Location and Area
Little Barton smallholding sits on top of a small hill less than a mile from the coast (only a few minutes walk to the coast path) 3 miles outside the village of Hartland on the border between Devon and Cornwall. We are about 4 miles off the A39 Atlantic Highway and pretty much equidistant from Bideford (Devon) and Bude (Cornwall), the nearest towns, both about a 25 minute drive away.
The local beaches are rocky at high tide, with sand and rock pools at low tide, and are excellent for swimming and body boarding for all and surfing for the more confident. The nearest beach (about 20 mins walk away) is set in Natural Trust land and is peaceful and secluded even in the height of summer. There is also a beach and pub at Hartland Quay which is accessible by car (5 mins drive) and on foot via the SW Coast Path (40 mins). Sandymouth, a bigger sandy Natural Trust beach watched over by lifeguards, is 20 mins away by car.
The Hartland Peninsula is a wonderful place for walks, with a landscape full of contrasts - from the wooded walks along the valleys and the North Coast, to the wild Atlantic seaboard to the West. It is in the 'North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' which is itself part of the North Devon Biosphere. The clear night skies in summer are perfect for star gazing and we get magnificent sunsets over the sea, which flood both houses with reddish light on summer evenings.
Wild flowers are in abundance everywhere, with the woods full of bluebells and wild garlic in the spring, sea campions and sea thyme all along the cliffs in the summer and our own track full of foxgloves, honeysuckle and wild roses, and a glut of blackberries in the autumn.
