Coast View My Favourite Cottages

A special beach deserves a special sort of holiday cottage, and that’s exactly what you get at Coast View, which unsurprisingly enjoys some of the best views in North Devon from its perch above the seaside village of Woolacombe. It’s an extraordinary view, even by local standards, and winding up here for your holidays may just make you feel that you’ve died and gone to heaven, especially when you get inside.

Recently completely renovated, the house is arranged over 3 storeys, and the nice thing about it is that wherever you are in the house you are always aware of the sea and the beach far down below.  Downstairs there’s a large sitting room with a wood-burning stove and triple-aspect views and a large, very well-equipped kitchen/diner, with a double electric oven, microwave, dishwasher and gas hob and a table that can comfortably sit 10 guests.  There are 2 further sitting rooms, one leading out to a patio with garden furniture, another with a flatscreen TV, toys and games, and a utility room which houses a washing machine and tumble dryer, while on the floors above 5 bedrooms easily accommodate 10 people, in 3 doubles, a twin and a room with bunk beds.

It’s the sort of place you won’t want to leave, with a shady mature garden behind the house and a front terrace equipped with garden furniture and a cleverly sited hot tub, in which you can feel extremely smug while enjoying the views. It’s no hardship, though, to wander down through the village to the seafront and what is  one of the best beaches not just in Devon but in the country – a haven for surfers, sun-worshippers and, well… just about anyone really. Choose between the main stretch below, the more sheltered cove of Barricane Beach, with its renowned Sri Lankan beach café, or Putsborough at the far end, which also has a rather good café.

Beyond Woolacombe there's plenty more to this stretch of coast too, with more amazing beaches at Croyde and especially Saunton Sands beyond, with its amazing dunescape behind, and in the other direction, Exmoor, with its cliffs and wooded valleys.  Next time you will just have to come for longer!