Round up your nearest and dearest for a festive escape in the South West – here are five of our favourite self-catering spots for a Christmas getaway
The Lookout, Newquay, Cornwall
New oceanside retreat The Lookout is a cool spot for a Christmas gathering by the sea. Overlooking Newquay’s headland, the luxe two-floor accommodation has room for up to eight guests.
Bracing walks to coves, beaches and along the South West Coast Path provide the perfect excuse to retreat indoors afterwards. Stay put and bask in the opulence of the abode: tinkle out a Christmas tune on the white baby grand, gaze out at the wintry rolling surf, curl up with a book and a blanket on the wraparound terrace, chill in the Atlantic Hotel spa (guests at The Lookout get free access) and cook up a festive feast in the slick kitchen.
Cove Valley, Tiverton, Devon
Cove Valley provides the ultimate Christmas switch-off in a wild setting. Remote, off-grid and intentionally hard to track down, it’s a secret tucked away on the edge of Exmoor National Park, where it forms part of a mission to rewild a 300-acre nature reserve.
Owners Yolanda and Ben Cruwys teamed up with HÁM interiors to create three snug cabins, each designed with the studio’s meticulous attention to detail. Expect to hunker down amid a Native American-inspired aesthetic, with rustic finishes and a colour palette rooted in the surrounding landscape.
The wood-clad cabins come into their own in winter. Pull on your boots for a crisp walk through the Exe Valley, where red deer roam, wild boar wander and beavers make their home, then retreat to your cabin as dusk falls. Scoff pizza straight from the Gozney oven, pour something warming and sink into a steamy wood-fired bath under the veranda.
Rural Stays, Yeo Valley Organic, Somerset
Perched above Blagdon Lake on the fringes of Bristol’s urban buzz, Yeo Valley Organic Farm is home to a cluster of self-catering spots. They range from a one-bedroom barn to a five-bedroom house, but all are crafted for slow living.
Rooted in the company’s low-impact ethos, each has been kitted out using locally sourced and recycled materials.
The accommodation provides a suitably bucolic backdrop for Christmas celebrations. Wake to birdsong and lace up your walking boots for a ramble across rolling countryside and through Yeo Valley Organic’s gardens, then refuel at its excellent HQ canteen or pub. As evening falls, gather for a festive feast before sinking into a corner sofa beside a crackling fire or settling in to watch The Holiday in the cosy cinema room.
Ennys, St Hilary, Cornwall
This pastoral idyll, hidden in a valley of woodland, pasture and river, feels like a Christmas retreat plucked from the pages of a fairy tale.
Well Cottage (pictured) is one of four properties converted from a former granary and dairy, so festive stays can be as intimate or sociable as you fancy. Cosy up à deux or gather the generations and take over all four cottages for a multigenerational family Christmas. Winter walks among the 20 acres of wild pasture and lush gardens can be followed by a warming stint in the shared sauna or a dip in the pool for those who relish the ritual of thermal wellness.
A woodburner sets the scene for cosy evenings, while fresh flowers, a cream tea and a welcome basket of provisions from artisan producers await on arrival. Simply add something sparkling, settle in and let Christmas unfold at an easy pace.
Luxury Cottages, Lucknam Park, Wiltshire
Want the conviviality of a cottage Christmas without relinquishing the indulgences of a five-star hotel? Lucknam Park delivers both. Scattered across the 500-acre Wiltshire estate, its nine stone-built cottages combine the privacy of your own festive bolthole with full access to the hotel’s facilities, including its award-winning spa and restaurants.
Cottages range from a one-bedroom hideaway to four-bedroom Squire’s Cottage, which sleeps eight. Inside each, chic interiors, wood-burning stoves and well-equipped kitchens set the scene for Christmas feasting. Most have enclosed gardens too, so four-legged family members can join the festivities.
Spend crisp winter days exploring the parkland, book a horse ride or surrender to the spa, then return to stoke the fire and get dinner underway. And if cooking fatigue strikes? Swap the range cooker for room service or decamp to one of the hotel restaurants. It’s self-catering, but with a rather fabulous safety net.
If you liked discovering our self-catering Christmas breaks in the South West, check out these cosy stays for stargazing.
We choose the companies included in our features based on editorial integrity. Occasionally, some inclusions will be from clients with whom we have a commercial relationship.
