Family friendly B&B in Devon.

[bee74]

Some of you might be aware that I now live in ED only every two weeks having moved to a lovely spot in Devon six months ago. Things are going well and I am quite keen for us to work less and less in London and more here so we thought we could build a B&B with a twist: it would cater specifically for families with young children (possibly up to four).

So I am asking you, my lovely mums of ED, what would make your stay more pleasant if you chose a week end or week away.

The b&b would be at the end of our garden, overlooking a field and a bit of woodland with a stream at the bottom. It is all fenced off, far from the road which is not even a road, but a dead end Lane so that only the cars of the two houses up from us would drive past.

The children would have access to the veg patch with an area specifically for them where they can dig and muck about, a climbing frame, tree swing and rope ladder. There would be small garden outside and a deck area for parents to eat/drink after bed time.

Inside, there would be a separate bedroom with a cot bed, a bunk bed and a further single as well as a double bed for parents, although the parents would also have the option to sleep in the living area on the sofa bed.

Things I thought would come in handy:

Baby bath

Steriliser

Bottle warmer

Microwave

Spare nappies

Spare clothes

Wellies

Toilet seats

Potties

Step to sink

Toys

Colouring things

Books

DVDs

TV

Anything else?

I thought of offering guests an option to cook their own breakfast when they want to by leaving a hamper of local and handmade goodies as I know how exhausting it can be to either wait till 8 am for breakfast if your kids were up at 5 and also to keep them behaved at someone else's kitchen table.

I would offer baby sitting services in the evening. And possibly a welly walk for kids one morning of your stay so if you could get them dressed I would then take them for a short walk with my kids while you snooze on or read in bed (this only after sunrise!)

I would also offer one to one yoga for mums (or dads) and relaxing/therapeutic treatments.

In terms of accommodation I was thinking of a sort of cabin, but someone suggested a yurt...yes, no?

The house is 15 minutes from Lyme Regis and its beach or less to the Jurassic beach of Charmouth (fossil hunting). Both Lyme and nearby Bridport (20 mins) have lots of restaurant, caf?s, art places, independent shops, cinema, theatre, pubs, antiques, etc. Axmisnter is only 10 minutes drive away and is home to Rivercottage HQ and Canteen as well as other places to hang out, a fab Indian take away, galleries, etc. And we are in an area of 'outstanding natural beauty' surrounded by rivers, hills, forests and wonderful walks. So there would be plenty to do.

We are 3 1/2 hours drive from ED (less if no traffic).

Thank you for reading all this and if you could offer any suggestion or advice, that would be very much appreciated.

Thank you all so much,

Barbara

[Gooders79]

We stayed in a family friendly cottage setup n Suffolk earlier in the year and they had the following on offer;

Travel cot (no bedding provided)​​​​Highchair

Booster seat​​​​​​​Changing mat

Steriliser​​​​​​​Baby bath

Baby bath support​​​​​​Bumbo seat

Bouncer​​​​​​​Monitor

Bed guard​​​​​​​Step up stool

They also had cook meals available on site and a small shop type setup with honesty box which worked well. They had outside toy tractors, basic garden climbing frames and a really useful indoor play barn, might be a bit bigger than you're looking for but very helpful nonetheless.

Have you tried a browse through babyfriendlyboltholes for ideas on what others offer? Sounds like a great plan, we are more of the cabin stayers than yurt ones but I know plenty of people who'd love a yurt too. Good luck

[canela]

campfire in the summer

[LiveLoveLocal]

Sounds great!