Dartmoor - If you're happy and you know it, let it show!

Early on in our stay we picked up a cache just down the road from our cottage.  We were on our way to Widecombe-in-the-Moor. 

The Cache Owner had put a note on the cache page stating that the local farmer was completing some work at the cache site so it may not be possible to pick up the cache.

When we arrived at the cache site, there was clear evidence of work under way, lots of cows lolling about on the grass, but no one around, so we managed to pick this one up nice and easily. 

When we looked more closely at the work underway, it appeared that a face was being built into the dry stone wall ..... What do you think? 

We were most impressed and thought it was a really unusual, but definitely, fun idea that we had never come across before.

We passed this spot again, later in the week and could see that good progress was being made. It was most definitely a face. The eyes had just been installed. We really hoped we'd get to see it finished before we had to head for home. 

We came back past the wall again on the Wednesday before we were heading home and, hurrah, the farmer was there, stood on the wagon just about to put the last two stones in along the hair line, so we couldn't resist pulling in to say hello and tell him how much we loved what he'd done. 

He said that he'd had a great year, the weather had been kind, the harvest was in and he was really happy and wanted to express that. He'd had to rebuild the wall anyway and just had the inspiration to do something a bit different. 

He had done it all himself, cutting the mouth and the eyes, everything. He said it would be finished by Friday so we said we'd definitely be back to take more pictures of it fully completed before we headed back home. He was really chuffed that we'd stopped for a chat and was delighted that it had made us smile and posed for a picture before we headed off.

Daft as it may sound, this was one of the real highlights of our holiday.  When we went back to take our pictures of the wall in all it's glory, there was another couple parked up, who had stopped to look at it.  They were taking pictures too, so we filled them in on what the farmer had told us about why he had done.  We think it will most definitely become a favourite local landmark.

Moorbrook Cottage - Ponsworthy - Dartmoor

How long did we stay?

10 nights

When did we visit?

23 Sep 2014 - 3 Oct 2014

How much was it?

£1335.00

Who did we book with?

Sweeton Manor

What were our initial impressions?

The cottage is just inside the Dartmoor National Park.  From the A38, the drive to the cottage was lovely.  We drove past the River Dart Country Park and across some tiny narrow stone bridges and got our first glimpse of the open countryside of Dartmoor.

The final approach was across a small ford and past some really pretty thatched cottages, also owned by Sweeton Manor.  Our first view of the cottage was a bit disappointing.  It didn't look that pretty, compared to the thatched cottages nearby. In fact, I would go so far, as to say, it looked a little tired.

It was with trepidation that we opened the front door into a very utilitarian porch, which, though felt really chilly, would be good for wet boots and coats. With even more trepidation we opened the main door to the cottage. 

Our hearts instantly picked up. The lounge was charming, with a comfy looking three piece suite set out around a log burning stove, with a nice big basket of logs and kindling to get us started. The cottage felt nice and warm and cosy.

There was a door from the lounge leading into the kitchen, which again was quite charming, and nice and clean. The cooker looked like it had never been used. Having a root through the drawers and cupboards the kitchen looked like it was going to be well equipped. 

There was another door from the lounge which let out to a back porch, with a tiny downstairs loo, leading out into the garden. 

When we arrived it was early evening and with the warm sunshine, the garden looked just lovely, with a BBQ and table and chairs set on a patio close to the house and a really nice natural garden stretching along the back. The views of the cottage from the garden were clearly the ones we had seen on the website and it looked just lovely from here. 

We went back inside to have a look upstairs. Up the original stone staircase to two bedrooms, both en suite and both with the biggest beds you have ever seen. Little windows gave lovely views over the back and let in lots of light. 

Both bedrooms were, again well equipped. With plenty of storage, a dressing table with mirror for hair drying and big fluffy quilts and pillows and lots of towels, even beach towels. It was really comfy. 

Throughout the cottage were lots of nice touches, fresh flowers, a fruit bowl, bread, butter, milk and orange juice in the kitchen, boxes of tissues in every, and I do mean every, room, nice soap and hand cream dispensers at every sink and a good supply of toiletries in both bathrooms. 

For an old cottage the whole place is really nice and light. The overall feel so far was very 'cottagey', with lots of original features and sloping floors and uneven doorways. We both felt like we would be very comfortable here. 

Our likes over the course of our stay

• The beds really were the comfiest ever.  We both slept really well all week!
• The kitchen was really 'well equipped'.  It didn't just say it was.  There was nothing that we needed that we didn't find.
• The whole cottage was really nice and clean and bright.
• The cottage was lovely to come back to at the end of the day, for a nice powerful and hot shower, to wrap up in huge fluffy white towels, before chilling out in front of the TV and the log burner for the evening.
• The garden was lovely and backed on to open countryside.  We didn't really get to use it much as it got quite cool in the evenings, but we can imagine that in Summer it would be lovely to sit and eat on the patio.
• There is excellent wifi connectivity and a land line available if you need to make calls to other landlines (as there is no mobile signal available at all).

Anything that could have made it better?

• The washing machine and dryer are situated in a wooden building in the back garden. There is no outside light at the back, though the building is lit inside.  This made doing laundry after dark quite difficult.

Would we recommend this cottage to our friends and family?

Absolutely

Would we stay in this cottage again?

Definitely. Overall we loved this cottage and we loved Dartmoor.  It was a near as perfect as we could have hoped for.  We could easily imagine ourselves living here.  Snuggling up in the Winter and chilling in the garden in Summer.