Hollyhock Cottage

Duloe sits a few miles inland from Looe, a small village tucked into the wooded valleys of south Cornwall. The Treworgey estate lies on its outskirts: a cluster of cottages gathered around a working farm, with views across the Seaton Valley and the hills beyond. The countryside here is quiet and beautiful, the kind of place where a walk before breakfast puts you in the best frame of mind for the rest of the day.

Hollyhock is about two hundred years old and sits among traditional cottage gardens to the front and rear. The ground floor opens through a slate-roofed conservatory into a sitting room with twisted oak beams, an open hearth fireplace, and lamp-lit corners. The kitchen is well fitted, with a chunky slate worktop and a reclaimed brick floor. Upstairs, a four-poster king-size bedroom faces out over the valley with river views from the pillow, and a bathroom with a separate bath and walk-in shower.

Staying at Hollyhock also means the run of the wider Treworgey estate, which has no shortage of activities to occupy little ones. There is a heated outdoor pool with a separate toddler pool, a playground, sand pit and climbing wall, plus three indoor play spaces for wet afternoons. Weekday mornings bring animal feeding, with ducks, chickens, goats, pigs, guinea pigs and lambs to visit, and school holidays add a pony club and a woodland crafts club for the older ones.