JamesW209
March 2019
If you’re looking to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and spend some quality time with friends or family, here is a great place to go! This is a lovely large country house that quickly feels like home, whilst at the same time making you feel like you’re staying in a luxury hotel. I’m guessing this has been achieved by the owner being a Bidlake, and the house having 750 years of his family history.
My partner and I joined 5 other couples to celebrate a ‘big birthday’. The large double bedrooms all have an en suite bathroom - with a fabulous high pressure hot shower helping to wash away the cobwebs from previous nights’ celebrations. Our bed was extremely comfortable, and being in the countryside the only noise came from cows lowing and birds singing.
There are lots of rooms to enable your group to either do their own thing or get together - including two well equipped lovely country kitchens, two dining rooms, a games room, a music room, and a great lounge with a lovely open fire (with plenty of logs to keep it going). There are also landings with sofas and chairs and a chess board table.
Outside, there are grounds to wander around, with what were once stables, barns, and a stream. Signs of days gone by include a Mounting Post, that would have been used originally to help the ladies get on their horses. The Magnolias were starting to bloom around the doors, adding some glorious colour.
Given its size and location we were able to enjoy a fabulous dinner party, that the birthday boy’s lovely wife put together, followed by plenty of singing and dancing - there is a Sonos system with speakers in several rooms.
You need to bring your own food and drink, and be prepared to all join in on making a success of your weekend, or longer - a week would be great at any time of the year. With 12 of you it makes the cost very reasonable indeed.
Everywhere was beautifully clean, helped by having a large cloakroom to hang coats and leave walking boots. There are lovely wooden floors mainly downstairs, with some light carpets, so we all wore socks & slippers around the house.
There are plenty of places locally to explore. We went to Tavistock for a Saturday afternoon explore around the indoor market, and the excellent Clovelly Inn at Bratton Clovelly for Sunday lunch (also highly recommended).
My only small recommendation would be a more visible sign outside - we managed to drive past when we first arrived: if Little Bidlake Farm is on your right, it’s about 200/300 yards after it, on the same side. If LBF is on your left, you’ve missed it!
Highly recommended. A super house (that needs respecting, of course), which is ideal for groups of friends or family. Oh, and there’s a ghost to look out for too .......