Meet Our Owners and Find Out How We've Helped

My Favourite Cottages boasts an ever-growing portfolio of beautiful self-catering properties in some of the best rural and coastal locations in North Devon, secluded places on Exmoor in Somerset, near family friendly beaches in Cornwall and stunning estates in the Scottish Highlands.

Our portfolio includes fabulous coastal properties in Croyde, beach-side apartments in Woolacombe, a great selection of countryside cottages just outside the pretty village of Combe Martin and some large luxury holiday homes on Exmoor in Somerset, as well as estate-based cottages in the Highlands of Scotland where there are thousands of acres to explore and beautiful Scottish scenery to enjoy.

As all our properties have a lot to offer, each cottage in the My Favourite Cottages portfolio has its own unique website so visitors can read detailed information, see a full photo gallery and make online bookings. Here is just a selection of feedback from what our owners have had to say about My Favourite Cottages and how we helped to market their properties.

Biallid House

Biallid House

"I have been with My Favourite Cottage for about four years now. They were recommended to me by a friend who has cottages in Cornwall and who was enthusiastic about what they had done for her. I was not that confident they could do the same for me, as their roots are firmly in the West Country and my house, Biallid, is in the north of Scotland. Also, they seemed to specialise in lovely small cottages and Biallid House sleeps 15. At that time, they only had two other houses on their books in Scotland and so I was not holding my breath. I had also been disappointed by the performance of my previous letting agency, as I was only getting about 7-8 weeks a year and most of those were coming through my own web site.

Rick and Amanda visited Biallid House, took some lovely photographs and made some helpful suggestions as to how I might present it better. They took control of my website and asked for a budget of about £600 for marketing. I coughed up, begrudgingly, thinking that if they could just get a couple of extra weeks I would get my money back. And then nothing happened.......... for several weeks........’Oh rats’, I thought, ‘well that was a waste of money. Back to the drawing board’. Then ‘ping!’ an email with a booking came through, and then another, and then another! I got five weeks in the first year of our partnership, 14 in the second year and so far this year another 14 weeks, with more still to come I am sure. The profitability of my little business has been transformed.

I find Rick, Harry and Amanda responsive, helpful and efficient. They know the house and that helps them market it to guests. I would recommend them to any holiday house owner looking to build their business."

About:

Biallid House is a large seven-bedroom house that will comfortably sleep up to 15 people with beautiful mountainous views visible from every room. The house is dog friendly and is situated at the end of its own sweeping private drive.

Biallid House is just a short walk from the pretty Scottish Highland village of Newtonmore, which is home to many shops, restaurants and two museums.

Due to it being set in the breath-taking Cairngorm National Park - Britain’s largest; Biallid is the perfect location for country walks and outdoor adventures.


Why My Favourite Cottages:

The owner of Biallid had been using a local agency in Scotland with limited success and decided that she really needed to make more of this asset and asked a friend in Devon how she got so many bookings for her property. As she received such a positive recommendation from her friend Ishbel decided to give My Favourite cottages a try despite the fact that her lovely lodge was in Scotland and My Favourite Cottages are in Devon. As with all our clients we produced a quality website and started marketing the property online, bookings soon came in. As we handle everything for her this saved Ishbel loads of time and grief and she finally felt relaxed and confident that Biallid House was now being marketed properly.

Results:

Since joining My Favourite Cottages, Biallid House has seen its bookings increase and is now making a healthy income for its owner. From only receiving a few bookings each year, Biallid is now rented for more than 15 weeks on average, and has a good level of repeat bookings with some guests enjoying multiple holidays at the house every year.

Ford Hill Cottage

Ford Hill Cottage

"As a new holiday cottage owner I have found the approach of My Favourite Holiday Cottages to be just what I was looking for. They have a flexible, yet very effective approach to working with owners. They gave me excellent advice at the outset, arranged professional photographs and organised the creation of an impressive website that my guests tell me was a key factor in booking the cottage. The fact that they know the cottage so well means that they can answer enquiries accurately and quickly and turn them into bookings.''

About:

Ford Hill Cottage is a beautiful 3-bedroom holiday home comfortably sleeping up to six people, and features a large open plan kitchen/living room, as well as a handy games room.

The cottage is tastefully decorated and ideally located for exploring the North Devon coastline, Exmoor and the surrounding villages, and is based just a few miles from the seaside town of Combe Martin, which has a nice range of pubs, shops and restaurants, and is also home to one of North Devon’s most loved family attractions – the Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park.

Why My Favourite Cottages:

The owners of Ford Hill had recently renovated the cottage and were looking for an Agency to market it and hopefully get bookings. They did consider several local companies and eventually decided upon My Favourite Cottages mainly because of our very “personal” approach and the fact we made her feel reassured and confident that we could look after her property properly, which was particularly important as the cottage is right next door to her home.

Results

Ford Hill Cottage experienced an incredible first year. The newly renovated cottage, which had never been used for self-catering, received 19 bookings in its first year, nine of which were in the first three months of its website going live.

Much of the success of Ford Hill Cottage, and the continuing trend for good bookings is due to the excellent five star reviews it receives from its guests, which help others in choosing their preferred accommodation.

As of 2018, Ford Hill Cottage continues to be a popular choice with guests staying in North Devon. It has maintained its very high standards meaning it has plenty of five star reviews tempting new guests to enjoy the holiday cottage, as well as welcoming past guests year after year.

Kittiwake Cottage

Kittiwake Cottage

"This was our first time letting a holiday cottage and we decided to speak to My Favourite Cottages based on a recommendation from someone we know who had switched from a 'traditional' letting agency and hasn't looked back. We signed up based on their personal service. They are interested in really knowing your property so they can produce good accurate copy/images and talk with confidence having seen the property up close. As owners themselves they have been able to offer a fair bit of practical advice too. The bookings are going well and we like the efficient email communications regarding bookings and our account."

About:

Kittiwake Cottage is a light and spacious holiday home nestled in the quiet back lanes of Braunton, North Devon. This beautifu mews style barn conversion can comfortably accommodate up to four people in two en-suite bedrooms, which thanks to zip and link beds can be set up as either twins or doubles.

Outside guests have full run of almost an acre of grounds, which feature an orchard, a courtyard terrace and the villages small river, which runs along the boundary at the bottom of the garden.

Five minutes’ drive from the cottage are two of the cottages best loved beaches, Croyde and Saunton, where you can get involved in a number of water sports. Nearby family friendly attractions include the big sheep and Exmoor zoo.

What My Favourite Cottages Did:

As Kittiwake was new to the holiday rental market we helped the owners decide how best to design the interior and provide advice on things as simple as which beds to buy e.g. add zip and link beds if possible as this provides flexibility for couples and families. Once the property was ready to be photographed we organised the shoot and then proceeded to design and build the website and plan the online advertising campaign. As the owners had no experience of holiday letting it was important we were able to manage everything for them and make them feel confident that everything was taken care of.

Devon Beach Court

Devon Beach Court

''I have been with My Favourite Cottages for more than five years now – ‘even though I own an apartment by the sea and not a cottage!’ I have always found the team to be interested in doing the very best they can for my bookings and all at my convenience. Because they have visited Devon Beach Court on many occasions they can answer many of the potential guests questions immediately and thus generally secure the booking there and then without having to involve me.

The apartment is widely represented on various holiday sites across the web, and each year we meet to discuss, which of these are worth staying on with regards to the income, traffic and enquiries they have generated.

Thanks to My Favourite Cottages and their hard work my bookings go right the way through the year. I am extremely happy with the friendly, personal service I get with My Favourite Cottages, I feel I know them all personally and in turn that they know me and my apartment. The team are always quick to answer my emails and queries and I have been more than happy to recommend the company to many of my friends who have also been impressed with their care and professionalism.''

About:

Devon Beach Court is a lovely, bright, two-bedroom apartment on the edge of the lively North Devon seaside resort of Woolacombe, home to one of the world’s most loved beaches.

Being a short walk away from the bustling town centre it offers a quiet place to return to after a hectic day on the award winning beach, and is ideal for a young family that needs an early night and some peace and quiet.

Devon Beach Court comes with its own private car parking space and is ideally located for exploring the local area with walkers enjoying the South West Coast Path, which is easily accessed in Woolacombe.


Why My Favourite Cottages:

Having been with a local Agency for many years, the owners of Devon Beach Court decided to give My Favourite Cottages a try, as bookings were dropping and the commission was going up. It was a risk for Jenny and Terry as My Favourite Cottages had only just started and they were one of the first properties to use their bespoke model. But once their new website had been built and the marketing plan implemented, the owners discovered that this new approach to renting a holiday home seemed to work. Bookings for Devon Beach Court came in very quickly and have continued to do so, they have also been able to steadily increase their prices without losing any guests, and remaining competitive in the busy Woolacombe self-catering market.

Results

As one of My Favourite Cottages oldest clients, Devon Beach Court is a prime example of why clients enjoy working with us. Not only do we provide an excellent service at a competitive rate but we also secure good bookings for our owners.

Devon Beach Court on average receives 30 bookings a year, with guests coming not only for the peak summer months but also in the quieter, harder to rent winter weeks.

More than 80% of Devon Beach Court’s bookings are made online and come from a variety of sources that have been expertly chosen by the My Favourite Cottages team