Woodhayes

The first thing you notice when you come through Woodhayes’s front door is the portraits, huge paintings that sometimes stretch from floor to ceiling. Once you have made yourself at home in this friendly house, you may be inclined, as I was, to do a “who’s who” of Noel’s forbears, ascertaining how the congenial pictures in your room are related to all the others. This is no place for minimalists to stay—for in addition to hundreds of paintings the house is packed with fine antiques. Guests dine by candlelight around the polished dining-room table in what was at one time the home’s kitchen—hence the flagstone floors and huge Inglenook fireplace, which now contains a wood-burning stove. The twin-bedded room at the front of the house has commanding views across the valley while the four-poster room overlooks the rose garden at the side of the house. Both have en suite bathrooms. A single bedroom has its private bathroom down the hall. Dumpdon Celtic hill fort rises behind the house and beyond lies the rolling green of the Blackdown Hills. Nearby Honiton is the historic center for lace making and a small museum chronicles the industry’s history. A 20-minute drive brings you to the Victorian resort of Sidmouth and Beer, a fishing village in a little bay.