The Byre @ Cross Farm

The teen and the Aspie tween were packed off to Turkey to go to a wedding with their father.  So, to help quell my misery (I do miss them, they are so very brilliant at babysitting and loading the dishwasher.)  My lovely husband took me away to the exotic climes of North Devon.

Finding somewhere to go was not an easy task.  It had to be dog friendly, detached, remote and beautifully presented with a bath.  Because if I was going to be in the middle of nowhere trying to relax with the baby, the husband and our big smelly Rhodesian Ridgeback in tow then a bath was the first necessity on my list.

Master bedroom

Fortunately, after a great deal of trawling the internet on my husband's behalf, we found The Byre @ Cross Farm a converted cow shed which ticked all the right boxes and then some and was still available for booking.

Kitchen

Dining area

It's just outside Barnstaple in a little village called Goodleigh..

On our arrival, we were pleased to discover that the local pub delivered food to families who couldn't get out because of sleeping children. So we took the dog for a quick walk down the hill only to be told that it was very busy because it was Friday and they couldn't do us anything till 8.30pm.  All the comments in the visitors book stated that the food was amazing but we were starving and it was only about 6pm, so we marched back up the hill and hubby nipped down to the local supermarket down the road.

We managed to visit Paignton Zoo and had a few walks but baby and hubby were struck by a gastro bug and spent most of the time sleeping while we were there.  So, I got on with writing while I had a chance.  There was no internet connection and barely any phone signal, so I felt very isolated.  I had to get more creative with the novel as I couldn't research any of my ideas and I didn't have a thesaurus or a dictionary with me.  Which is really how proper writing should be done I guess!

Shipwreck on Saunton Sands

Baby, Daddy and Caleb the dog

Cheese face

The owners greeted us on our arrival and left us to it which was perfect as we knew where they were if we needed them.  The local villagers were all very friendly, not many West Country accents though, I suspect most of them were from the South-East like us and had gone there to escape the rat race.  The house was beautiful, and the ensuite complete with a lovely bath was just what the doctor ordered.

The kitchen, dining room and lounge were all open plan and lead on to each other in a galley style with steps.  At first we thought it was going to be a nightmare with our toddling baby, but we soon created a cosy safe area with the two big squishy sofas by moving them back and corner to corner against the steps so that the baby couldn't escape.  He was very happy there and there was also the added bonus of being able to see him from the kitchen so we could let him play while we were cooking.  

The exterior, you can see it bends round in an L shape

There were three bedrooms, the master being ensuite with gorgeous oak furniture and the two smaller rooms being made up of one room with two single beds and the other with a set of bunk beds and another shower room and loo.  We could easily have had room for the older two children and another couple.  The baby slept in the twin bed room.  I brought an extra curtain with us to black out the windows, a must have if you want to get some extra shut eye in the morning, but dark towels work just as well if you ever forget.

Outside was a place to park, lawns, an enclosed pond and an enclosed gated garden, good for barbecues in the summer.  All in all I thoroughly recommend it to families who want to get away from it all but still need a touch of luxury!

In the enclosed garden