new.
When in love, the world sings a vibrant new song. Hands held, bodies close and spirits entwine. There is nothing to beat that feeling of being in love, the extreme highs and lows, the sighs and longing. Love needs a place to be alone, somewhere tranquil and beautiful to share for a while.
We can recommend some absolutely stunning rural hideaways for 2 in the UK – small romantic cottages where you can lay the foundations of your fondness and regard for each other.
Romantic breaks under the stars in the UK
To walk under stars you need to be away from the bright lights of cities, in country areas without street lights that encourage your lover to instinctively draw close. Search the night skies and realise what miniscule but marvellous and individual creations we are in this enormous picture. Look for holiday cottages and charming rustic log cabins for a few nights break in rural counties such as Northumberland, Cumbria or Yorkshire in the north of England, Suffolk and Norfolk in East Anglia, the Isle of Wight and country areas in south Cornwall. Herefordshire is also pleasantly green with intertwining country lanes that lead to remote and secluded cottages hidden from the world.
Romantic cottage holidays for 2 in Cornwall
Much of Wales and Scotland is rural. Escape to the remote places with woodland and coast, perhaps stay in a cottage by the sea so that you can have romantic walks on the beach in the morning, quiet places where the only company might be a lazy seal or squawking gulls.
Romantic cottage breaks for couples in Scotland
There are some fabulous cottage retreats around some of the Scottish lochs, stay awhile and watch the sun go down bright red over the water. Go walking in the wooded hills during the day, you’re likely to spot shy deer, plenty of rabbits and find pleasantly mossy clearings in amongst the trees. Take a picnic and enjoy a champagne lunch for two.
Self-catering cottage breaks for couples can be wonderful with a little imagination and forethought. The chance to be alone to express love can be more than an idle notion. There are lots of divine places to stay in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Start saving for that special trip or if you already have the means, someone you love and the desire, then do take a look at www.lastminute-romantic.com.
Britain’s countryside is amazing. Those of you who think it’s all about sheep, cows and bulls are in for a big surprise. Enormous areas of countryside are set aside as national parks that can be enjoyed by anyone who likes to get out into the fresh air. So far, Britain’s national parks are free to enter, unlike many other countries. Some of the national parks are seriously big, so don’t for a minute believe that you will cover them in a day. The largest of the parks is the Cairngorms in Scotland – a gigantic 1,748 miles and home to Scotland’s six highest mountains ..and you don’t need to be a climber to enjoy it’s many other treasures.
Self-catering holidays Norfolk BroadsAt the other end of the scale is The Broads in Norfolk and Suffolk and just 117 miles. It’s a wetlands and inland waterway and has long been a very popular holiday boating destination. There are lots of holiday cottages and pine lodges to rent for a short or longer stay in national parks.
Each park has it’s own character so one is bound to appeal to you more than another. Unlike in other countries, the boundaries of our national parks often include towns and villages – surely wonderful news for all of you rookie countryside explorers who feel that you’ll need the occasional whiff of concrete and asphalt to feel at home!
South Downs national park, EnglandAdmittedly, most of the national parks are in the northern half of Great Britain, but by no means all, the west country and south also have their gems.
In the south there’s the South Downs National Park that only came into being in 2010 and is already drawing more people than any of the other longer established parks. I think this is partly because it’s a mere hour’s journey from London. A full 631 square miles of coastline, hills, heath, grasslands and woods awaits you all.
Spend a day visiting the lovely Kingley Vale National Reserve with it’s 500 plus year twisted Yew trees; some an amazing five meters in diameter. Not only will you get a chance to breath good clean air but you’ll go home believing that depression is just a part of the US’s late 20’s to early 40’s history!.
If you’re a fan Barbara Erskine’s book Daughters of Fire, get a better idea of how her heroine, Queen Cartimandua lived by taking a look at one of the many Celtic Iron Age hill forts in the South Downs National Park: Chanctonbury Ring and Devil’s Dyke are but two.
Holidays near Hadrian's WallFind more hill forts in the Northumberland National Park. It’s on the boundaries of England and Scotland and has the additional attraction of Hadrian’s Wall. Take a walk along a section of it’s scenic 73 miles and transport yourself back to AD 120.
Views of Snowdonia WalesIf you are looking for somewhere really magical look no further than the Snowdonia National Park.
As the name implies it’s the home of Snowdon (3,560 feet) the highest mountain peak in England and Wales. But you don’t need to be an experienced climber to get to stand on the summit. Nowadays, it’s the Snowdon Mountain Railway (only rack and pinion railway in UK) that takes the strain of the 4 mile journey.
Enjoy the park’s many beautiful lakes and waterfalls. Here as everywhere in Wales there are castles and steam railways, the latter much beloved by the Welsh. Do take the scenic ride on the Bala Lake Steam Railways – it’s a lovely 9 mile trip.
Wherever you go in the countryside you just have to sample the local food. The best way to do this is to look out for farmers markets. But be warned you’ll start off just buying for the afternoon’s picnic and finish up filling the car with sumptuous fresh delicacies to take back to your holiday cottage!
New Forest holidaysIf you walk just one forest let it be old Willie the Conqueror’s old hunting ground, the new forest now the New Forest National Park. It’s just 90 minutes from London and there are 219 square miles to explore.
You can do it on foot or on a bike without any fear of being mowed down by a car. Just look out for the New Forest’s own breed of ponies and the deer, cattle and pigs that still roam the forest. Alternatively hire a horse and cover the ground like William did while hunting deer and wild boar. I can’t guarantee you’ll go home with a wild boar but you’ll definitely not be bored.
It’s also worth having a look at some of the villages that fall within the boundaries of the park. Buckler’s Hard is a good one if you’re interested in marine history. Back in the 18th century this is where the ships for Admiral Lord Nelson’s fleet were constructed, using great oaks from the New Forest. There’s even an interesting museum for you to wander around.
If you’re a night owl, you can still enjoy the attractions of a national park. Exmoor National Park’s dark skies have earned it the official title of Europe’s first International Dark Sky Reserve. So professional stargazers and rookies alike grab your telescope or binoculars and get out into the cool night air and enjoy a totally free starlight display. Stay over in the area for a few days and visit the park’s lovely wooded valleys and moors and earn yourselves a traditional west country cream tea.
See I wasn’t talking a lot of old bull when I said the countryside was more than a few cows, bulls and sheep.
Holiday Cottages in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales
