There’s fancy tech among the blue skies and green grass, as you’ll discover when you park your car on the turntable. That’s a neat crowd-pleaser for avoiding nine-point turns, but the real wow effect here comes out on the terraces among the sun loungers.
This is a three-storey home on the cliffs at Babbacombe and the tiered decking reflects that. Hang out in the sunshine on the lower deck with steak and sausages from the coal barbie. Or head up the stairs to the hot tub for a priceless view across the rooftops down to the harbour.
Immerse yourself in the cosy comfort of a nautically nice coastal retreat perfect for celebrations, reunions and recalibrations. Foxes’ Cottage comes packed to the gunwhales with coastal quirk and you’ll never have to put up with other guests’ bad habits. Because this is the hotel where you pick your own company.
You can set your own agenda, too. That might mean simply chilling with a thriller in the conservatory, pausing occasionally to ponder whodunnit as you stare out over the bay at the multi-coloured sails that bob along on the aquamarine sea. Foxes’ Cottage is a place to stoke the embers of your soul.
Among three storeys that tower over the bay, there are plenty home comforts on offer, in the shape of soft sofas, paintings and pastel colours that cross English coastal chic with Nordic charm and bundles of fun. Stream the superfast BT Wi-Fi, play table footie in the games room, kick off your shoes, load up the logs and catch some family TV.
Prefer to put your feet up and stare at the sea over a Prosecco than wrestle with the range cooker? Bring in our professional chefs for a one-off celebration or fully catered break. Or just embrace the range cooker, slap on some fresh fish straight from the harbour and eat out on the terracing above the bay.
Backing you up are a toaster, microwave and fridge-freezer. Fill it with fresh stuff from Newton Abbott Farmers’ Market and wine from Tolchard’s. Eat around the nine-seater dining table or out on the terrace with steak from the barbie. Drop your dirties in the dishwasher when you’re done and kick back with a Nespresso.
Head out to the Babbacombe Inn for generously-filled baguettes, Babbacombe Inn Sizzlers, and pub classics such as steak and ale pie and fish and chips. Tuck into pan-fried chicken supreme or lamb tagine washed down with Wild Hare beer at The Mason’s Arms. Or pop into The Royal Carvery for just that.
Restaurants include The Elephant, serving a nine-course tasting menu garnished with a fine view over Torquay harbour. Enjoy a seasonally changing a la carte menu of candlelit British-European cuisine at The Orange Tree. Or tuck into chicken ballantine or classic Wiener schnitzel at Old Vienna.
Sleep deeply in rooms that tower above the cliffs, then wake to the sound of waves washing against the shore and petrels wheeling outside the windows. Foxes’ Cottage sleeps nine in five pastel-pretty, tranquil bedrooms.
Bedroom one is a superking en-suite on the first floor, while bedroom two is a superking zip-and-link with a shared bathroom. Both rooms will take a cot. Bedrooms three and four in the ground-floor annex are king-size en-suites that will also take a cot, while the first-floor bedroom five is a single with a shared bathroom.
There aren’t many more exciting prospects for kids than a British holiday by the sea. And when your holiday home sits perched high up on the rocks above beautiful Babbacombe, they’ll have every opportunity to keep a lookout for smugglers. Bring some binoculars.
But there’s plenty more wow here and it all begins when you park your car. They’ll be classroom heroes when they tell their friends about the parking turntable. The fun continues out on the tiered deck, high up among the gulls, with family barbies and lazy sun-lounger afternoons in the south-coast sunshine.
Older children can spend an evening simmering in the hot tub with its view over the bay. For letting off steam, there’s a 400-square-foot garden with sea views, and more from the conservatory, a magnet for quiet escape with headphones or a book from the shelves.
Get together in the evenings to catch some Freeview in the sitting room with the logs burning in the grate, or just stream and surf with the superfast BT Wi-Fi. Raid the games room for table football and board games. At bedtime, four of the five bedrooms come with TVs – we won’t tell if you don’t.
