DonianGuru
August 2014
We stayed at The Stone Barn Cottage in June 2014. Holne is a hamlet towards the south of Dartmoor National Park, about 10-15 minutes’ drive from the main A38 road, so fairly convenient to explore the beautiful national park, where we found some lovely picturesque walks in the undulating moorland. Holne has a pub and shop/tea room within a few minutes’ walk from the barn. The converted barn is really semidetached with the owners and their very friendly dog living next door; they are a very pleasant and helpful couple who keep the cottage and the large garden in a good and clean condition. The barn is upside down but works very well; parking is immediately outside the barn where the entrance door leads into a hallway with the 3 bedrooms downstairs off the hallway, which then leads to a flight of stairs to the first floor, where it is open plan; kitchen, dining and lounge area. Then 3 or 4 more stairs lead from the kitchen/dining area up to the large private garden, where there was plenty of space for our two dogs to run around. The large garden is secured by a farm type wire fence about 4 foot high, so for most dogs it is fine. The barn is at the end of the hamlet and is in a very quiet location, with only the odd vehicle passing by and some nice countryside views. There was only the two of us so the open plan area was fine for us but it might be a little cosy if there were 6 adults though. It has everything you’d expect; comfortable seating, large Freeview TV, good sized table, dishwasher, fridge/freezer, washer/dryer, loads of cutlery, plates, mugs/cups etc. The bedrooms were a good size and all had their own bathroom/toilet with really powerful hot showers. All floors including the stairs are wooden throughout, so if you have an old or small dog, they may struggle a little as the wood can be slippery for paws. The barn was converted only about 18 months ago, so the fixtures/fittings/décor is in good condition and to a good standard that you’d expect for the price and for new accommodation. You can only book this cottage through Helpful Holidays Ltd so they take their cut in the price of course but it was value for money. We’ll be back next year if they’ll accept us again! So would definitely recommend this accommodation.