Indulge your guilty holiday pleasure: sit back and soak up West Country views…

Stopping to smell the roses is a big part of the West Country holiday culture. If gazing idly at a glorious view is your guilty pleasure, take a look at this selection of holiday homes.

Sandsgate, three miles from Chagford in Devon, is a magnificent detached house with superb sweeping views across the river Teign valley to Chagford, the National Trust’s Castle Drogo and the moors beyond. It has just been beautifully refurbished and extended, so you can enjoy it as one family or with a larger group of family and friends. The quarter-of-a-mile driveway approaching the house, set in 18 acres of gardens and woodland, makes the perfect start for a special gathering.

Apartment16 is just 20 yards from the beach at Bigbury-on-Sea, South Hams - a perfect vantage point from which to enjoy the shifting panorama. The tide below the first floor apartment will creep in, giving waterside views to Burgh Island, and drift out again, revealing a huge expanse of smooth washed yellow sand. The island's jolly pub, The Pilchard, is fun to visit, whether you walk across the beach or take the long-legged sea tractor at high tide. Visitors can also enjoy the leisure club, including a smart bar and kidney-shaped pool.

Salcombe is one of the most beautifully sited small towns in Britain. It sits at the mouth of the Kingsbridge estuary, where the spacious Underbecks is perched, looking out over bobbing yachts and South Sands’ golden beach. The loungers on the enclosed terrace are in an ideal spot for taking in the sensational views upstream to Salcombe itself. When it’s time to go and explore, boats can be hired locally and the National Trust’s Overbecks is less than half a mile away.

For a real taste of West Country history, head to the once famous Elizabethan port and beautifully kept old town of Dartmouth. At Last is a Grade II listed town house with views over the river Dart to Kingswear and situated just above Bayards Cove – the oldest part of Dartmouth's harbour with cobbled quayside.

For more outstanding vantage points, take a look at our holiday cottages with sea views and holiday cottageswith country views in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset. 

A recipe for a perfect spring break!

Spring is here – time to take a break to relax and recharge. The ingredients: some quiet time to enjoy each other’s company, a few invigorating walks, an eyeful of inspiring scenery and plenty of energising fresh air. Mix together with the May Day and The Queen’s Jubilee bank holidays coming up, and you have a perfect spring break.

Here are a couple of superb getaways where the two of you can escape the crowds…

The Music Room, a mile from Aveton Gifford in the South Hams and deep amongst rolling hills and quiet narrow lanes, is a wonderfully atmospheric and individual property – as its name suggests, this is a former music room, and a Grade II listed one at that. The sense of space inside is amazing, with high, high ceilings and huge stained glass windows but it’s still easy to make it cosy by lighting the woodburner. A wonderful and extraordinary place to escape to, any time.

You’re close to Kingsbridge and Salcombe for conveniences, restaurants, good shops and, of course, boat trips and estuary life in general– and don’t miss the explosion of spring flowers in the gardens at Overbeck’s. The area also has plenty of country pubs to welcome you after romantic walks exploring the excellent stretch of coast or the many pretty villages.

1 Shippen Cottages, a mile north of Wilmington, in east Devon, peacefully hidden in spring flower-filled lanes, is a modern and stylish retreat converted from a former milking parlour and shippen, across the lane from the friendly owners’ farmhouse. The cottage is smart throughout with a south-facing suntrap deck outside, ideal for enjoying the tranquil valley views and soothing birdsong.

Venturing out, you’ll find the picturesque location excellent for meandering, walks in 10 acres of wildflower meadows, heath and woodland, where you can watch the wildlife and follow the river to nearby Cotleigh - and you can take your four-legged friend too! Further afield, you’re surrounded by pretty hamlets and in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the edge of the Blackdown Hills – a feast for the eyes in springtime.

 Take a look at our cottages available over Easter, cottages available over May Day bank holiday and cottages available over the Jubilee bank holiday.

Alternatively, use our Advanced Search to find just the right place to stay for a spring break or give our knowledgeable telephone team a call on 01647 433593 for some help.