Daily Mail Magazine

With striking coastline, unspoilt countryside and a laid-back take on life, Devon’s Hartland is the perfect place to escape from the city, says Wendy Gomersall

The problem with finding a piece of paradise is that, afterwards, you have a tricky decision to make. Tell too many, people about this particularly peaceful pocket of England, and you won’t see serenity for all the dust raised by tourists pelting down the M5.

On the other hand, an area as heavenly as the Hartland peninsula in North Devon deserves a wider audience. It’s a place where it still takes forever to drive from A to B along single-lane roads and where there’s a smattering of gentle attractions to amuse should boredom arise despite the bucolic loveliness. It’s the perfect destination for pootling around picturesque hamlets and taking it in turns to pick which dream cottage you’d like to move to when you finally find the courage to leave the rat race behind.

Hartland takes its name from the many stags, or harts, that still roam its 17,000 acres. Its other boasts include high, open moorland sprinkled with flitting butterflies and tiny wild flowers. Not to mention a deeply dramatic coastline where angry waves thrash against jagged rocks, dewy glens overgrown with juicy green vegetation and ancient woodland trimmed with dense hedgerows, which are littered with giant pink foxgloves in summer. There’s a lovely ancient legend that says when St Nectan was beheaded by bandits near here, he carried his head back to his hermitage in nearby Stoke, and everywhere a drop of his blood fell a foxglove grew.
During King Alfred’s time, Hartland was one of the largest royal manors in Devon. It’s still a thriving community, reminiscent of how English village life was 50 years or so ago.

Despite its small size-around 1,800 inhabitants – the village has three pubs, three churches, several shops, two garages, a dentist and a vet. Many craftsmen have studios in the area, and a brass band plays on local beauty spot Hartland Quay in the summer.

Within walking distance of Hartland is pretty Stoke-home to the imposing church of the aforementioned St Nectan and Hartland Point, a lighthousetopped headland 350-feet above sea level, where the Bristol Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the South West Coast Path runs the entire length of Hartland’s coast, and it has to be one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in Britain. Indeed, it’s officially designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

No wonder then, that, seven years ago, Jeremy and Lynda Roe found their dream property, left the city stress behind and moved to a new life.
The Roes now own and run Downe Cottages, eight luxury self-catering holiday cottages on the tip of the peninsula. The views are stunning north to Lundv Island and west out over the Atlantic – with spectacular cliff-top strolls, intriguing coves and the sea within walking distance.
Each one-, two- or three-bedroom cottage has a gloriously rural name Honeysuckle, Jasmine, Wysteria and is exceptionally well-furnished, the self-catering equivalent of a fivestar country house hotel.

All have fitted kitchens armed with everything from microwaves to garlic crushers. There are log stoves, power showers and heated towel rails in the bathroom. You’ll also find TVs and video players-complete with blank tapes should you want to record Coronation Sreet while you’re out walking or on a boat trip to Lundy Island.

Other thoughtful touches include being able to order groceries via the Tesco website (www.tesco.com) and have them delivered directly to your cottage, a book full of ideas for local sightseeing and places to eat, and a tides table.

Board games, croquet, milk delivery, tennis, cycling, golf, fishing and even, with warning, babysitting can all be provided on request. Even the resident cats, Sebastian and Emily, are happy to indulge guests’ demands for a cuddle.

But the most remarkable facilities Downe Cottages has to offer are the state-of-the-art gym (adults only) and the spa, with steam, sauna, whirlpool bath and treatment rooms. Here you indulge in everything from deep muscle sports massage, to reflexology; to aromatherapy massage.

And it’s all in a fantastic position for exploring not only the rest of Devon, but parts of Cornwall as well. From Hartland, it’s around a hour-and-a-half drive to the Eden Project, and 75 minutes to Rick Stein’s restaurants in Padstow (or ‘Padstein’ as the locals now call it).

A half-hour dawdle up the coast, takes you to Ilfracombe, now dubbed ‘Ilfracool’ thanks to-the presence of Damien Hirst’s new eatery, 11 The Quay. Cut across Exmoor, and you can stop off overnight on the way back at entrepreneur Peter de Savary’s newly refurbished Bovey Castle hotel.

Which all means that, over the next few years, heavenly Hartland – and Devon as a whole- looks set to attract new enthusiasm as a UK holiday place. Just make sure you get there before the crowds do.