How do you choose a holiday that will please three teenagers and a dog? James Waters says: With great difficulty!
Spinning Wheel Cottage outside
Often, I have difficulty choosing where to go with our family of five and Stanley for a summer holiday. With our teenage brood I had assumed a holiday park or all-inclusive with entertainment and other young people to hang out with would suit. Many of the places provide good facilities for dogs as well. Sounds ideal, right? But, after many years at some cost, and stays at some upmarket holiday parks, I’ve discovered they prefer to holiday at a home-from-home cottage. Somewhere they can just chill, while mum and dad go out to explore with the dog. After much searching for a dog friendly home that had room for five in the preferred location of Devon, we found Spinning Wheel Cottage (also advertised as Cosy Cottage). This was in the small hamlet of Otterton in Devon, not too far from the sea and close to the more significant towns of Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth and Exmouth. Spinning Wheel Cottage has three bedrooms, two doubles and one room with two single beds, which sounded ideal for our tribe. Plus the price was reasonable for a week in the peak season of August at a cost of just over £1300.
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Garden at Spinning Wheel Cottage
We arrived in Otterton about 1pm and check-in was 3pm. But the owner kindly told us that the cottage was ready at 12.30pm and that we could get in early. This was really helpful so we already felt good about the owner’s communication and service. Parking is right outside the property on the village road. There is potential for another car to park in the same spot, as it is public parking, but we never found this happened. On entering the cottage, we loved the original features of this medieval building with its wood burner in a large hearth and the exposed ceiling beams .Even the curtains hang on traditional copper rails, so every effort has been taken to keep the property as authentic as possible. The layout with a large main sitting room and dining table was perfect. The kitchen is spacious and has a separate sitting/reading area, which adds to the feeling of space and relaxation. One of the key features for Stanley was the garden. Just the right size for him to sit in the middle of the lawn and relax, with a front garden area for a bit of exploring when he was bored. There was also an outbuilding with a washing machine, a seating area with table and an outside toilet. As it was summer and the two other toilets were upstairs, we were quite happy to use the alfresco dunny. Bedroom sizes were great and all rooms have been elegantly decorated. One is en-suite with a family bathroom. The whole troupe were impressed,
Budleigh Salterton
So what is there to do in Otterton? First things first, Stanley’s walkies. The owners leave you a whole host of local guidebooks, but really helpful is the noticeboard, which details a short circular walk of about 1.5 miles straight from the property. This was ideal for us taking Stanley for his morning amble. The walk takes you up onto the village hill, where you can see clearly to Budleigh Salterton and Bicton College and Gardens Estate. From there, you walk down and along the river Otter. If you carry on you make it all the way to Budleigh Salterton and the sea, but the circular route cuts off and takes you back into the village. The village contains a dog friendly pub called the Kings Arms. It is just three-minutes walk from the cottage and we visited several times with Stanley and for a meal with the family. It was our daughter’s 18th birthday while on holiday, so we treated her to dinner there one night. The village is also home to the Otterton Mill, which is a small museum/gift shop and there is also a cafe offering cream teas and lunches. From here you can walk along the river Otter to Budleigh Salterton, so it is a bit of tourist location and the busiest part of the village. Also, in the village is a community run shop, which is convenient to pop in to get bits and pieces and helps give some money back to the village. All the products in the cottage are eco-friendly and locally sourced so there is a real feeling of consideration and sustainability within this location.
Branscombe Walk
So what did we do on our holiday? While we did the circular walk most days, we also walked with Stanley from Otterton to Budleigh Salterton a couple of times. The walk is about five miles and takes about an hour. It is scenic and the view is impressive as the river opens out to the estuary and you have to cross a newly built bridge to walk into town. Budleigh Salterton is a small town with a shingle beach, a couple of pubs and a pleasant promenade. The left-hand side of the beach is dog friendly during the peak season so plenty of space. There isn’t much for the young. But walking up to the cliffs there are fantastic views (Budleigh is part of the impressive Jurassic Coast) and we enjoyed a fish and chip supper with the kids and Stanley looking out over the sea. There is also a nice dog friendly pub with tiered beer garden called The Feathers that is worth a mention. Along from Budleigh Salterton, you arrive at Exmouth. The town is bigger than Budleigh, with a flatter more open beach with some sand. It’s no Torquay, but does seem to be developing and looks quite different to how I remember it when I lived there briefly almost 30 years ago. The far right-hand side of the beach is dog friendly and Stanley enjoyed a paddle.
Meeting the Donkey’s at The Donkey Sanctury
To keep the kids happy, on one of the days we went to Exeter. It is actually relatively easy to park in Exeter so that gives you an indication what size of city it is. And I think it only cost about £7 for a few hours. This wasn’t Stanley’s idea of fun so while the others went around the shopping centre, I headed with him to the Exeter Quay where I had heard there was a dog friendly pub. Indeed, the Prospect Inn is about as dog friendly as they come. As soon as I entered, Stanley was offered a biscuit and a water bowl. We felt like dog royalty. We had a lovely seat outside overlooking the quay and relaxed while the others were caught in the hustle and bustle of town. There is one odd thing about Exeter as a city, just on the outskirts there are some green sections. On one of the days we went on a guided canoe tour. This was dog friendly and they were very accommodating on the booking to encourage Stanley to come along. In the end my daughter decided not to come, so we thought it would be better if he stayed with her. When we turned up at the canoe location it was close to Exeter city centre and I was disappointed that we weren’t in a more rural location. In fact, we didn’t see a large building for the entire three-hour tour. Exeter has a greenbelt and within minutes you go from the urban centre to rural bliss. Our days out included a trip to Branscombe, an old medieval village supported by the National Trust. It is on the way to Lyme Regis, via a typical Devon single track road winding round to the bottom of a valley near to the sea. There is a pay-by-donation car park by the village hall and then you can walk from there to the coast on a laid pathway, passing by an old mill, an orchard and other landmarks. This was a lovely walk with the kids and Stanley, much like stepping back into a Famous Five book. As it is such an out of the way location, there was hardly anybody about either. The route takes you to Branscombe beach where there is a cafe (dog friendly) and as it is accessible by cars, there were many more visitors about. There are two large cliff faces that rise up either side of the cafe, with impressive views. On the way back you can go via the right cliff face and we followed the route map that should take you past the old village church. Well we didn’t see that church, but we did arrive back at the mill and orchard and definitely hit our daily step target. To note, the walk is quite steep in places.
Donkey Sanctury
Other day trips included a visit to the Donkey Sanctuary. I was surprised that all my kids were so keen to see the donkeys. Of course, it is dog friendly, and I knew about it as it was one of the walking locations for our DogFriendly Breaks in 2024. It really is a delightful surprise that this visitor centreis donation-only, with a free car park. We left a donation and I bought several donkey-themed gifts, including a tea tray that I use most nights to serve the brood. Talking of DogFriendly Breaks, as I was down in South Devon, I arranged to see Deb Bridges who used to run some of our Devon-based breaks. We met up with her and her dog Ula and, along with Stanley, walked around Mutters Moor, which is an area of natural beauty above Sidmouth. It was pretty drizzly, but you can do a relatively flat circular walk of about three miles quite easily with green and pretty scenery. On a clear day there are decent views out to sea, so I am told. We treated ourselves to a coffee afterwards in Sidmouth at the Bedford Hotel, which is used for one of our DogFriendly Breaks. It was great to see Deb and a nice end to the holiday. We had a wonderful stay at Spinning Wheel Cottage. It was perfect for our family, and Stanley, and there was plenty of close-by places to visit and things to see. I think we would all be happy to visit Otterton and South Devon again in the future.
FACT FILE
Spinning Wheel Cottage
ADDRESS – 4 Fore Street, Otterton, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, EX9 7HB
PRICE Last Week in August stay £1350
WEBSITE AirBnb
PLACES TO VISIT
Kings Arms, Otterton
Otterton Mill
Budleigh Salterton
Exmouth
Branscombe Village
The Donkey Sanctury
Mutters Moor
