Love the beach? Love Burgh Island Apartments…

If you love being near to the beach on holiday, you can’t get much closer than at our Burgh Island Apartments, overlooking one of south Devon’s biggest and most striking sandy beaches at Bigbury-on-Sea.

Just 20 yards from the beach, and looking out towards pretty Burgh Island over the low-tide sandy causeway, this is a truly excellent and greatly appreciated development of 29 high quality apartments, of which we let 14. 

All the apartments – such as L550 - have those sensational views, are double-glazed, marvellously light, with smart, modern kitchens and large, open-plan living areas, plus glazed doors to balconies or terraces.

Some apartments, including L542, are dog friendly. Dogs are welcome on the beach, although they are restricted to certain areas during the summer.

All apartments have access to a well-equipped and stylish Leisure Club, with a fine indoor kidney-shaped swimming pool, spa pool, gym, sauna and changing rooms and showers. The smart bar provides coffee and drinks through the day and light meals, cream teas and a children’s menu from 10am to 7pm, served either in the Club or for you to take to your apartment. A comfy lounging area has sofas and WiFi Broadband so you can sit and upload your day’s photos to Facebook, or take to the outside terrace facing the sea.

The views over the sea to the south and west, and at low tide of a huge expanse of smooth washed yellow sand reaching to Burgh Island, are outstanding. The island's jolly pub, The Pilchard, is fun to visit, via a long-legged sea tractor at high tide, or by foot at low tide. Or perhaps enjoy a cocktail at the island’s Art Deco hotel?

Right by the beach you’ll find the Venus Café and Venus Riders watersports with hire and tuition available for windsurfing, surfing and kayaking. The Venus Company has kindly given our holidaymakers a special discount in our What Shall We Do Today? 2012 guide - £5 off when you spend £10 or more at its cafés, shops or watersports centres. The less energetic can while away the hours paddling, building sandcastles or exploring the rock pools.

Away from the beach, you can enjoy pretty walks along the coastal path, boat trips along the river Dart or a round of golf at Bigbury’s splendid eighteen hole course with wonderful sea views.

For more information, see our dedicated Burgh Island Apartments brochure or check availability and book online.

The Venus Company - loving the beach...

We love the West Country, and being environmentally aware comes naturally. So when we heard of a local, forward-thinking organisation who was championing these principles, we were keen to know more.

The Venus Company has six environmentally friendly and socially responsible cafés, five in stunning beachside locations in south Devon and north Cornwall - Blackpool Sands, East Portlemouth, Bigbury-on-Sea, Tolcarne and Watergate Bay – and their most recent enterprise at the Shops at Dartington centre near Totnes.

Their cafés are renowned for their delicious menus of quality, locally sourced organic food and drink, whether you’re eating in or taking away. From full English breakfasts and beef burgers to paninis, salads and cream teas, Venus caters for gluten-free, vegetarian and meat lovers alike and children are made very welcome. Blackpool Sands also has a restaurant where alfresco, Mediterranean-style evening dining is available and special occasions can be catered for – the views are to die for. Venus also has a watersports arm to the business based at Bigbury-on-Sea and Blackpool Sands to help you work up an appetite!

Set up in 1995 by Michael Smith, his wife Louisa and Lee Porter, the company adopted the tagline ‘Loving the Beach’. A key business aim was to create a quality concept which encompassed their keen interest in environmental issues. The South Hams-based family business has gone from strength to strength, winning numerous sustainability awards along the way. From supporting wildlife charities to fundraising for schools, the company continues to have a positive impact at its venues and further afield.

Michael Smith says: “At Venus, we are passionate about looking after the environment. We consider the environmental impact of every business decision we take. Our goal is to minimise the impact of our business, using local and organic suppliers, reducing food miles and employing local people. We hope that our contribution - through saving energy, recycling products, centralising our operations and using sustainable materials - will help to ensure that future generations are able to enjoy our beautiful coastline and countryside as much as we do”.

The company uses countless innovative methods to boost energy efficiency and reduce its carbon footprint. Venus re-develops sites using recyclable materials and sympathetic landscaping (East Portlemouth), uses its own environmental specifications for new builds (Bigbury-on-Sea and Tolcarne) and uses innovative, environmentally friendly approaches when upgrading sites (Blackpool Sands). But there's also the everyday eco-savings, like low carbon vehicles for deliveries, low energy lights, motion sensors for storeroom lights and a study into encouraging customers to recycle efficiently.

Venus's suppliers are happy to help the company in its quest, too: In 2009, a 5 litre bag-in-box organic fruit juice was developed for Venus by Luscombe Organic Juices saving some 3,000 glass bottles.

Helpful Holidays and Venus are forging a long-term partnership and working together on a range of marketing activities, in particular to develop a ‘sustainable cottage scheme’ to highlight the particularly environmentally friendly holiday homes in our portfolio. We’ve seen a consistent demand from holidaymakers for information about the ‘green’ credentials of our holiday cottages on issues such as recycling, composting, water and energy saving and using local transport. We’ll keep you posted on our progress with the scheme.

So if you’re staying in the South Hams or north Cornwall, or even just visiting for a day, why not head for one of these spectacular beaches and enjoy a tasty treat from Venus? Next month, look out for our post about the Venus SUP Championship in May.


View holiday cottages in the South Hams
View holiday cottages in North Cornwall

Festive get-away by the sea...

Fancy getting away over Christmas and the New Year but need inspiration?

Perhaps a smart apartment on the south Devon coast will tempt you? Just 20 yards from Bigbury-on-Sea's splendid sandy beach is this truly excellent development of high quality apartments including a very good private Leisure Club. The views from the apartments over the sea to the south and west, and at low tide of a huge expanse of smooth washed yellow sand reaching to Burgh Island, are outstanding.


It's a good spot to enjoy the surf and the sand or to simply soak up the spectacular scenery on a cliff-top walk. If you're in a celebratory mood, how about a special meal at the famous Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel or a drink or two at the island's jolly pub, The Pilchard? It's great fun to travel to the island by long legged tractor at high tide!

Christmas and New Year weeks at this apartment are now available with a 30% discount, which is only £206 per person per week based on five people sharing. For more ideas, check out our special offers for winter short breaks and the festive season.