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Exmoor House - Wheddon Cross

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Fresh air and fantastic food on Exmoor

Even the most ardent lovers of city life need to escape every now and again, and we may have found the perfect middle-of-nowhere country retreat. Super-cosy Exmoor House sits in the middle of... well... Exmoor - at 267 square miles one of the UK’s smallest National Parks and a gorgeous mixture of dramatic moorland and rolling valleys. The house’s official home is the little Somerset village of Wheddon Cross, the highest on Exmoor at 980ft above sea level, where life is dominated by miles of stunning views on all sides and the looming Dunkery Beacon (the highest point on Exmoor), which watches over proceedings.

Exmoor House is a little country hotel that’s just asking to wrap you up by the fire after a long day’s walking on the moors, and cook you a fantastic, warming meal. The cosy sitting room boasts a crackling fire and a very welcome honesty bar for winter whiskies, while summer guests can relax on the patio outside. Five comfy en-suite bedrooms are brightly decorated with lovely bathrooms (some with a bath, others with a shower).

But the real star of the show has to be Exmoor House’ fantastic food. The hotel dining room (which used to be the village tailor’s shop), is extremely inviting, and the perfect place for a fantastic evening meal. Fresh and seasonal, locally-produced ingredients are lovingly chosen to create daily-changing menus that will seem truly heaven-sent after a day of bracing fresh air. Pretty much everything is home-made and the puddings and Somerset cheeses at the end of the meal are a particular speciality. And breakfast is just as amazing - with local sausages and dry-cured bacon, Dartmouth kippers, home-made jam and freshly-squeezed orange juice. The amazing Exmoor House kitchen can even provide you with a lovely picnic lunch to take on your Exmoor adventures.

Great views, tonnes of fresh air, a roaring fire and never-ending deliciousness - if that isn’t enough to lure you out of the city, we don’t know what is.

Where is it?

Lofty little Wheddon Cross, and the neighbouring village of Cutcombe, lie in the heart of Exmoor National Park and about 14 miles from the Bristol Channel. It’s the perfect base for exploring the Park and is, frankly, a walker’s paradise. Leave your car at Exmoor House and within minutes on foot you’ll find yourself surrounded by some of the UK’s most dramatic countryside.

Walking routes from Wheddon Cross are almost endless - both the 36-mile Coleridge Way and the Exmoor Ridgeway pass close by - and the Exmoor House website is a great place to start for maps and directions. However, one of the most obvious places to head for is Dunkery Beacon - about 3 miles from Wheddon Cross - which, at 1,705 ft is the highest point in southern England, outside Dartmoor. Name-checked in the romantic Exmoor classic Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore (a book which, incidently, couldn’t be a better choice for curling up with back at the hotel), Dunkery Beacon offers stunning views on a clear day across Exmoor, Dartmoor, the Bristol Channel, the English Channel, the Brecon Beacons and even the Severn Bridge. In summer, the hill is blanketed in beautiful, purple heather.

Other beautiful spots within easy reach include the very pretty Snowdrop Valley that lines part of the River Avill - visit in early Spring to see an amazing white carpet of snow drops at their spectacular best - and the forest-covered Grabbist Hill, which was apparently the inspiration for school-assembly-classic ‘All things bright and beautiful’. The vast, National Trust-owned Holnicote Estate ( www.nationaltrust.org.u Tel: 01643 862452) is also nearby, including over 100 miles of windy paths, some stunning Exmoor villages - little thatched Selworthy, 7 miles from Wheddon Cross, is unthinkably gorgeous - and 4 miles of spectacular Bristol Channel coastline.

Exmoor is also home to the famously hardy Exmoor ponies, many of which still roam the moor (although these days, they’re all privately owned). The whole area is, unsurprisingly, perfect for equine adventures and there are several riding stables within easy reach of Wheddon Cross if you want to have a go. The Knowle Riding Centre ( www.knowlemanor.co.uk Tel: 01643 841342) at Knowle Manor, six miles from Exmoor House, is a good place to start.

If miles of walking (or riding) really isn’t your thing (or maybe you weren’t quite as fit as your unused Holmes Place membership card led you to believe...), there’s plenty of fantastic places to visit by car. Six miles from Wheddon Cross is the romantic medieval village of Dunster. With over 200 listed buildings, the village is remarkably well-protected from the scourge of mass-tourism and is a potterer’s paradise. Pretty boutiques, galleries, antique shops and cafes line the main street, that has stayed pretty much unchanged for centuries. But it’s hard to miss Dunster’s main attraction - the fairy tale Dunster Castle ( www.nationaltrust.org.uk Tel: 01643 823004), which sits on a wooded hill overlooking the village and has views and gardens to die for. For the full romantic experience, walk from the castle to Dunster’s West Somerset Railway station ( www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk Tel: 01643 704996) and board a steam train. The trains stop at the long and sandy Blue Anchor Beach just a mile or so from Dunster and the lovely little harbour town of Watchet, before travelling inland, past the Quantock Hills, towards Taunton.

Where can I eat?

The lovely dining room at Exmoor House really is a no-brainer of an eating option. Not only is the food fantastic and genuinely local (last year it was nominated for the UKTV Food Local Hero Award), but the service is relaxed and friendly and your comfy bed is within stumbling distance!

If you’re looking for an alternative, there are some lovely places to eat nearby, but you’ll probably have to use the car. Reeves Restaurant ( www.reevesrestaurantdunster.co.uk Tel: 01643 821414) in Dunster is a very cosy place, with a great menu of British and French dishes made with the freshest of local ingredients. Unsurprisingly, given Dunster’s coastal location, the seafood is especially great. For more freshly-caught fish, try Andrews on the Weir ( www.andrewsontheweir.co.uk Tel: 01643 863 300), a gorgeous, award-winning restaurant right on the water at Porlock Weir, 14 miles from Wheddon Cross. Simple, but mouthwatering, dishes are served in a beautiful dining room overlooking the pretty harbour outside.

For a great gastropub, drive the 9 miles inland from Exmoor House to the pretty village of Dulverton and Woods Bar & Dining Room (Tel: 01398 324007), a very cosy and pleasingly bustling pub-restaurant. Winner of 2007’s Wine Pub of The Year, Woods is just as lauded for its hearty menu - made from the freshest local produce and cooked by Provencal chef Oliver Certan - a great mix of British and French bistro deliciousness.

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Even the most ardent lovers of city life need to escape every now and again, and we may have found the perfect middle-of-nowhere country retreat in Exmoor House.