Normally a group of us head off down to Devon for the Bank Holiday to do some camping next to the beach in the sun…but this year, there was only 6 of us and the weather was looking pretty miserable so we decided to pimp it up a bit and rent a cottage by the coast. We’d left it quite late and were struggling with finding a decent one that was available, but then we fortunately stumbled upon the Riverside Penthouse in Bideford.
It’s not so much a cottage as a “Modern Playboy Penthouse” – finished to a high standard with lots of mod cons and sleek features. It’s got 4 bedrooms, 3 of which are doubles and the master bedroom has a stunning glass wall overlooking the river Torridge. The rest of the apartment is equally flash with wooden flooring throughout, a granite breakfast bar, underfloor heating and a mezzanine floor overlooking the main living area.
It’s very much a bachelor pad (maybe the owner moved his stuff in here when he moved in with the wife…) with lots of great “boy features” including:
- Large HD TV hooked up to 4 large speakers positioned around the living area (this also has aux in so you can hook up your phone/ipod and blast it round the house to get everyone going in the morning…)
- Pool Table – Free to play and reasonable quality
- Table Football table – although it’s quite flimsy, the ball has been replaced by a naff one and the men are on the wrong way round – it took us a while to realise this, we just had a sense that something was wrong and kept scoring own goals…
There’s also bathrooms everywhere, loads of balconies with pretty good views and a barbeque and fire pit. Basically, a great place to stay! There’s space for two cars although we took three and found a space just down the road. The other thing I quite liked is that you have a private lift and entrance hall which can’t be bad….unless it broke down I suppose…
Nearby are Westward Ho! and Appledore. No, I’m not shouting, Westward Ho! genuinely has an exclamation mark in the name – as such, it’s worth a visit if only for the overly used jokes that get shouted repeatedly. Appledore is a bit smaller and is also worth a stroll around its alleyways – we found a good pub called the “The Royal” which we stayed in for a few ciders, some games of shithead and Jim’s traditional mastery of the jukebox.
All in all, well worth a visit – The Riverside Penthouse