Suffolk Magazine

It is a very simple philosophy: only the best will do. Jeremy and Lynda Roe want Downe Cottages, on the Hartland peninsula in North Devon, to be the Rolls Royce of self-catering accommodation, the bench mark by which all other holiday cottages are judged.

From the moment we stepped out of the car at the end of the six-hour drive down there, and were ushered into their spacious, Aga-warmed kitchen for a welcoming cup of tea, it was obvious this short break was going to be long on luxury.

Jeremy, a barrister by profession, was charged with introducing a culture of excellence to a large public company. “In the end, I decided it was never going to happen, so we decided to go off and do our own thing,” he explained. “We decided we would do something else where we could create something that was excellent.” Downe Cottages are the result.

Initially looking for a country house for themselves, the Roes “saw some houses that just happened to have cottages attached to them,” explained Lynda. “We thought; ‘this is a good idea. I have an ability to run a home. I have run one for 30 years! Why not go into cottages?”’ And in Downe House, with its five listed Victorian stone built barns, ripe for conversion, they found the ideal location.

“We looked round the whole of the south of England. We were just knocked out when we saw North Devon!” said Jeremy “We just thought this was fantastic – so uncommercialised, so undeveloped, so beautiful, really!” said Lynda. “We just fell in love with it,” agreed Jeremy.

It is easy to see why. Just a mile from the village of Hartland, Downe is surrounded by rolling green fields and stunning sea views. French windows in our bedroom framed the island of Lundy. The rugged peninsula has somehow been by-passed by the West Country holiday log jam.

“Hartland is a real village. It doesn’t close down in winter. So many of the holiday places are ghost towns in winter. Hartland doesn’t run itself just for holidays. It is very welcoming to holidaymakers, but it is not just there to serve the tourist trade,” said Lynda.

The Roes led us across the courtyard and showed us around Clematis Cottage, explaining everything we needed to know about controlling the central heating, the washing-up machine, the video and so on. Everything had been thought of: on the table was a welcoming bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, a ready-laid tea tray and a vase of freshly-cut flowers. Everything was absolutely spotless – and of the highest quality.

Jeremy and Lynda have stayed in some of the world’s best hotels, and that is the impression they have set out to recreate. Lynda says she is the original “princess and the pea.” “We loathe going into places where there are signs that people have been there before,” she said. She wanted every visitor to feel that “they are the first person in that property it is their home.”

Polished slate floors and exposed scissor-beam roofs testify to the buildings’ rustic heritage, but otherwise forget the idea that self-catering implies roughing it, in any sense! “What the UK doesn’t have is wonderful weather,” said Jeremy ‘You need to create places where people can be comfortable whatever the weather. We want to provide everything that people want, and no hassle.”

“We believe that people should spoil themselves on holiday” said Lynda. ‘You shouldn’t have a good holiday despite your accommodation: that should rank quite high in your enjoyment! You want to be pampered on your holiday!” So all the bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms. Open plan kitchen/living rooms are airy and spacious. All kinds of little “touches” add to the sensation of indulgence. Cooking in a strange kitchen can be frustrating, but here was everything a keen cook could hope for, from a set of good knives, to sea salt, black pepper mill, and a useful selection of herbs and spices. We opened the welcome bottle of wine, and felt thoroughly at home!

The next morning we set off to explore the surrounding countryside. It is, as the brochure promised, a walker’s paradise. There’s hardly any traffic on the roads, and there are endless footpaths to choose from. We walked to Hartland Quay, on the west of the peninsula, where there are spectacular rock formations in the cliffs towering over the ruined mole of a long-abandoned harbour. For those used to Suffolk’s gentler slopes, the rapid ascents and descents of the Devon Coast Path are breathtaking, to say the least, but then, so is the scenery.

We followed the coast to Hartland Point, and then towards Clovelly, turning inland when our legs finally decided that enough was enough. But we’d done enough miles to justify a late lunch at Downe’s “local,” and a truly sumptuous evening meal at Decks, a waterfront restaurant half an hour’s drive away at Instow.
Part of the Downe service is Jeremy’s comprehensive dossier of suggested places to go and things to do and he recommends Decks as the best restaurant in the area – and also for its stunning summer sunset views across the estuary. It was firework night when we were there, and rockets bursting over Bideford provided an acceptable winter substitute! On Sunday it rained – not so surprising for Devon in November. We drove to nearby Clovelly where the steep cobbled main street is definitely slippery when wet! Then we retired to the Wreckers’ Retreat, the atmospheric bar at the Hartland Quay hotel, to watch the storm. In the evening we walked to the Hart, which is, as promised, a real village inn -we seemed to be the only strangers -offering excellent pub grub and remarkable value for money.
We set off for home the next morning feeling that a short break wasn’t long enough, and we’d have to go back again, to see more of the surrounding scenery, and to wallow in Downe luxury.

Cars are banished from the courtyard, except for arrivals and departures. They are garaged in yet another old farm building, useful for security as well as for aesthetics. “You have to give people peace and quiet,” said Jeremy “We market three things; luxury, glorious sea views, and tranquility. Those three things, we try and provide absolutely.”

And the formula is a winner. Once people have sampled Downe, they can’t wait to go back, as repeat bookings already testify. And because the cottages are so cosy – with log fires, as well as central heating – they are in demand for winter breaks, as well as summer holidays.

“One of our biggest hurdles is persuading people that we are what we say we are,” says Lynda. ‘The location is exquisite. It is unspoilt, so lovely”.