Travel with Me; Staying on the Farm in North Devon

This week’s #travelwithme is with one of our friends, Kate, who went with her husband and 2 small girls to North Devon. We caught up with Kate back in the UK at the Zoo and she told us all about her trip.

Now don’t you think she should start her own blog??

Over to Kate.

Where are you taking us to today?

We have just visited North Hayne Farm, North Devon.

What sort of trip was it, adventure, beach, relax, sightseeing?

A mini break with our girls to stay on a farm in Devon.  This isn’t our usual type of holiday (we would generally prefer a beach holiday with some exploring) but with two children currently under 20 months; one with special needs and one only 4 months old, we are not brave enough yet to venture further afield.  I suppose, in a way, this could be described as our dry run to see how hard it would be and what we could learn for future travels. {like Dubai maybe?? *Laura}

Tell me all about it; where you stayed, food you ate, how the little person took it all!

We stayed on North Hayne Farm in North Devon. It’s a working farm with several cottages around a pretty courtyard. Each cottage has a garden with a hot tub. Beyond our garden was the children’s play area and down some steps from there you could find the playbarn. There is a child section with every toy you can think of and then an adult/older child section with a ping pong table and pool table.

Everything about this place is geared towards families, which is amazing (one family staying at the same time as us had visited 3 times before!) The booking form asks what extras are required which in our case was a bed rail, cot and highchair. They even have blackout blinds and other child bits if needed. They have a Children’s farm where the kids can get involved with feeding twice a day. Our eldest loved giving milk to the lambs and feeding the ducks.

Ams

Away from the farm there was so much to do and see come rain or shine.  We went on a bike ride, visited the honey farm, soft play, beach and several local towns.

In terms of food, we packed everything we would need for our eldest as she can’t chew so eats a lot of purées and prescription yoghurts. My husband and I found a butchers in the local town to stock up for evening meals. Lunchtimes were spent out and about.

Why did you choose to tell us about this holiday?

I’ve decided to tell you about it because not only did we all survive but we had a wonderful time. It was completely shattering but lovely.

What is your favourite memory from this trip?

I have two favourite memories from the trip. The first was when we first arrived in South Molton and stopped for lunch in a cafe. Our daughter wanted to walk around and she wondered up to a couple eating and said “hi” and came back to us. The second was when we found some bouncy castles and trampolines in Ilfracombe which kept our eldest busy for ages!

What did you learn about travelling with babies/toddlers/children from this experience?

As the farm we stayed on was only a 2 and a half hour drive we managed to complete it without stopping and with the girls sleeping most of the way which was a bonus.

We followed the advice given in another post on your travel blog (from the lovely One Dad One Blog) and made sure we had a small bag with all essentials for the journey in the front of the car.  I also kept a few toys for the toddler to hand as she usually cuddles a dolly in the car but she has a habit of throwing her onto the car floor.

What is your top tip for travelling with little people?

This sounds obvious but you have to relax and go with the flow.  The children will have “moments” just like they do at home.

I also make sure I pack several reminders of home for bedtime – a cot sheet, teddies for the toddler (and her musical star thing) and a story book (I forgot a book this time but thankfully the cottage had 3 books). If you can have a relatively good nights sleep the day is much easier to manage. Btw when I say easy night the baby still had a feed between 3-5 each night and one night the toddler threw up in bed. Ha. But hey nothing’s perfect.

 

If you would like to appear on #travelwithme please drop me an email on lifewithbabykicks@gmail.com

Follow:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.