After a particularly challenging week at work (I came up against a bully which of course triggered some sobs as I am feeling a bit fragile anyway at the moment), James and I took some “us and Noodle” time in Devon. I thought I would share with you our fav places we went and recommend some spots to anyone planning to a trip down there

A few days away by the sea in the fresh air was exactly what I needed. James and I can be very last minute people and only booked this trip 2 weeks before. We knew we wanted somewhere dog friendly that was right by the sea and had a small hint of luxury…..The Soar Mill Cove Hotel did exactly that. The hotel is tucked away down a country road where you can literally just about fit one car and as you come down the hill towards the hotel you get your first glimpse of the sea and it is breathtaking. The hotel is located just a few miles from Salcombe but we actually spent a bit of our time exploring the local beaches and coves.

“Spectacular Sunset”

I can’t go without mentioning our first evening though. From the hotel grounds there was a little gated footpath that took you down to soar mill Cove. We walked down there early evening and the sun was creating silhouettes against the landscape. It was an opportunity to give Noodle a good run around after a long time in the car but also watch her run so freely around the beach as if she was the happiest dog in the world. We were so lucky with the weather as we caught the end of the freak few days of heat wave. Once we headed back to our room, we stepped out onto our little terrace overlooking the sea and admired the view of a spectacular sunset which is the feature image for this blog. It was warm enough to sit out til nearly 9pm before we headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Truly a lovely peaceful moment and you can tell from photo it wasn’t just me enjoying it.

“Felt like we were miles from home”

We stayed just a long weekend so knew we had a lot of exploring to do. We mooched round Salcombe on the first day, again very lucky with the weather then headed to North Sands beach which included a trip to The Winking Prawn where James couldn’t resist trying the local beer called Prawn Juice. We headed from there to Hope Cove which at first we couldn’t understand what was so stunning as we were recommended to go, however we walked a little further through the village and popped out on one of the most stunning beaches. It honestly felt like we were miles from home and abroad somewhere. It made me really think that sometimes you don’t have to travel far to reach beautiful places (yes I know what you’re thinking, if only every day was a sunny day in England, and yes our trip was helped by the weather). This photo shows how stunning it was.

We headed back to Hope Cove that evening and ate at The Cove Cafe Bar. But on our way there we were stopped in our tracks again by another beautiful sunset.

Last time I saw a sunset like this was in Ibiza 3 years ago. There was a bench to sit on so James and I stopped and watched as the sun dipped towards the horizon.

At the Cove Cafe Bar we sat outside with heaters and put Noodle under the heater and she curled up and went to sleep. The place had live music upstairs which made the atmosphere even better and James’ seafood platter was an absolute feast.

Our final day was a coastal walk. We parked up at National Trust South Milton Sands and did The South West Coast Path crossing this bridge over an estuary.

On the way back we dropped down onto the beach and realised that crossing that estuary was going to be harder than we thought. There were kids paddling round in it with wetsuits on which we didn’t happen to be wearing so it was either very wet feet or a big walk back on ourselves to cross the bridge again. Yes we chose the wet option.

“Most dog friendly place I have ever visited”

After the walk we thought we deserved a well earned rest so headed back to Salcombe for an ice cream (a place I had clocked on our previous visit). Seriously, they sold ice creams for dogs which we opted not to give Noodle as she is on a diet but in general Salcombe and the surrounding area is the most dog friendly place I have ever visited. All the shops and restaurants we went to welcomed dogs and some even had doggy menus. Too cute.

Back at the hotel, James took a rare opportunity to have a neck massage and I took the opportunity to do some meditation. Noodle generally sits down next to me and enjoys the peace. We had the doors open to our our terrace which gave a nice sea breeze and you could hear the waves and in fact the surrounding noises was a lovely soundtrack. I felt like our short break was a perfect place to unwind and rest and enjoy some wonderful Now moments.

Sarah