An eco-home in Exmoor national park has a fab location, but there's no excuse for cheap bedding and small sofas
We can't arrive at our weekend bolthole before 3pm, which is all the excuse our group of friends needs to meet over a pub lunch. We leave in convoy, snaking up a ridiculous hill ? not a route for the faint-hearted ? before disappearing down another wooded lane in the direction of Lynton, spotting the homemade sign for Slattenslade.
This eco-home is the first new house in Exmoor national park for many years. Co-owner Harriet Wilson is waiting to show us around. Her other half, John Hughes, built it using reclaimed Delabole slate on the roof, and cladding the walls in reclaimed stone set in lime mortar.
We traverse the double-height kitchen to two downstairs bedrooms then climb up to the first-floor sitting room, the third bedroom (which has its own shower) and a sort of minstrels' gallery. There is hand-crafted oak everywhere. It's like Hansel and Gretel's house, among the oak trees, ferns and wild campion.
The position, above Woody Bay, is steep, to say the least ? the "garden" is a series of decked terraces and hand-built dry-stone walls. Harriet points out a circular area at the top, beyond a water feature. They are going to add a wood-fired hot tub. Now you're talking, I think to myself (and also, "Pity it's not in already.")
There is underfloor heating and an integral music system (not up and running yet). Water is from a spring, and power comes via a ground-source heat pump and solar panels.
"The beauty of this time of year is that we can go for a walk at five o'clock, come back at seven, and it'll still be light," says Bea. Which is exactly what she and a couple of others do ? heading down to Woody Bay ? while some remain to sample fat strawberries, clotted cream and fresh scones from the overflowing welcome hamper on the pine kitchen table.
"I've never seen so many lights," says someone at supper. "Those are LED, very energy-efficient," says another. Problem is, while there are enough ceiling lights for a footie stadium, we are without dimmers or lamps anywhere. Later, we gather upstairs by the glow of the woodburner on sofas we wish were bigger and squashier.
No light pollution. Not a sound at night. Pity the beds aren't better ? buying cheap mattresses and supermarket bedding is a false economy in a rental house.
The view from one bedroom window is of a vacuum cleaner and spare beds in the garage, we lack bedroom chairs or anything pretty, and the "steam cabinet" in the main bathroom, for all its jets and knobs and metal bits, is in reality a short, uncomfortable bath.
Of course spending a couple of days off-grid is all very worthy, but actually I fail to see what difference staying in an eco-house makes to one's holiday. As long as the lights and the hot water work, it's going to stand or fall on the same things as any other holiday cottage. There is no doubting the skill that has gone into the construction of Slattenslade Cottage, but the overall appearance is utilitarian and, as ever, it is the finishing detail that makes all the difference.
On the other hand, the location is fab, beside walls of greenery, and between moor and sea. Children will not care one jot about any of our caveats. If you want a country break that isn't drowning on a campsite, I reckon this is it.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jun/11/devon-self-catering-eco-home
Sunderland Simon Cowell Regulators North-west Democrats Food and drink
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