A very big house in the country

Helpful Holidays now has nearly forty holiday homes throughout the West Country for fourteen guests or more that can be booked for exclusive use. Ideal for family gatherings, celebrations and groups of friends taking a holiday together or a Christmas/New Year break, many can also offer professional catering and maid services. A selection of the best in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset are featured in a new supplement.

Choose from ancient farmhouses in splendid isolation, historic manors, vast converted barns, seaside mansions and grand family houses. Some are hidden on secluded country estates, others are just ambling distance of sandy beaches with magnificent views out to sea; several have swimming pools and games rooms while a few have private mooring, fishing rights or tennis courts.

New to Helpful Holidays this year and hidden deep in a peaceful 6,000 acre estate near Milton Combe, Devon is Maristow Barton, a sensational detached Georgian country house sleeping sixteen. The property has recently been beautifully refurbished and updated to an exceptional level providing a very comfy and bright modern home; there is also a games room, barns for bike storage and a jetty for a small boat on the nearby River Tavy.

Maristow Barton is also ideally placed for guests flying into Plymouth City Airport with Air Southwest who offer direct fights from London Gatwick, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Bristol, Jersey, Glasgow, Newcastle, Cork and Dublin (ref L80, from £81 per person per week for 16 sharing).

One of the most spectacular is Casa del Rio, a glamorous Hollywood house look alike built in 1935 beside the river at Newton Ferrers in South Devon sleeping twenty. Modelled on Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford’s home, Pickfair, it’s styled in a Spanish theme around a full-height, central circular marble floored tower and has typical 1930s Art Deco touches.

More recent additions include an indoor heated pool, cinema and games room with skittle alley. The house stands in beautiful terraced gardens, which lead down to the river and a private quay complete with two boats for holidaymakers’ use during the summer (ref L99, from £175 per person per week based on 16 sharing).

The biggest is Colehayes Park, a Grade II listed country house near Bovey Tracey in Devon, which sleeps up to seventy and is believed to be the largest self-catering property in the UK (ref A133, from £85 per person per week based on 40 sharing), while amongst the more historic is Sheafhayne Manor in East Devon, the former shooting lodge of Sir Francis Drake which now sleeps 24 (ref G1, from £87 per person per week based on 24 sharing).

For couples planning to tie the knot both Colehayes Park and Cadhay Manor, a stunning Grade I country house at Ottery St Mary, East Devon (sleeps 22, ref G100, from £134 per person per week based on 22 sharing) have civil wedding licences.

And more energetic holidaymakers will appreciate Brimpts Farm on Dartmoor where they can try climbing, abseiling, mountain biking or fishing on the moors and come home to relax in the hot tub and sauna (sleeps 32, ref A550, from £64 per person per week based on 20 sharing).

All Helpful Holidays big properties are visited regularly by their team so they can advise on what’s right for your special needs. So take the children, the dogs, aunties, uncles and grandparents (many have quieter granny annexes) or friends and relax while someone else worries about the garden, preparing dinner and major household chores.

To look and book, go online at Helpfulholidays.com. Short breaks are also available in many of the houses from October – March.