Dog friendly Devon holiday accommodation
Self catering lodges and a cottage where your dog is on holiday too!
Meet Muttley. It's a dog's life: just one long Devon holiday!
Muttley's Devon dog walk of the moment, August 2010
Your dogs will enjoy their holiday too! Our self catering accommodation is dog friendly. There's lots of room for dogs to romp about. We'll tell you about good dog walks and even lend you Devon maps. The pub in the village welcomes dogs, as do several other nearby pubs.
Woof! I'm Muttley, and I'm always on holiday at Wheatland Farm. It's great here coz lots of other dogs come for their holidays as well. Read on for my walk of the month and Devon days out ideas where dogs can come too.
I like playing with balls and kids. This is me with George, and my mate Molly, who came to stay in the farm accommodation. She came from Wiltshire. I often patrol around the lodges and cottage. I have to make sure those chickens don't bother people at their BBQs...
This Devon walk starts about 2 miles from the cottage and lodges. You can borrow a bike, or drive. Turn right out of our drive, and keep going until you get to the Methodist Chapel at Stable Green. Just opposite the chapel take a left, at right angles to the road, steeply downhill into Hollocombe - not the one that almost doubles back on you when you reach the chapel. Head down into Hollocombe and leave your bike or park opposite the house at the bottom of the valley and just before the stream. Take a lead because you may encounter livestock or tractors. OS Explorer map 127.
Muttley says:
Of course, there are a few do's and don'ts when you stay at Wheatland Farm cottage and lodges...
I'm not allowed in the nature reserve - can't think why - all those deer, foxes, pheasants, snipe etc are just dying to be chased - and what does it matter if I scrub up a few orchids while sniffing out a vole?
The humans pick up my poo with a bag and put it in a bin, at least when I do it near the accommodation. Now why on earth would they want to do that?
I'm not supposed to go in the ponds either - but personally I don't like getting wet.
All my mates bring their own beds and usually a throw for furniture - spoils the fun for other dogs if you ask me, but apparently some people don't like doggy sofas. Strange these humans...
You'll like it here coz you get to stay with your pack - dogs aren't left in the accommodation (some pups can't help having a good chew can they - and that gets expensive).
There's no cats - 'cept the neighbours' ones. Pity that. I wish people would bring their cats coz I love them. Couldn't eat a whole one though...
There are a few other rules, like not eating the free-range chickens and not bothering livestock, but if you come to visit you'll get all the details. If you want to check, sniff out the small print.
(I think there might have been another one about not rolling in badger poo - but hey, I can't be expected to remember everything all the time.)
Looking forward to sniffing you out soon!
Hole Wood, Higher Minicleave Wood, Redland and back down the lane
I'm a bit of a softy really.....
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View Hole Wood, Higher Minicleave Wood, Redland and the lane in a larger map
School's out! That should mean more dog walks, but they have to be walks everyone can manage. The smallest set of 2legs (only a puppy dog really, just 3 years old) brought a fat-wheeled scooter on this one and was shunted along some of the flatter bits like the lane.
We set off through Hole Wood (see walk directions on the left). It's a bridlepath, meaning it's fairly wide and flat, though it can be muddy. You go through conifers, roughly following the stream - Hollocombe Water. When you get to some out buildings turn left, walk downhill and through the gate. There were pigs here! Great hairy things. I was on my guard, ready to warn everyone, but the kids didn't seem concerned and even scratched the lazy beasts' bellies through the fence. Hey - that's my role isn't it - lying around in the sun and being tickled on the tummy?
So anyway, swiftly on to the footbridge (for me) or the ford (for those who like to splash) and then a right turn and walk up the lane on the other side.
Don't get side-tracked here by the diverted footpath sign looking like it wants to send you up a steep hill. Not that I mind hills but there are others coming... No, just stay on the lane, which is still a bridlepath, and go through the farm buildings and on. Where the lane divides, ignore the track curving uphill and stay on the concrete driveway.
You'll soon come to a hairpin turning, almost back on yourself (we stopped for a picture here, see right) that takes you down to the water again.
Enjoy the flowers in the hedgerow, but when you reach the footbridge watch out for rotten planks!
You'll come across a pretty pink thatched cottage - turn right alongside it and follow the path that takes you up the hill. You walk through conifers first, then broadleaved woodland with speckled wood butterflies and dappled sunshine, and eventually come out at a gate. Pause for a pant if you like, then go through the gate, shutting it behind you and follow the edge of the field.
You come to the farm buildings at Redland and another pretty Devon thatched cottage. Walk with the farmhouse on your right, following the track through a gate and around the buildings until you get to the lane. This will take you back to the public road, but both are pretty much as quiet and grassy as each other. When you do get to the road turn right and head back, downhill, to where you started. It's a steep and windy Devon lane, so be ready for cars but you probably won't even get a sniff of one.
