Big Houses in the West Country for Christmas…

Why spend Christmas tripping over relatives when you can rent a splendid house for a large party?

To that effect, we enjoyed some excellent coverage recently in The Times, with our property Sandridge Barton appearing as one of “20 fabulous festive boltholes”. That property is now booked up for Christmas 2011, but we still have numerous others…

  

Lilleby, which sleeps 12, is beautifully positioned high on the cliffs above South Sands near Salcombe, with spectacular views. You’ll find a large, elegant drawing room, a sociable dining room and a beautifully fitted kitchen perfect for preparing a festive dinner with all the trimmings. After lunch, step outside into nearly two acres of landscaped garden with mature trees, and walk off those calories along gravel paths winding down through terraces to woodlands and a footpath down to the beach.

As its name would suggest, The Old Mill is a charmingly converted, Grade II listed mill in the hamlet of Blakewell, north Devon. Sleeping 11, it’s full of comfort and imagination inside. There’s a homely living room with a woodburner in a huge fireplace, and a wood floor with a rug to sprawl on. There’s also a games room, with table tennis, pool, air hockey, table football, and even a Nintendo 64 – plenty to keep the children happy while the adults enjoy a bit of peace and quiet as the Christmas pud goes down! There’s even professional catering available if you want to take a break from cooking that turkey.

If you fancy spending Christmas away from it all amongst sheep, cattle, ponies, pigs, chickens and ornamental pheasants, The farmhouse at Burnville Farm, two miles south-west of Lydford, sits amid 250 acres of working farm – where you can roam free and even help out if you wish. There’s also a games room with a pool table, table tennis and a skittle alley, and even a well-equipped gym should you eat too many mince pies! We very much like this farm, and it’s been much praised, with tremendous freedom and an impressive number of things to do for children and adults.

Why not browse all our cottages sleeping 10 or more with availability for Christmas? Or if you’ve a smaller brood, here are all our cottages with availability for Christmas.

Christmas dinner with a difference...

Should you want to try something a little different with your Christmas dinner this year, we’ve noticed a couple of suggestions in the media recently…

Heston Blumenthal launched his ‘Hidden Orange Christmas Pudding’ in Waitrose – as the name suggests, a traditional Christmas pudding but with a whole candied orange inside.

Demand for the pud proved so great that it has practically sold out, leading to some enterprising souls offering them up for sale on eBay. Not really the Christmas spirit?

We’re guessing that you won’t want to fork out unnecessarily, so perhaps have a go at making it yourself?

The recent cold spell has played havoc with this year’s sprout crop with reports of frozen solid sprouts impossible to harvest. But that’s not all - cauliflowers are also at risk from the snow and frost. You’d be forgiven for being confused, however, as other reports suggest that the cold weather is a Godsend, and that this year’s sprouts will taste sweeter than ever!

If you’d rather give the sprouts a miss, another supermarket chain is suggesting we experiment with our veg on Christmas Day to brighten up the table. Sainsbury’s is selling Spanish-grown bunches of golden, white and Chioggia (candy-striped) varieties of baby beetroot, once popular with the Victorians.

Are you planning to try anything new this Christmas? Or are you a staunch traditionalist? Let us know!

It's not too late to get away this Christmas. We've big houses with large dining tables for grand gatherings or cosy cottages for peaceful indulgence.

View a list of our holiday cottages available over Christmas.