You know when you go on holiday and you just want to get home to your own bed? This wasn’t one of those holidays. I would have loved to stay longer.
We didn’t go away last half term so we were hoping to have a short trip this break. We started to troll the net looking for somewhere to jet off to. We were started to lean towards a place in the Canary Islands but in the end decided against it as it was starting to get a bit pricey. So, in the end we decided to stay closer to home and went Glamping at Cuckoo Down Farm in Devon.
Call me a wimp but…..
I grew up camping in Canada and do love it, but Glamping definitely is the way forward for me. One of the best things I liked about this break is we didn’t have to bring half of the house with us, especially since we had 3 adults, one dog and a child in the car.
Luxury Accommodation
The Safari tents are very well equipped and sleep 6 (max 4 adults). There are two bedrooms; one with a double and two singles and the sofa bed pulls out to sleep two more. You can also hire bedding (£7), as Duvets are so bulky we decided to splurge. There is an outdoor cooking area with everything you need. They even had a corkscrew! Plus, there is a composting toilet out back and there is a shower block near the farm house with an endless supply of very hot water.
On the Farm there are 3 Yurts and two Safari tents which are nicely spread out so you’re not on top of each other. As we only have one child, it was a blessing that there were other children around for our daughter to play with. She met a lovely set of twin boys, similar in age and we’ve exchanged addresses with the hope of them becoming pen-pals.
Freedom
Probably the biggest highlight for our daughter was the woods at the bottom of the field. They spent ages in their building dens and dams. I was a bit nervous at first as we couldn’t see them and there was a small stream running through it but she absolutely loved the independence. It was also lambing season and she got to see a lamb that was about an hour old, unfortunately, the chickens weren’t laying eggs at the moment but she did get to go on pony ride on Saturday morning (£6).
There is also an honesty shop on the premises so if you forget anything important you can pop down and grab it, plus, there is a very well stocked shop in the local village.
Things to do nearby
There really isn’t any need to leave the farm, but as we were so close to the coast we did visit two beaches.
Beer is about 12 miles away but worth it. It’s a picturesque town with a pebbly beach. My husband and daughter thought they were going on an hour long boat trip but it turned into a fishing trip and they came back with a couple of Mackerel that hubby gutted and fried up back at camp.
On the last day, we decided not to head back too early, as we’d just sit in traffic on the M3 and popped to the beach near Branscombe for a couple of hours. The road down is a bit hair raising. It was a bit reminiscent for us as the last time we went our daughter was 10 days old and we stayed at the Masons Arms where she had her first bath.
We don’t often go back to places more than once as we like to try new things but we would definitely love to go back to Cuckoo Down Farm one day.
Not as expensive as you may think!
I think it was fairly reasonable. Normally you can hire the tents for 3 nights from Fri to Mon but we had to get back for school on Monday, you have no idea how tempted I was to call in sick. Anyhow, as we were only staying for the two nights Becky gave us a discount so for 2 nights. It was £345 but if you divide that between 4 adults it works out to about £85 per adult for the weekend. Well behaved dogs are welcome but there is a £30 charge for them.
Thanks to the Sheaves for a wonderful weekend.