Our first returning guests 😊

15th Mar 2026 leyfarmcottages Baby friendly, barn conversion, Barn renovation, Building project, Building renovation, cottage holiday, Cottage renovation, Country living, cow shed renovation, Day out in Devon, decorating, Devon, Devon holiday, Devon walks, DIY, Dog friendly, Dog walks Devon, Family holiday, games room, Holiday, Holiday cottages, holiday in Devon, interior decorating, interior design, places to stay in Devon, Renovation, Seaton, self catering cottages, self catering Devon, staycation, Things to do in Devon, Walks, Walks in Devon, Weekend break Leave a comment

This week marked a major milestone for us – our first returning guests 😊 They stayed this time last year with family and decided to come back again – which is a HUGE compliment! As a thank you we bought them an extra box of chocolates with their ‘welcome treats’ – and were surprised in return with a gorgeous bunch of flowers and bottle of wine to say thank you for the effort we’d gone to to get everything ready for them. We’re consistently blown away by how lovely and thoughtful our guests are.

Life really is getting in the way of progress in the Cow Shed at the moment. We had a same day changeover on Saturday which pretty much wipes out the entire day in terms of getting anything else done – although it is really satisfying to finish cleaning and getting the house ready for our next guests. Our electrician came on Monday to move the wires for the side lights and we managed to polyfilla the holes. And we started sanding down the walls to get a more even finish after priming, and along the beams where I filled the gaps last week. According to our schedule we’re supposed to be painting the first coat on the ceilings this week but we still need to finish sanding and clean the place to get rid of the dust first. Let’s hope we can find some way of clawing back time.

Last week at Bicton Park Botanical Gardens we found some books with walks across East Devon which we decided to buy to give our guests more ideas about things to do in the area. All the walks we’ve included in our welcome folder and on our website start from our house – they’re great for exploring the very local vicinity but not further afield. We bought a set for ourselves and decided to try one this weekend – starting in Musbury (about 10 miles away) which rather shamefully we’d never heard of before! The walk took us up to an iron-age hill fort with spectacular views across the Axe Valley and down to Seaton on the coast, and then along quiet country lanes winding our way back to Musbury. It was nice to explore somewhere else for a change!