Underhill Barn and Acorn Cottage is a converted dairy barn dating from 1868. It’s a charming flint barn that was still being used 26 years ago. The family who owned the old farmhouse and barn still live in Southleigh and Southleigh’s beating heart is very much its agricultural community.
We moved in a year ago and have sympathetically renovated Underhill Barn to create a boutique B&B with 2 luxury suites. We believe the clue is in the name, a great nights’ sleep on a comfy bed and a breakfast of locally sourced ingredients to get you going for the day.
We have invested heavily in the beds and every guest we have hosted has asked us where we got the beds from, one said “it was like sleeping on a cloud”. Sustainability is at our core, hence we use Hungarian Goose Down duvets and pillows cloaked with 400 + thread count Egyptian cotton linen – we don’t believe in synthetic fibres.
Breakfast is a 4-course feast, with a healthy start, and cooked doesn’t only mean the traditional pork based English breakfast. For cultural and lifestyle reasons many choose not to eat pork and for whatever reason, all are welcome here at Underhill. Vegetarian and non pork breakfasts have been really popular, I cook my own baked beans and we source bread from Glebe House who are literally above us in Southleigh – you can’t get much more local than that!
Rooms can be superking doubles or twins, meaning that with our 2 rooms, we could host two couples away for the weekend, or a friendship group sharing a room – we’re happy to do a whole-home takeover.
Our aim is to deliver a super-premium product, but in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere – we are here to help people re-charge from their busy daily lives, this is why we serve breakfast until 10:15, so you can have a lie in, or just luxuriate and read a book in the morning. There’s no rushing at Underhill Barn.
Acorn Cottage is a self contained sleeps 2 unit, again finished to the same high standard. The bed is a kingsize in Acorn, not a superking, but same high quality duvets and linens.
We provide all the basics in the kitchen, oils, herbs, tin foil, baking parchment. I’ve rented a lot of holiday cottages and have always been frustrated that the kitchens don’t contain a single sharp knife and that there’s none of the basics so we provide all of this, and a lovely welcome pack, so guests can focus on the hard work of relaxing and having a good time, knowing that all the basics are covered.
Also if the smell of our 4-course breakfast gives you breakfast envy, come and join us at Underhill, for a fee you can also have the B&B breakfast experience when staying at Acorn Cottage.
Being under Glebe House means that there’s hyper local eating option for dining out and Colyton, Lyme and Sidmouth are between 10 and 20 minutes away.
Our cottage is doggie friendly, not the B&B, as Tilly, our adored and much fussed over tabby cat of 14 years would not approve!
Southleigh is in my, (totally unbiased) opinion a real hidden gem in East Devon. It’s a proper agricultural working area and its immensely friendly. Glebe House has put Southleigh on the map, and what drew us to this specific property, was not just the amazing guest accommodation, but the fact that as we are just in-land from Beer and Branscombe, you have access to both coast and country. Amazing country walks from our doorstep in the morning, whilst you can paddleboard in the afternoon. We are in the heart of the East Devon AONB and the beauty of the area still takes my breath away when I drive into the village, past our 14th C church.