Whalesborough Luxury Holiday Cottages are set within 450 acres of roaming fields, nestled between the coastal line and countryside of Bude, Cornwall. It is the perfect setting for a wonderful family holiday where you can enjoy a luxury break twinned with a farm experiences for the kids.

You can choose from a selection of self catering luxury cottages that sleep between 2-10 people, plus the dog. Some even have hot tubs and log burners for that extra luxurious treat. All of this on a site that has the most incredible views of the Cornish countryside, an onsite restaurant that overlooks the canal and a very prestigious spa. And in the middle of all of this is a farm where you can put on your wellies, jump in the mud and meet the animals. It’s an odd concept, luxury and farming, but one that not only works extremely well but also makes for an incredible family experience where core memories will be made.

The Whalesborough cottage

We stayed in the 17th Century Whalesborough Cottage, which was formerly a livestock barn, for a week in October. It sleeps eight across four double bedrooms, 3 with en suites, all of which can be turned in to twin rooms if you prefer. The cottage comes with a large, and very impressive, open plan kitchen, dining and living space with bifold doors that lead out to a garden with the most amazing views. If this isn’t enough there is also an additional room to the side that is perfect to use as a kids lounge for when you just need a little break. Oh and did I mention there was also a hot tub!

Every detail within the cottage, from the bedding to the decor, has been beautifully executed to ensure you feel like you are living in luxury without living in fear of breaking something, with lovely ornaments all strategically placed out of reach from small hands so you can just sit back and enjoy your surroundings. The staff have also thought of everything and go above and beyond to make sure your holiday is as stress free as possible as you will find everything you could possibly need all at your finger tips, it’s like a home away from home; if, of course, your home is a 5 star luxury cottage, complete with log burner and hot tub.

The onsite facilities at Whalesborough

Included in the price of your stay is access to a number of onsite facilities including

• The estate’s land
• The play park
• The swimming pool
• Gym (over 16’s)
• Football, tennis, basket ball court
• An indoor play area for the under 5’s
• The Farm

All of these facilities are right on your doorstep and make your stay with children even better.

The farm is pretty central and is divided in to two sections. One was where we found two pigs, although I believe they aren’t usually in this area. Luckily for us new piglets had just been born, hence the move. The second is a field just opposite where the alpacas and goats roam free. You are welcome to go in and get as close to them as they’ll let you, which is very close for some of them!

The play park is down by the restaurant and has a mix of equipment that caters for those aged 2 to about 12. Right next to the park is a table tennis table to entertain those that are that little bit older.

If the rain hits during your stay you needn’t worry about entertaining the kids as you can use both the indoor play area and swimming pool. The indoor play area is suitable for under 5’s and has a large climbing frame and slide in the middle with a ball pit and lots of other toys and books available too. It’s a very relaxed area that isn’t staffed so you can just pop down and let the little ones play, no need to book in advance.

The pool, despite looking like is should belong to an adults only spa, is in fact family friendly. It even has a children’s pool. It’s very clean, lovely and warm and is surrounded by loungers for anyone that wants to sit back and supervise. If you’re staying onsite you will also find that towels are provided at the pool so there’s no need to pack any.

If you’re lucky enough to be taking the kids to the pool with an extra adult be sure to take it in turns to sneak off and use the sauna and steam room too.

Additional costs at Whalesborough

If you want to enhance your stay at Whalesborough further you can pay for a range of additional activities. These include:

Farmer Dan’s animal experience and tractor ride

This is £5 per person and lasts 1.5 hours. It is suitable for the whole family and well worth the money. All three of my children (3,11 & 13) enjoyed this experience as there really is something for everyone. Farmer Dan goes out of his way to ensure everyone is getting involved, even the too cool for school teenagers. Each experience will be slightly different based on the time of year and the animals on the farm, but for us it meant we got to meet the two resident pigs, Holly and Sarah, and lots of cute piglets. We then took the last tractor ride of the season across the Whalesborough fields to see the sheep and cows and the most incredible view of the beach which, of course, was a great excuse for a picture opportunity.

On our return we were taken over to the animal enclosure and were given the opportunity to hand feed the alpacas and the goats. We learnt all about them before finishing off with some egg collecting in the chicken house which, by the way, were the tastiest eggs we’d had in a while.

Oh, and all of this was chaperoned by the cutest star of the show, Annie the sheep dog, who rode in the tractor’s trailer with us dishing out cuddles on demand before treating us to a sheep herding demonstration.

Like I said, an incredible experience and definitely worth booking during your stay.

The Spa

The spa is probably the only area on the grounds that isn’t family friendly which is definitely not a negative. It means you can wrangle your other half, grandparents or friends in to babysitting for an hour or two whilst you go off and have a child free chill. I was lucky enough to experience the Gaia raindrop therapy; two hours of pure bliss and a treatment that now comes highly recommended by me. If you can squeeze in some extra time then be sure to take your book or a magazine with you and follow your treatment of choice with some down time in the relaxation room where you can enjoy a cup of tea, peace and quiet and of course more of the beautiful views that surround Whalesborough.

The Restaurant

Although the cottages are self catering that doesn’t mean you have to cook all week as the onsite restaurant, the Weir, offers breakfast, dinner and evening meal. We visited twice during our stay, once for drinks (the hot chocolate is delicious) and once for an evening meal. The staff were lovely, the restaurant was all decked out for Halloween and the food was delicious. I can highly recommend the sea food linguine. They also offer a kids menu so rest assured it’s family friendly, even in the evenings.

Overall review of Whalesborough

Overall we had a wonderful week at the Whalesborough Luxury Holiday Cottages and would highly recommend it to families that love a little bit of luxury but who also have children that like to be outside, free to explore nature and like to let off some steam. The location is the perfect mix of countryside on your doorstep and sea-side fun, with just a short coastal walk from the site to the beach. There is so much to see and do that you don’t need to leave the site if you don’t want to, although if you do I suggest you check out The Milk Way in Clovelly.

If your dream holiday is full on fun with the kids by day and relaxing evenings watching sunsets from the hot tub, followed by a glass of something nice in front of the log burner, then Whalesborough Luxury Holiday Cottages are for you.

Whalesborough luxury farm and spa resort, set in 450 acres of farmland and countryside on the edge of the Atlantic coastline, near Bude, is offering up to 25% off all breaks that complete before December 2^nd 2023.