For kin
One day they’ll say, “When we were kids, we found a place to call home, a family cottage that became a midwinter fortress. The floor was lava, and there were owls each night, and always crumpets at breakfast.”
Or, something like that, anyway.
In places where lochside retreats are eclipsed by peasouper fogs, and sea-crafted gales are carried in on the wings of sooty shearwaters, your motley crew (and the dogs, too) will always be found together. Here’s to time away with your homefolk, to tallying up the seconds between lightning flashes and thunder claps, and the careful cherry-picking of Monopoly tokens.
These weathered seasons are for luxury hideaways. For teaching the children the cosy curriculum: discovering herbs in the garden at dawn, squeezing lemon wedges over cast-iron puffed pancakes at lunch, and melting boiled sweets into stained glass sugar cookies for last lesson. What you feel most has no name but cinnamon, blankets, puzzles, chuckles, and rivers of honey flowing from the drizzler.
Watermark
Stoke Gabriel, Totnes, Devon, UK
A former boat workshop, Watermark is a luxury waters’-edge home with a hot tub on the River Dart in Devon's Stoke Gabriel; expect chic shacks, crabbing, and canoes instead of cars.
Sleeps: Up to 4 guests
Alternative Group Option: Up to 2 guests
From: £2,395 per week, £1,795 per short break
Pets: Sorry, no pets
Features: Hot tub
The Lost Music Hall
Created by a London dandy as a secret retreat from society, The Lost Music Hall is a luxury Arts and Crafts manor with a pool in a hidden valley near Totnes, in Devon's South Hams.
Sleeps: Up to 6 guests
Alternative Group Option: Up to 2 & Up to 12 guests
From: £1,995 per week, £1,595 per short break
Pets: Two pets are welcome
Features: Heated outdoor swimming pool (May-September) and games room with table tennis and darts
Leopoldina
Stoke Gabriel, Totnes, Devon, UK
Once the stables to Sandridge Park, now a luxury Italianate manor with a heated pool in Devon's Stoke Gabriel, Leopoldina was the last creation of famed architect John Nash.
Sleeps: Up to 10 guests
Alternative Group Option: Up to 6 guests
From: £5,150 per week, £3,895 per short break
Pets: Sorry, no pets
Features: Outdoor heated pool (available May-September), private beach on the River Dart, yoga space with roof terrace, and games annex with table tennis and a football table
Haute Hibernation > For Kin > UK > Devon > Totnes
