Mill Farm Devon Holidays

Some self-catering accommodation options offer complimentary toiletries, others offer tea and coffee for free, but at Mill Farm Holidays there’s something more unusual included. Book a stay in one of Mill Farm’s three lakeside lodges and an alpaca experience is part of the deal. This rural retreat on the Devon-Cornwall border offers a little taste of laid-back country life and a great big dose of the outdoors. And it does it all without compromising on comfort. You can feed your hosts’ six alpacas, fish on the lake and have a campfire under the stars before bedding down in the comfortable surroundings of your private lakeside lodge.

Each of the three lodges offers self-catering stays for up to four people, with two bedrooms and ample living space that’s been decorated in modern style. Two are timber-clad lodges, Kingfisher and Owl, whose spectacular open-plan living spaces have a fully-glazed wall offering views over a fenced lakeside garden. Otter Cottage is their brick-built neighbour, which also has views of the lake from the floor-to-ceiling windows of its lounge-diner – and, outside, from its deck. There’s a couple of jetties on the lake from which guests are welcome to fish (if you have a rod licence) and there’s a field with a picnic bench, a fire pit and great views over the countryside.

The peace and quiet of this waterside setting is undeniably relaxing and calming, but it’s not quite the middle of nowhere. Handily, it sits on the edge of the village of Bradworthy, where there’s a pub serving food and a small local shop. And It’s less than 10 miles to beautiful Sandymouth Bay on Devon’s Hartland Heritage Coast and just a couple miles more to busier Bude in the very north of Cornwall. It’s a similar drive to harbour villages like Clovelly and the scenic South West Coast path links the lot.