This working farm is Devon’s most luxurious new hotel
Fancy farm retreats have become all the rage, helping urbanites reconnect to the land in luxury. Fowlescombe Farm, a regenerative farm in south Devon, adds to this list in style. The hotel, which opened last May, pulls off an impressive balancing act. It is at once luxurious and low-key. Both homely and stately. Located about 10 miles from Totnes, the closest train station to the hotel, and a short drive from Dartmoor, the property has 10 suites.
Caitlin Owens and her family acquired the property in 2018, before turning it into a regenerative retreat. The cattle farm operates alongside the hotel, which means it combines delicious food, excellent wine and elegant rooms with tractors, labradors and semi-legendary stories about old farmers (we’ll come to that.)
Unusually, the property is also full-board. So while guests pay £534 for a room, this includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. And when the food is as good as it is at Fowlescombe Farm, there’s really no need to look elsewhere. Where possible, the restaurant, called the Refectory, serves produce from the farm, but this is also supplemented with seasonal local produce.
Staying with the chickens in Devon
THE FOOD
For dinner, guests are offered a four-course menu, which changes each night. It achieves the rare feat of leaving you satisfied without feeling too full. This meant I was hungry again at breakfast and only too willing to enjoy a full English, with eggs collected from the chickens just a few hours before and the best bacon I’ve ever had. Connecting to the land has never tasted so good. The Refectory is dominated by one big communal table, which looks over the open kitchen. There are then four smaller tables at the back if you’d prefer privacy.
On my first night in Devon all of the guests were sitting around the main table, creating a warm and familial atmosphere. A generous guest insisted that I try some of the finer wines on the list, and I was only too happy to oblige. There were some bleary eyes and sore heads when we re-emerged for breakfast the next morning. The rooms themselves are bright and spacious, tastefully decked out with oak furniture and local artworks.
THINGS TO DO
The team at the farm also go out of their way to make sure the stay is tailored to your tastes and are willing to arrange trips around the local countryside. This could include stargazing on Dartmoor, guided foraging walks or even just moving a TV into your room.
I opted for an afternoon coastal walk, so staff helped me plot a route in the map room and then gave me a lift to nearby Salcombe, a pretty beachfront town with its own gin distillery, waterfront pubs and restaurants and an amphibious vehicle taking you from one beach to another via the water around the headland. I was sent on my way armed with a map, and some words of encouragement. A few hours later I was picked up further down the coast. The next morning, I was delivered to the beach for a quick dip in the sea.
There’s also a programme of activities on the site, free for guests to join. These include flower pressing, yoga and farm tours, which are a must. Nothing gave me the ‘authentic’ feel like being shown the animals in a little buggy with a labrador sat on my lap. The 450 acre site offers views over Devon’s hills, woodlands, and fields.
Down the valley from the main house, there’s a ruined Manor House so completely smothered by ivy that I thought it was some dodgy topiary. In fact it is a potential inspiration for the manor house in the Hound of the Baskervilles. On the tour I also heard the gruesome story of the old kennel master who was eaten by his dogs. Supposedly he walked into the kennels wearing the wrong coat after a night in the local pub. The dogs didn’t recognise him, and that was the end of the kennel master.
Fawlescombe is luxurious, but also firmly rooted in a particular place. It has that most treasured modern quality: authenticity.
Rooms at Fowlescombe start from around £534 per night; go to fowlescombe.com