Lantern Cottage Totnes

17/03/2024

Gorgeous cherry blossom at Dartington Hall.

Dartington Trust

19/02/2024

Stunning sunset the other evening; looking out at St Mary’s Church from the living room at Lantern Cottage.

Spring is definitely in the air & we’ve availability during the first 2 weeks of March with 20% discount. Sleeps 4, dog friendly & 100m from Totnes high street - Classic Cottages

https://www.classic.co.uk/holiday-cottage/desc-4915.html

31/01/2024

This looks fun

It's World Wetlands Day on Friday!
To Celebrate we'll be running a couple of short boat trips this Saturday (3rd Feb) to discover the fascinating and fragile Saltmarsh Habitats in the upper estuary. These trips will be led by the Harbourmaster, and will run from Totnes Steamer Quay at 10:00 & 11:00 on one of our yacht taxis. The trips are free, but a £5 voluntary payment towards our costs would be appreciated.

This trip is in conjunction with the Saltmarsh Project - our partners include South Devon National Landscape, Bioregional Learning Centre, Environment Agency

Spaces are limited - use these links to reserve your place. Please don't reserve a space unless you can definitely attend!

10:00 trip Sat 3rd Feb
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dart-estuary-saltmarsh-boat-trip-1000-tickets-815220184517
11:00 trip Sat 3rd Feb
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dart-estuary-saltmarsh-boat-trip-1100-tickets-815238479237?aff=oddtdtcreator

30/01/2024

Fabulous photo of Totnes by photo journalist Silva Levi-So (shared with permission.)

The town’s castle, nearly a thousand years old, looks down over the medieval high street.

In the distance the river Dart wends its way towards Dartmouth.

X marks the spot of Lantern Cottage - perfectly positioned for exploring everything this fabulous town has to offer!

Available to rent for short breaks or longer stays through Classic Cottages

19/01/2024

One of the great things about Totnes is that there are lots of options for fantastic days out without using a car. Lantern Cottage is a 5 minute walk from Totnes train station where you can get direct trains all over the place (all the way to Aberdeen in fact, but that’ll take you almost 12 hours…)

Today we took the train to Newton Abbott (11 mins) and walked 11km of the Templer Way down to the village of Shaldon. From there we took the Shaldon to Teignmouth Ferry across to Teignmouth - it’s said to be one of the UK’s oldest passenger ferry services. From Teignmouth we caught the train back to Totnes (there are some direct trains but you can also change at Newton Abbott).

The Templer Way runs all the way from Dartmoor’s Haytor down to Teignmouth. It largely follows the line of the Stover Canal, built by John Templer to carry clay for export, and the Haytor Granite Tramway, which was built by his son George. Fun fact; granite that travelled along this tramway was used in the building of London Bridge, the British Museum and the National Gallery!

We stopped off for lunch at
The Coombe Cellars in Combeinteignhead which has stunning views across the estuary. And we had an end of walk pint at the characterful London Inn, Shaldon, Devon on the village green. (Both are very dog friendly 🐕❤️)

NB you’ll need cash for the foot ferry (£2 per adult, £1/child, dogs are free).

And be sure to check the tides before setting out. The estuary path is only passable within 2 hours of low tide. We had totally failed to do this and found that a section of the path was totally submerged meaning we had to head a little way inland to follow country lanes instead.

It was a stunning walk in the January sunshine ☀️


Visit South Devon Visit Devon

19/01/2024

Sunrise over the river Dart, from Vire Island, Totnes.

Bitterly cold but so beautiful.

18/01/2024

It was so cold this morning that this side of the river had partly frozen over.

18/01/2024

Totnes Castle rising up over the Narrows at sunrise this morning.

One of my favourite Totnes views.

Visit Totnes Classic Cottages The Narrows, Totnes

16/01/2024

A new bathroom for Lantern Cottage.

Huge thanks to Adam and his great team at Aspect deco for helping us give the bathroom a much needed revamp. Loving the new shower!

🛁

Classic Cottages

12/01/2024

Repost Visit Totnes

Get your history fix with three fabulous castles to visit in Totnes and Dartmouth when you

Totnes Castle (a stone’s throw from Lantern Cottage) is a classic motte and bailey Norman design in the centre of town. Climb the steps for a fabulous view of the town, River Dart, and Dartmoor. Just outside of Totnes, you'll find Berry Pomeroy Castle, once home to the Seymour family and now reputedly one of the most haunted castles in England. And finally, take a stroll around Dartmouth Castle, located where the river meets the sea, to enjoy fine views and find out about its role during the English Civil War.

All three castles are managed by English Heritage

Lantern Cottage is available to book for short & long stays via Classic Cottages

28/12/2023

Views from the living room at Lantern Cottage.

An upstairs living room with windows facing in three directions gives gorgeous views across the Dart valley, of St Mary’s church and of the town’s wonderful almost-1000-year-old castle.

It’s the perfect place to hang out and relax, perhaps enjoying a book, gazing at the view, or planning your next Totnes adventure.

Sleeps for plus cot, dog-friendly. Five minutes from the towns, mainline station, and 1 minute from the bustling high street

Now booking via Classic Cottages up to the end of 2024 with week-long stays available throughout the year and short breaks at off-peak times.

https://www.classic.co.uk/holiday-cottage/desc-4915.html

23/12/2023

Welcoming back the sun 🌞

Hurrah for longer days ahead! ❤️

St Mary’s Church, Totnes, photographed from the living room of Lantern Cottage Totnes.

🌞
Classic Cottages Visit Totnes

12/12/2023

Gorgeous Christmas market & late night shopping.

One more Tuesday evening till Christmas!

✨

🎄

🎅🏽

11/12/2023

New artwork for Lantern Cottage’s living room - ‘Merle’ & ‘Alder’.

Did you know - the alder is a swamp-dweller. The wood of this tough tree doesn’t rot when waterlogged, instead turning stronger and harder. According to the green dye from the flowers was used to colour and camouflage the clothes of outlaws like Robin Hood.

And merle is the French name for a blackbird.

These gorgeous woodcuts by Jo Sweeting - - were purchased as part of the Live Loudly auction for Ruby earlier this year. Jo very generously donated a full set of her gorgeous woodcuts which illustrate the book ‘Skeins o Geese’.

The auction raised nearly £25k for childhood cancer research 👏❤️

We absolutely love them.

10/12/2023

🎄✨🎅🏽

10/12/2023

Totnes is looking gorgeously Christmassy with so many festive window displays - here are just some of our favourites. The Tuesday evening Christmas market & shopping events are wonderful (and there two more before the big day ❄️ & the town stays festive, bustling & bright right through the Christmas season 🎄

If you fancy a last minute Christmas or new year escape, there’s 20% off bookings; https://www.classic.co.uk/holiday-cottage/desc-4915.html

Lantern Cottage is a 5 minute walk from Totnes station and just off the festive high street, with 270 degree views from the living room of Totnes Castle, St Mary’s Church & the rolling Devon countryside.

Gorgeous country walks & pubs accessible by foot from the cottage. Available to book via Classic Cottages, with linen, towels & a welcome pack included.

Sleeps 4 + cot; dog friendly ✨

Visit Totnes Visit South Devon

07/11/2023

A beautiful painting left by our most recent guest; the view from the Lantern Cottage’s upstairs sitting room, looking out across Dartington Estate towards Dartmoor.

Thank you Louise ❤️

We have a set of watercolours in the cottage for guests to use if they feel inspired 🎨🖌️

06/11/2023

Three bites from the living room today; sunshine & showers ☀️🌦️

05/11/2023

Christmas at Lantern Cottage, Totnes 🎄

Sleeps 4 (1 king, 1 twin), dog friendly, 1 minute from the town’s bustling high street & 5 minutes from the main line train station.

Totnes is a wonderful place to spend Christmas. The town remains vibrant and festive tight up to Christmas Eve with Christmas markets every Tuesday evening. With fantastic restaurants to choose from, numerous cosy pubs and beautiful country walks available from your doorstep. There’s also a gorgeous community owned cinema around the corner & a fab music venue - the Barrel House Ballroom - which has various festive events on.

Ben’s Farm Shop & the Happy Apple are both a couple of minutes from the cottage selling everything required for a fantastic Christmas day lunch.

Basically - everything you could need for a fabulous festive break is right on your doorstep 🎉🍾🎅

The cottage is currently available to book through from the 20th of December through to the New Year.

See link in bio for details.

(Photo #3 is from the Cott Inn, one of our favourite local pubs 🍺)

🎄

29/10/2023

The perfect autumn weekend in Totnes with old friends.

- A Friday night pint at the Steam Packet InnInn before dinner in the cottage 🍺

- A Saturday morning walk down the Dart through the Sharpham Estate 🥾

- Back to the market to buy lunch from

- An afternoon movie escaping the rain at TotnesCinema (Ken Loach’s fabulous the Old Oak)

- A pre-dinner pint at the The Bay Horse Inn, Totnes

- Dinner at Pie Street

- A Sunday morning walk up the Dart around the Dartington Estate, coming back through the The Cider Press Centre

- A fabulous Sunday lunch at The Bull Inn, Totnes

- Finishing with a gander at Totnes Castle

With trains home on Sunday afternoon - heading back to Leeds, London, Manchester, Birmingham & Bristol.

So great to catch up with everyone! ❤️
Katie Holt Alison Wells Bex Elderton

28/10/2023

It’s a gorgeous weekend of sunshine & showers.

Yesterday’s rainbow over Castle Street Pocket Park Totnes.

11/10/2023

One of our favourite walks from Lantern Cottage involves waking upriver through the Dartington Hall Estate and Gardens and across the river to the Staverton for a spot of lunch at the The Sea Trout Inn

The route takes you past several great wild swimming spots & part of it follows the tracks of the South Devon Railway steam train. You cross the Dart via Staverton’s medieval bridge - one of Devon’s oldest bridges. (Stand still for a few moments in one of the bridge’s many refuge points & you might he lucky enough to spot a kingfisher.)

It’s about 5 miles one way. If your feet are weary you might be able to hop on a steam train at Staverton station to take you back to Totnes.

If you’re up for walking back, you can make it a circular walk, taking you past the fabulous Schumacher College honesty shop & through the The Cider Press Centre where there’s fabulous cake at Bayards Kitchen.

While you’re there, take a mo to check out a couple of our favourite shops - for wonderful seaweed prints & homewares & THE ReSTORE Dartington which sells gorgeous upcycled furniture.

Then back to Totnes along Bidwell Brook through Queens Meadow where you’ll join the River Dart to retrace your original steps.

With thanks to our recent guest for many of the photos 🙏

06/10/2023

Approaching Lantern Cottage from the train station; you walk up Castle Street & pass under the atmospheric old north gate of what was one the town’s walls.

24/09/2023

Gorgeous early-autumn view of the river Dart from up on the Sharpham Estate.

20% discount available for October half term - 6 nights for £530. Sleeps 4, dog-friendly.

Great for walking, pub lunches, kayaking & wild swimming. Totnes is known for its thriving high street packed with independent shops, cafes & restaurants, a wonderful cinema, music venues, its thousand-year-old castle & so much more.

And with a train station plus steam train, boat & bus options there’s no need for a car.

See link in bio.

14/09/2023

Last chance to bid on a week in Lantern Cottage Totnes, with all proceeds going to the wonderful local charity the Good Grief Project (based in Stoke Gabriel).

Worth up to £1,100, it can be taken at any time up to October 2024 (subject to availability) - including the summer holidays. Bidding currently stands at £700 so grab a bargain & know that your money is going to a wonderful cause! Bidding ends 10pm Fri 15 Sep.

Sleeps 4, dog-friendly, & with linen, towels & a welcome pack all included.

Lantern Cottage is in the heart of Totnes, a stone’s throw from the high street & with views from the living room of St Mary’s, Totnes Castle & the glorious Devon countryside. It’s five minutes from the station making it a great option for a car-free holiday; you can get around by regular train & bus as well as local steam trains & the boat to Dartmouth. There’s also lots to reach by foot - Totnes has a fabulous range of independent shops, cafes & restaurants, plus a wonderful community cinema & lots of events from gigs at the Barrel House to talks at Eastgate Books & shows at Dartington. And fabulous countryside walks up or down the river Dart with pub lunches along the way.

The Good Grief project provides amazing support to bereaved parents, running ‘active grief’ retreats. They helped us enormously after our older daughter tragically died of leukaemia aged just 18, and we’re so happy to support them.

Click here to bid:
https://superstars-auctions.com/thegoodgriefproject
- and scroll down to Lot 16.

Good luck!

07/09/2023

Totnes’s gorgeous Guildhall, just around the corner from Lantern Cottage, is well worth a visit. For a very modest donation, we got a fascinating tour from one of the volunteer guides.

The original priory building dates almost a thousand years! In the early 1500s England monasteries were dissolved under Henry VIII and most of that building was destroyed. In 1553 the Guildhall was built and over the years it has been used as the town jail, boy’s school, magistrates court, and is still used today as the Council Chambers for Totnes Town Council.

You can see the boards of Totnes mayors dating back to 1359 and the Council Chamber where Oliver Cromwell sat to plan the closing stages of the Civil War in 1646.

Snd you can visit the tiny, windowless jail where prisoners - some as young as ten- would wait to be deported to Australia.
For crimes such as stealing a petticoat 💔

Usually open 11am-3pm weekdays.

03/09/2023

Gorgeous view of Totnes from Sharpham, up the river Dart.

With Dartmoor just visible in the background.

02/09/2023

We love an honesty shop and this, at Schumacher College, is one of the loveliest we’ve come across.

We picked up cherry tomatoes, runner beans, chicory & no less than three types of beetroot 🍅🫛🥬

13/08/2023

No visit to Totnes is complete without a trip to the most quintessentially Totnesian coffee shop, the fabulous Hairy Barista.

Their coffee is wonderful, of course, but they also have a delicious array of plant-based food. Their raw ‘cakes’ are divine - cocoa, matcha & raspberry is a favourite. And their Lion’s Mane (mushroom) & banana smoothie is out of this world. It sounds like a peculiar combination, but trust me when I tell you it’s absolutely delicious - and it’s also full of health giving properties, supporting your immune system & enhancing concentration, apparently.

It’s a two minute walk from Lantern Cottage; head up to the High Street, turn right and you’ll find The Hairy Barista on the Narrows, on your left.