Warren's Farm

Each day when we reach our destination we look at our route for the following day and look at the accommodation plan for the next five or so days, in case there's anywhere that we need to phone.

A few days ago we saw that our planned campsite in Crediton had a question mark next to it.

A phone call confirmed that it did exist but also informed us that it didn't have any facilities. The thought of a 21.25 mile day without a hot shower at the end of it didn't greatly appeal, so I set Vic (who, along with my sister, is doing a sterling job of providing remote support) onto the challenge of finding us a B&B on our route and preferably a couple of miles before our intended destination.

She came up with Warren's Farm in Yeoford, and it turned out to be a place that deserves a post all of its own.

We arrived at this 400 year old cob-built long house yesterday afternoon with very weary feet. A very warm welcome awaited us and after showing us our vast room (huge bed, lots of antique furniture and like the rest of the house lots of character) Winnie, our host, invited us downstairs to the dining room for a cup of tea.

She appeared not only with a hug pot of tea, containing four cups apiece, but also with scones, jam and (to Husband's rapturous delight) clotted cream. Husband has been hankering after a cream tea since we set out, yet we never seem to hit cream tea vendors at appropriate times.

Having drunk the entire pot of tea and lapped up the scones we sank, with audible ooophs, into the very soft armchairs at our disposal.

A hot shower was followed by the thickest fluffiest towels known to man. We thought we'd landed in heaven, and yet it just kept getting better.

The local pub (once again a very nice pub with normal people in it; twice in one day!) was stumbling distance down the road and after food and ale we returned to our room and sank into the sumptuous bed.

I already knew by this point that this B&B was a real find and that I would have to rave about it - then it got even better again.

The other B&Bs in which we have stayed so far have started serving breakfast at 8am, but have obliged with our request for a slightly earlier 7.45 sitting. At Warren's breakfast is served from 6.30, which meant that we could be up at our usual time and out walking at a reasonable hour (a good thing with a 19 mile day ahead of us).

We walked into the dining room this morning to find a beautifully set table - but it wasn't that which made us go ooh. That was the roaring fire in the grate.

So we sat in front of the roaring fire, making our choice between the ten different cereals on offer before being given three different types of toast and our cooked breakfasts, including homemade hash browns and eggs from their own chickens.

And the cost for all of this? £30 each.

This isn't just a B&B that I would recommend that you use if you happen to be in Yeoford in need of accommodation. In this case I would recommend that you go out of your way to stay there. It would be a strange person who would be disappointed.