Our 2012 brochure is out...

You'll find an even greater choice of holiday cottages in east Devon, Dartmoor, South Hams and Cornwall for 2012. The number of places carrying our top 4½ or 5 star rating has also risen, reflecting our holidaymakers' demand for high quality places to stay.

The new brochure (our 30th!) is packed with more than 560 holiday homes throughout the West Country, ranging from romantic retreats for two up to big country houses sleeping a maximum of 48 guests; prices are from £167 to £6,440 per week. The portfolio also includes several Dorset cottages within easy reach of Weymouth for the 2012 Games sailing events.

Q10, SeaDrift, Mawgan Porth

We've continued to see high levels of enquiries from both holidaymakers and home owners. Our General Manager, Moray Bowater, comments, “People booking holidays this year have been seeking value, but are happy to pay a good price for top properties and high standards of service. We believe our quality/price ratio is a major factor and are confident that the market will continue to grow at this level.”

Now in our 30th year, we estimate nearly two million people have stayed in our properties. “We are grateful to everyone who gave us their trust in our early days and the many who have continued to holiday with us almost every year,” continues Moray Bowater.


E20, Stonedge Cottage, Bath

All of our holiday homes are regularly inspected and star rated by our team so we can advise you honestly through first-hand experience and help you find just the right place for a happy holiday.

30 of our holiday homes carry a top 5 star rating, whilst 55 have 4½ stars; 80 have use of a heated swimming pool, some have private moorings or fishing rights; others are on working farms and most have stunning views across countryside or out to sea. Many are within ambling distance of the beach or local pub, and over half welcome pets. We also have some exceptionally plush, big and beautiful places - 73 sleep ten or more and many can organise catering and maid service. Something for everyone!

For a free copy of our 2012 brochure, call on 01647 433593, order or download a copy online or email help@helpfulholidays.com. Every property in our brochure is also featured on our website.

View a list of all the new properties in our 2012 brochure.

Happy browsing!

October foodie heaven...

The West Country is renowned for its abundant, tasty produce and is home to many celebrated chefs.

Next month is bursting with mouth-watering foodie events, so what better time for an autumn break?


We've selected a few to whet your appetite...

Mitch Tonks

Exmoor Food Festival 30th September to 9th October  



Boscastle Festival 1st to 2nd October

Celebration of Food 1st to 31st October

  

Falmouth Oyster Festival 13th to 16th October

Dartmouth Food Festival 21st to 23rd October

We've some fabulous holiday cottages still available during October where you can enjoy your tasty treats or perhaps experiment with your own culinary creations?

Get away for October half-term…

If you’re hankering after a relaxing break at half-term, it’s not too late. We’ve still some super cottages left, and as you’d expect they’re all good places for happy holidays. Don’t delay though, we recommend you book now to avoid missing out on your favourite cottage.

There are lots of family friendly attractions in the South West and they’ll all be geared up for lots of fun activities to keep your kids entertained. Here are some ideas…

The Dairy is a detached, neat and comfy single-storey cottage on the edge of Hawkchurch, where Dorset meets Devon. Situated in Wyld Court, home to a striking Elizabethan manor house, it’s surrounded by acres of peaceful, rolling countryside with pretty villages and stunning coast nearby. The cottage has its own private enclosed outside space, plus shared use of a games room with a pool table, darts and table tennis. The friendly owners, who live in the manor house along the drive, are happy for you to help with the feeding of their many family pets (ducks, chickens, cats, dogs) and miniature Shetland ponies and goats that reside in fields around the cottages. Nearby places to visit include Pecorama, Forde Abbey and the Donkey Sanctuary. There are also plenty of fossils to discover along the Jurassic Coast.

Safe Haven is a welcoming 200-year-old, end-of-terrace stone/cob house in the heart of the pretty boat building and fishing village of Appledore. As well as lovely, long views over the Taw and Torridge estuary, the cottage boasts a super, sunny, enclosed garden with a summer house and a play fort. The big sandy beach at Westward Ho! provides energetic youngsters with plenty of space or perhaps enjoy a leisurely family bike ride along the Tarka Cycle Trail? Nearby places to visit include The Big Sheep, Exmoor Zoo and Hartland Abbey.

Kings Corner is a pretty, Grade II listed, thatched cottage in the off-the-beaten-track little village of Kingston, just a mile from the river Erme’s beautiful wooded estuary. Nearby places to visit include Pennywell Farm, Woodlands Leisure Park and the National Marine Aquarium. There are also fine sandy beaches at Bigbury-on-Sea – children will love walking out to Burgh Island at low tide or trying out some watersports.

Treworgie is a handsome detached house with Georgian origins, wonderfully tucked away on a 140 acre dairy and sheep farm 1¼ miles from Manaccan. The accommodation is a self-contained part of the family home, and you’re welcome to watch the milking activities on the farm. There’s also a very large first-floor games barn with lots of toys, table tennis, air hockey and table football. Nearby places to visit include the Seal Sanctuary, National Maritime Museum and Pendennis Castle.

Browse through our holiday cottages available for half term and use our ‘Explore the Area’ map to find places to visit near your favourite holiday cottage.

Get classical at the Two Moors Festival…

The Two Moors Festival is the South West’s most prestigious classical music festival. Made up of 30 concerts and talks held across eleven towns and villages on Dartmoor and Exmoor, the ever-expanding festival runs each October and attracts BBC Radio 3 broadcasts and many keen concert-goers from outside the area.

The concerts, which run from 13th to 22nd October, feature a variety of both established global performers and young, local musicians. The festival’s patron is HRH Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, and past performers have included Julian Lloyd Webber.

Ksenija Sidorova

We’re supporting the festival through a part sponsorship of one of the events - a celebrity recital in Widecombe-in-the-Moor on Monday 17th October at 7.30pm. The recital comprises Mozart Adagio and Rondo, Stravinsky Concertino, Schnittke Revis Fairy Tale, Nunn Escape Velocity and Astor Piazzolla Tango Sensations performed by accordian player Ksenija Sidorova and the Solstice String Quartet. Tickets are £16.

The aim of the festival is very much to support the local community and expand musical culture in the South West. Festival-goers and visitors to the region inject much needed out-of-season funds into the local economy, while revenue raised by the concerts helps the charity to continue its work beyond October. One of its goals is to introduce music to children in rural primary schools and since 2003, 38 schools and over 3000 children have benefited from music workshops.

The festival also operates an annual Young Musicians Platform competition, a unique opportunity for youngsters aged 18 and under who live or go to school in the South West. Past winners include professional musicians, undergraduates at major universities and those studying at recognised conservatoires. The festival headquarters on Exmoor also offer young professional musicians a much needed haven to rehearse throughout the year.

If you decide to visit the festival while you’re in the West Country, do let us know what you saw and how much you enjoyed it!

Need somewhere to stay? Take a look at our holiday cottages in Dartmoor and holiday cottages in Exmoor.

Fishing in the West Country...

If you’re a keen angler, you’ll know that fishing can be a tremendously enjoyable pastime whilst on holiday. The West Country boasts many rivers, streams, watercourses and water impoundments, ideal for fishing for salmon, sea trout, brown trout, grayling and coarse fish.

The West Country Angling Passport provides two easy ways to go fishing – a token scheme which provides flexible access to many miles of wild, uncharted waters, or a booking office where you can reserve fishing on more established main river beats.

The Passport initiative was started to provide access to a considerable undeveloped fishing resource on many farms and properties within Cornwall and Devon. By facilitating the sustainable development of this resource, the Trust aims to provide farmers and landowners with an economic incentive to protect and enhance the rivers, streams and lakes of the West Country.

The Passport is not-for-profit and this means the money anglers pay to go fishing goes straight back to the fishery owners and then the Trust in turn helps the owners invest their revenue back into the fishery. In effect, simply by going fishing on the Passport waters, anglers are helping to protect and improve the West Country’s fisheries.

There are some fantastic areas to choose from – for example the Duchy of Cornwall fishing on Dartmoor. The East and West Dart rivers and their tributaries provide some of the best salmon and trout fishing in the UK – there are over 25kms of river to be explored.

Hiring a guide (or ghillie) can really make all the difference between catching fish and drawing a blank, especially if you’re a novice. Depending on where you’re staying or want to go fishing, give one of the guides listed here a call and have a chat about what you want to get out of your day’s fishing. 

Near to the pretty village of Lustleigh, nestling into the eastern edge of Dartmoor you’ll find Stable Corner, a much praised and appreciated cottage (one of four we let on this 35 acre farm). You’re just one mile from attractive trout and pike fishing reservoirs – also ideal for walks and birdwatching.

Further afield, anglers can try their luck at catching salmon, trout, perch, roach and bream on the Exeter Ship Canal and River Exe.

Just ½ mile from the old village of Millbrook and the big sandy beach at Whitsand Bay is Tregonhawke Farmhouse, a smashing home from home. Just 300 yards away there is a coarse fishing lake (carp, tench, roach, rudd, bream and perch – some as large as 25lbs!) with fishing free for residents. You’re also not far from coarse fishing lakes covered by Plymouth & District Coarse Angling Club with fish available including specimen carp, bream, chub, tench, perch, roach, rudd, gudgeon, orfe, dace and crucian carp.

Wherever you stay in the West Country, you won’t have to travel too far to go fishing, but for ease, take a look at these holiday cottages with private fishing included.

MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend…

In just a couple of days, the next MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend will be here!

Now in its 18th year, MCS Beachwatch is a coastal environmental initiative, involving thousands of volunteers who passionately care about their local coastline. The event  takes place every year, making it the most influential fight against marine litter in the UK.

The initiative is the only national volunteer beach clean-up and survey in the UK. Over the weekend of 18th and 19th of September 2010, 376 beaches were cleaned by 4,927 people who went to their local beach to make a big difference.

The Beachwatch events give MCS a better picture of just what washes up on our shores and when - plastic still makes up the majority. Plastics pose a great threat to marine wildlife because they can take thousands of years to fully break down.

The data collected is used for the annual MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend report – you can read the 2010 report here.

There are events all over the UK - find a Beachwatch beach in your area.

If you’d like to register for this event or take part in surveys throughout the year, please register now to take part.

MCS is our charity for 2011 and you can find a link to their Good Beach Guide on the property details page of each of our holiday cottages to see beaches within 20 miles.