Ley Farm: the Prologue

Crazy to think it’s been almost two years since we started on our journey to move out to the country and start our own holiday cottage business. Our first exploratory visit around potential areas was on 15^th June 2019, with a day trip out to the Welsh border in Herefordshire, and then up to Shropshire, before heading home. As we didn’t really know what we wanted, or what our options were, we visited a range of properties – from existing holiday rental businesses to completely rundown and derelict sites. I had my heart set on one property from the listing – several acres of land and some incredible buildings – but when we turned up we found the owner hadn’t touched it since his elderly relatives died; all of their belongings were still in there (including their alcohol collection!!) and the building was literally collapsing. Unsurprisingly, we ruled that one out straightaway. 

Another one that stood out was a home built into a stone rockface, owned by the ex-wife of a famous rock guitarist, and jam-packed full of junk like old vinyl records and a real tiger rug. Even the jacuzzi was overflowing with clothes and random things, and every room downstairs seemed to contain a different bird or animal that hadn’t been cleaned out in ages. Again, the place came with a massive area of the valley across the road, but the house needed so much work it would have been too costly for us. 

We must have seen about 40 places in total, spread across 5 days/weekends in June & July, and again in August and September (when we’d put an offer in for Ley Farm but had been gazumped), but there was only one other that we seriously considered in addition to Ley Farm, which was in Exmoor and was a former equestrian centre with stables that we’d have renovated. We ruled it out after a conversation with the national park who advised it was unlikely we’d get planning permission, and looking back now we’re so pleased we didn’t end up there. Even if we’d have got around the planning situation, and despite the property being located in the middle of fields and fantastically quiet, the only walks would have been over cow fields or crossing busy roads, and the main route out would have been via Exford – a beautiful village but with a terrible road system that exacerbated traffic.  

Instead, and after a move that took more than a year from putting in our first offer for Ley Farm, we’ve ended up in a beautiful property that’s been well-maintained by the previous owners, and in a location surrounded by so many quiet lanes and footpaths/bridleways that the choice of walking routes is endless. Each valley in the Blackdown Hills looks different so there’s something different to look at, and the view changes quite dramatically with the seasons. The only thing we could wish to be different is the planning process in East Devon, and the speed at which they make decisions!