Holiday homes review with Late Lettings

After our mammoth 6,500 mile road trip around the United Kingdom in 2012 we've been a big advocate for travel within our own country. Its safe to say that the UK is blessed with some amazing countryside, vibrant cultural cities and gorgeous coastline. So we're always keen to explore more. Recently we were invited by the last minute holiday cottages website latelettings.com to experience more of our own beautiful country, a chance for us to take a holiday, explore and see what holiday cottage we could find. Here's our experience.

After browsing through the Late Lettings website we found a place that looked perfect for us. Nestled deep down in Cornwall, a county in the South West of England, we discovered a farm that had multiple cottages on its modest land. Converted farm buildings and purpose build cottages that looked cosy and relaxing. Not only that but this place had an outdoor heated pool, a jacuzzi and some pretty little extras like a pond, short nature trails and a kids play area. More than your average holiday letting! So we booked ourselves a week and drove on down to Cornwall. Some 4 hours drive from where we live.

Helford Cottages near Falmouth

Falmouth is a pretty little seaside town nestled deep down in the South West of England, almost at the southern most point in fact. The county of Cornwall has a feel all of its own, an atmosphere of self sufficient isolation from the rest of the South. This is partly due to geography but mostly to do with inherent pride in their local culture and traditions. The cottages on the farm were just 10 minutes drive away from Falmouth, down an unsuspecting yet easily accessible road, a short drive from the nearest supermarket for all the supplies we'd need for our week of self sufficiency. As with most holiday homes there's no need to "check in" with someone. Our key was in the door waiting for us and a decent sized guide to everything in our new home was there on the coffee table. Our cottage was one of the purpose build properties in a neat line next to 4 others. All perfectly presented with a small patio out front, seating inside and out, a cosy sofa, mezzanine level with a decent sized bed too. It was a modern styling in a rustic setting, a real home from home so we instantly felt relaxed.

Exploring the facilities

Every holiday home, cottage and short term rental is different of course but I do feel you get so much more for your money compared to staying in an equally priced bed and breakfast or hotel. Our self sufficient cottage had an ample kitchen with lots of cupboard spaces and utensils. A modern cooker and dishwasher to make our lives easy. The bathroom was well lit, a nice hot shower and our lounge had a flat screen TV, DVD player and ample room to unpack all our travel paraphernalia. Now that we have a baby daughter the amount we travel with has definitely grown but the cottage never felt cramped or small. We ate breakfast on the patio some mornings, cooked dinner a couple of times after long days out exploring and relaxed on the sofa reading our books in the afternoons we didn't venture out. Perfect.

One of the big lures was of course the swimming pool. Even with it being late September we were blessed with a week of exceptional weather for this time of year. Around 19 degrees most days and dry weather, allowing us to sample the pool and more importantly the gorgeously warm Jacuzzi which was indoors. Even our daughter enjoyed it, there's nothing quite like lounging in a warm jacuzzi with bubbles and pretty underwater lighting too. There's even a sauna here, all of which added a real sense of holiday relaxation options. In fact the pool was fairly popular with other guests, we were rarely the only ones making use of it and it was a great place to chat to other guests about their holiday.

Exploring more of the grounds, the play area for kids was impressive, with swings, ample grassy area to run around in, picnic tables and a number of games you could request to use like Croquet. At the end of our row of cottages was a games room with table tennis, pool and even air hockey tables. A shelf full of DVDs you could borrow and a foosball table too, so enough to keep the kids entertained on rainy days. We didn't have much time for games but did make use of the wifi here to send a few tweets and brag to our friends on Facebook about what a great time we were having!

There is a small courtyard hear of beautifully restored and converted farm buildings. Once they were stores for farm equipment and even farm animals, now they are cute little holiday cottages with some impressive flower beds in the centre and a small well which was unearthed during the restoration. Thanks to the farm's secluded location and ample trees around the site, there's a real feeling of being somewhere secretly special. A cosy little farm filled with happy holiday-goers, all enjoying the pretty surroundings away from any possible tourist traps.

Exploring Cornwall

We visited Cornwall as part of our Great British Road Trip in 2012 and visited Lands End. We didn't have time to visit the southern most tip of the English mainland so we were determined to this time. Lizard Point was just 45 minutes away and a very pretty excursion. The two "prongs" of the south west coast of England are as remote as it gets but Lizard is in fact a little village with a number of cafes and the point itself has two cafes right on the edge of the coast line. There's a lighthouse here and a heritage centre with some interesting history of the coastline and the many ship wrecks caused by this hazardous stretch of rock filled water. The weather was fantastic with blue skies and warm sunshine spoiling us all day.

Later that day we took a drive to Goonhilly, an area that was once an integral part of an historical technological moment. Driving ever closer to the "Goonhilly Earth Station" giant metal creatures appear on the landscape. Like something out of a Dr Who episode, giant satellite dishes dominate the landscape and one very special dish stands proud, if somewhat weathered. It was here in 1962 that the world's first ever trans-atlantic satellite broadcast was received. Sent up from a station on the coast of America, to the Telstar satellite and received by Arthur, a massive 1,118 tonne dish. Its quite a sight and a world away from the rustic traditional charm of the rest of Cornwall. Unfortunately the visitor's centre is currently closed but there are plans to renovate and re-open in the future. I do hope this happens as I'd love to return and learn more about the rest of the enormous telecommunications dishes at Goonhilly.

Saint Michael's Mount

On another of our days out we just had to tick a very important tourist box while in Cornwall. The stunning sight of Saint Michael's Mount along the coast near the city of Penzance. This small rocky island sits just a few hundred yards off the coastline and is easily walkable when the tide is out. When its in there's just a short boat ride in to the pretty little port. The island hosts a tiny village and one imposing looking castle sitting atop the rocky mount. It's beautiful sight and again we were blessed with great weather making our photos look fantastic. The entire island is easy to explore, if a little steep in places, but well worth the visit. There's a lovely little restaurant near the castle and a smaller cafe with great views of the English coast line. It's a must if you're in Cornwall.  You can find out more here.

Eating out

The farm was just the right distance from Falmouth making dinner out very easy, I can recommend Rick Stein's Fish restaurant, amazing locally caught fish there! Probably the best pub in Falmouth is the Boathouse with truly amazing views that they make full use of too. Their food is exceptional as well. Definitely go there at least once! We also enjoyed a pint and a great view of the marina sitting out the back of the Quayside Inn, a handy place for Sunday Lunch with a view.

Cosy cottage holidays

A very big thank you to both Helford Cottages and to Late Lettings for arranging our stay in Cornwall. We had a wonderful holiday and spent an equal amount of time both relaxing in our cosy cottage and exploring the cornish countryside. The price for the cottage was really great considering how much was on offer at the farm too. Its location was perfect and the Late Lettings website made booking very easy.