The Owl House pinches seven acres from Devon’s Blackdown Hills around Honiton and presents it to you as a wildlife haven tamed with a children’s play area and a tasteful terrace equipped with a coal barbecue. Picnic in the gardens, play croquet on the lawns, wander the wildflower meadows. Find total tranquility in an unspoilt farmyard.
The sofas are squishy, the cushions are plumped and there’s wood waiting for you to chuck onto the log fires. This is a restful world of books, Laura Ashley-style armchairs and footstools. So put your feet up with a Prosecco and some popcorn as you fire up the wall TV in the lounge. You’ve earned it.
Escape the madding crowd to raid the library and retire to the snug or belt out a ballad on the piano in the hall. Get active in the games barn over table football and table tennis. Then flop in front of the TV: don’t forget your Netflix and Amazon Prime Video passwords to stream over the BT fibre broadband.
You’ll get everyone around the chunky dining table or the terrace table outside. Stock up the two fridge-freezers with goodies from Barley Mow’s Farm Shop or the Axminster farmers’ market, and fizz from the Somerset Wine Company. Cook on the Bosch ovens and Fisher Paykel induction hobs.
Want to put your feet up? Call Kelly’s Fed and Pickled for anything from a simple dinner left in the fridge ready for your arrival to a fully serviced dinner for 14 people. Breakfast hampers, picnics and banquets all come with wonderful West-Country ingredients. Or tuck into amazing homemade, drop-off curries from our local Indian chef.
For further relaxed dining, might we suggest a takeaway from the King’s Arms in Stockland, Japanese from Kinori or pizza from Boss Hogs? Pop out to the pub, to pick from Wambrook lamb rump or slow-roasted pork belly at the Cotley Inn, or pressing of ham hock or whipped duck’s liver at The Candlelight Inn.
Dine at Holm, the new venture from the people behind three very successful, seasonal London restaurants, on pappardelle or Bagnell Farm Iron Age pork loin. Head to the Lord Poulett Arms for sumptuous suppers on the outdoor terrace, or enjoy the best of local fish and seafood caught off the south-west coast at The Oyster and Fish House.
The Owl House sleeps 14 in seven traditionally furnished bedrooms. Out here among the Blackdown Hills, with seven acres of garden around you, the only sound to breach the walls will be a homely hoot.
Bedroom one, Green Hill, sleeps two on the first floor in a kingsize bed and adds a TV, dressing room and bathroom with shower. Choose bedroom two, Edgar’s, for a single bed plus cot, and bedroom three, Hector’s, for two singles. Bedroom four, Alfred’s, is a double next to a beautiful bathroom.
Bedroom five, Horatio’s, offers bunk beds with a pull-out for extra guests, while bedroom six, Isadora’s, offers two singles. The final bedroom, Rudy’s, is a kingsize that shares a bathroom with Isadora’s, making for great family options.
The motorway’s a distant memory, the B-roads have got tinier and twistier and the hedges higher. You’re well on the way to rural Devon and to making memories among the high hills that’ll last a lifetime. And with room for 14 friends and family in seven bedrooms, you can bring most of home with you.
Exploration is a big part of kids’ holidays and you’ve got seven acres to dip into here that include a croquet lawn, kids’ play equipment and plenty of spots for a picnic, including a small stream (careful), or a barbie on the terrace. An hour to kill before dinner? Try table tennis or table football in the games barn.
Inside, while the grown-ups discover the drinks bar, kids can march to the snug armed with a mocktail. There are plenty of toys and bring your passwords for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on the large smart TV and get an adult to light the fire for a cosy movie night. Stream the internet over the BT Fibre Wi-Fi. Highchairs, bottle warmers, changing stations, potties and cots can all be arranged.
When yawns can’t be stifled any more, head up to family-flexible bedrooms such as Edgar’s, offering a single bed plus cot; Hector’s, with its two singles, and Horatio’s for bunk beds and pull-out. Team Isadora’s two singles with Rudy’s kingsize and shared bathroom for a perfect family set-up.
