by It is not always possible to take a vacation, but sometimes the longing is to be too difficult to ignore the pressure of everyday life. Last holiday weekend with a 13th birthday to celebrate, and a number of suns in the weather -we found a solution. Our family of four and two friends of my sons would go to Devon two hours to the west. We stayed by the sea, walking and swimming, playing Perudo and sitting around the campfire, eating birthday cake. And be at home the next day. We would be 24-hour party people. Only less rock’n’roll, more rock pools and bacon rolls.
The catalyst discovered Brandy Head on a Google Maps scroll. Like a mini youth hostel who sleeps six, with a double bed, two double chicks, a shower room and an open living, dining and kitchen area, this box-shaped small building is located on the Klittops between Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton, which are only accessible on foot. Its terrace is almost 60 m above sea level and is the large sales argument. He enjoys such a view of the sea that it feels like every time they surf it on a very high wave.
These views now bring a steady stream of guests to Brandy Head, but in the past they have brought the RAF with them – the building was originally built in 1940 as a observation post for the top Secret Gunnery Research Unit on RAF Exeter. Apparently it was that Prof. Sir Bennett Melvill Jones perfected the revolutionary aircraft art, which was superior to the Allied air forces on D-Day. Five years ago by Nell and Sam Walker, tenant of the neighboring Stantyway Farm, was restored in collaboration with its landowner Clinton Devon Estates in 2021 as a tenant of the neighboring Stantyway Farm.
A stay in military history would not only entertain the boys, but was also close to the Haldon Forest Park for mountain suitcases and two beaches for swimming, paddle boarding and reliable supply with ice cream.
We kept on the way in the Haldon Forest Park and the boys and my husband Richard collected their pre-booked bikes and raced on the parks of the park to lawn over jumps, bridges and promenades. I dismantled pedals in favor of hiking shoes and went to Canontegn Falls, another find from card scrolling, only 15 minutes by car.
Beat down the lanes with cowpetersilia and red campion and through straw -covered villages it felt like driving into the 1950s
Canontegn is a collection of lakes, forest walks and gardens with a café and an adventure playground in which the website describes the highest waterfall in the southwest of England. His showpiece Waterfall was created at the end of the 19th century, but the real magic is also in the long -distance garden, which was planted in Victorian times. It was largely forgotten and was restored by the current owners and the fern expert Julian Reed and forms an atmospheric glade in which children hunt for fairies.
It was difficult to leave this place, but there were boys who could collect and as soon as she was reunited, it was a half -hour trip to the sea, the back of the car, a happy, flat fug of exhaustion after the journey. The lanes that tensioned with cowpetersley and red campion, and with stall villages with Bunting, it was less like we were driving to the coast, and more like the 1950s.
Nell had left instructions to collect the keys near Stantyway Farm’s honesty Cafe, a former Royal Navy warship container, which was now filled with tea, coffee, homemade flapjacks, pumpkin and dog biscuits. It is possible to leave cars here and walk along a slightly longer route, but we went to the end of the lane, from where there is a 10-minute walk along the rather steep coastal path to the Brandy Head.
“This is great,” said Alex, one of the friends of my sons who discovered a representation of balls that were determined under a plastic table on the terrace of the building, and evidence of the ammunition tests that were also carried out here during the Second World War. “I’m in the top,” said my new youthful son Owen and raced to overtake his place. As soon as we put our supplies into the kitchen and sunk on the sofa when a head had appeared around the open door. “Oh, can we take a look at it?” As Nell warned us, visiting hikers are almost as much a feature of a stay here as the terrace. The southwest coastal path runs along the front of the building and while a good part of its hikers make up Brandy Head bookings, others stop to fill water bottles from the outer tap or rest on the benches. If you are looking for seclusion, this is probably not the place, but as a quirky overnight stay, it added the charm.
“Beach Time”, Lucas, a different friend than the hikers had gone, announced, slider, towel over his shoulders and tensioned the others out of the door. Turning east It was a gentle 20-minute walk from Ladram Bay, a holiday park with a handy grocery store, a chip shop and a perfect small beach sheet, in which we hopped over pebbles to swim in tension.
After we had stacked the field in Brandy Head Schafen with warming chili and slices for birthday cake in Brandy Head and lit the fireplace, we put on there so that the guests could watch the sunset. “This place is cool,” the boys agreed before they went back to play cards.
Related: “Sidmouth became our summer place”: Jeremy Vine, why his family loves vacation in Devon
The next morning we drank tea on the terrace at sunrise before the hikers of the day arrived and heard Skylarks and Blackbirds. We went to Budleigh Salterton through the nature reserve River Otter Estuary and looked for Ottern, beaver and sand pipers. We watched the boys cook when they caught the cool Swoosh more waves – and ate pastes from a kiosk on the beach before they drove home.
That evening at the fire brigade, Richard and I sat and heard waves and broke far below in the fading light. When the rabbits jumped over the field in front of us, it was comforting to believe that the wild approach from Stantyway Farm led to the land that was once prepared for the war that maintained the habitats for circle bullets and hiking rins. And these people who were lucky enough to visit – even for one night.
Brandy head observation post sleeps six people and costs £180 For one night and £120 For every subsequent night
