Looking for holiday cottages by the sea in Cornwall? Want to hide away in a farm cottage in Wales? Check out our pick of self-catering accommodation for a UK staycation, complete with local recommendations for artisan food hampers, farm produce delivery boxes and nearby takeaways and delis.
Pretend that one of these beautiful cottages are your own for the weekend. Cook a feast in the self-catered kitchens, go for long walks to get to know the local countryside and neighbours, or cuddle up by the fire and hide out in your very own foodie holiday cottage.
Foodie holiday cottages in the UK
The Fish Store, Mousehole, Cornwall – coastal cottage for ten people
The Fish Store, by the harbour at the tiny Cornish fishing village of Mousehole, was once a pilchard-packing factory. These days – in fact for the last century – it has been the characterful holiday home of the same family – one of whom is food writer Lindsey Bareham.
For the ultimate holiday cottage cookbook, turn to Bareham’s book, also called The Fish Store, which features recipes relating to the house and harbour. Unsurprisingly, this coastal retreat, with its seaside-chic vibe, has shelves crammed with cookery books, a sprawling open-plan kitchen and a barbecue outside perfect for a seafood grill.
The house is a short stroll down to the harbour where you can pick up crab fresh off the boats. Guests also receive a gourmet welcome hamper on arrival and there’s no shortage of places to eat out in this foodie corner of west Cornwall. One of the owners’ tips in the village is The Ship Inn – which has a simplified menu at the moment but you can still tuck into Tribute Ale battered cod and chunky chips. In Mousehole there’s also The Old Coastguard Hotel, while in Newlyn, just round the coast, you’ve got Ben Tunnicliffe’s gastropub, the Tolcarne Inn.
Sleeps 10, from £1,250 for a three-night short break or from £1,895 per week; thefishstore.uniquehomestays.com
Yew Tree Farm, Coniston, Cumbria – farmhouse for six people
In the craggy Lakeland fells above Coniston you can bed down in Beatrix Potter’s old home, Yew Tree Farm, and eat at her original dining table. The cosy 17th-century, Grade II listed farmhouse has bags of character and is still decked out with some of her furniture – think dark oak panelling, roaring fires and a traditional kitchen – as well as more contemporary additions, including a barbecue and hot tub.
You might recognise the farmhouse from Miss Potter, the 2006 film adaptation of the author’s life, starring Rene Zellweger and Ewan McGregor (Yew Tree Farm was used as one of the set locations). Today it is still a working farm and Herdwick sheep and Belted Galloway cattle graze the meadows and fells outside its door.
Stay over and you can collect eggs for breakfast from the farm’s hens – and put in your order for dinner from Heritage Meats, which is based on the farm and specialises in Herdwick hogget and mutton and Belted Galloway beef. Or head into Coniston to the family’s café Herdwicks where you can sample dishes created from the farm’s beef and Herdwick lamb – now open again with social distancing measures in place.
Sleeps six, from £683 per week; heartofthelakes.co.uk
The Piggery, Monmouthshire, Wales – farmyard cottage for four people
A cosy, two-bedroom traditional farmyard cottage with its own hens (that’s breakfast sorted), welcome hamper (with local cider), a wood-burning stove, barbecue and an orchard outside the door, The Piggery is one of three self-catering options on TV presenter Kate Humble’s farm in rural Monmouthshire – other choices are the converted Hayloft and the Humble Hideaway, an off-grid shepherd’s hut; both sleep two.
If solitude is what you’re seeking there’s no obligation to muck in but if you want to learn a few new kitchen or animal husbandry skills while you’re there Humble’s smallholding and cookery courses are set to start up again in September. These are held on the farm and range from hedgerow foraging to sausage-making and cooking on a wood-fired oven. As an added bonus, guests staying in the cottages get a 10 per cent discount on the courses.
The Pig & Apple café in the farmyard is open but only for take-out, Thursday to Saturday – and you need to pre-book your collection slot. Tuck into gourmet burgers such as Pig & Apple (beef, bacon, cheese, apple chutney, lettuce and onion), Clucking (hand-coated buttermilk chicken with chipotle mayo) or vegetarian options such as the mushroom burger (mushroom and chickpea pattie, fig relish, goat’s cheese and rocket).
Sleeps four, from £291 for a three-night short break or from £485 per week; humblebynature.com
Loch an Eilein Cottage, The Cairngorms, Scotland – cottage for two people
A Pinterest-pretty, one-bedroom architect conversion in the Cairngorms National Park, Loch an Eilein Cottage was built in 1813. Today this old stone cottage is light and contemporary inside, with a double-fronted wood-burning stove (that’s back-to-back fires in the bedroom and living room), a quirky pencil point bed, white tongue-and-groove walls and a charming window seat looking out onto the neighbouring loch.
The open-plan kitchen is well kitted-out for cooks and stocked with a welcome hamper from the nearby farm shop, but if you want to eat out, the cottage’s website has a whole section for foodies, listing the local culinary hotspots.
The Old Bridge Inn down by the river is a local favourite. Hunker around an open fire with a plate of beetroot and dill-cured salmon or a steak. Right on your doorstep The Druie in Rothiemurchus, a rustic café (decorated by the same designer as the cottage) is closed for the summer due to Covid but the attached farm shop selling produce from the Rothiemurchus Estate (beef, venison and rainbow trout) is open again. You can order veg, cheese or meat boxes here along with homemade ready meals. The deli counter is perfect for picnics brimming with homemade quiches, salads and mezze (created by chef Ghillie Basan, who also runs cookery workshops). The Hidden Highland Retreats team can organise champagne picnics by the river along with foraging and cooking experiences.
Sleeps two, from £850 for a three-night short break or £1,600 per week; hiddenhighlandretreats.com
Lodge Farm, Freston, Suffolk – farm cottages for two, four and six people
You won’t need to swing by a supermarket on your way to the handful of farm cottages at Lodge Farm. They’re set on the same estate as the award-winning Suffolk Food Hall. The “Champion of Champions” in what have been dubbed the Countryside Alliance’s Rural Oscars, this cattle barn turned farm shop is within walking distance of all three cottages here – The Dairy (sleeps 6), the Parlour (sleeps 4) and the Buttery (sleeps 2).
The shop stocks everything a hungry holidaymaker could want, with an on-site butcher (selling pork from the farm’s pigs and beef from the farm’s Red Poll cattle), baker, deli, fishmonger and chocolatier to choose from. No fewer than 222 local suppliers sell their goods there, among them an old dairy farm down the road that produces Mature Shipcord, a traditionally produced cheese. You can pre-order your groceries using the contactless collection form on the website – there’s even an encyclopaedic range of gourmet ready meals to stock up on, from Greek moussaka to Moroccan tagines.
The Food Hall’s Cookhouse restaurant is currently closed but the café is open for takeaway toasties and a new Beach Hut is set to open this summer selling ice cream.
From £418 per week for The Buttery, £889 per week for The Parlour, and £1,044 per week for The Dairy; lodgefarmsuffolk.co.uk
Nantwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales – eco-cottage for two people
If the idea of an eco-cottage conjures images of composting toilets and windows slung with dreamcatchers Nantwen will challenge your preconceptions. This one-bedroom converted cowshed, surrounding by wildflower meadows outside the seaside village of Newport, may have solar panels and a biomass boiler but it’s also smart and stylish, with a slate-tiled wet room, restful white walls, goose-down duvets and heated wooden floors.
Owned by a jeweller and a cellist, there’s a creativity about Nantwen that extends to the food. The couple have won awards for their handmade chocolate (their raw cacao-based bars come in five different flavours, including peanut butter, fig and raspberry) and, while a carefully hand-picked welcome pack is still provided (local jam or honey, tea, coffee and fresh bread), guests also now have the chance to pre-order homemade cakes, artisan hot chocolate, local apple juice, granola, eggs, bacon, cheese, milk and more. A sumptuous ‘Afternoon tea’ can also be requested so that it’s waiting for you on arrival (cheese and chutney, ham and mustard and egg and cress sandwiches, chocolate brownies, lemon polenta cake and scones with jam and cream.) The owners also recommend a local chef who can deliver meals to your door.
Sleeps two, from £285 for a three-night short break or from £545 per week; nantwen.co.uk
Written by Lucy Gillmore, January 2017, updated July 2020