Devon UK: Self Catering Fishing Holidays
Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2009/01/07 - Updated: 2024/07/10
Publication Type: Informative
Topic: Europe for Visitors - Publications List
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main
Synopsis: Information on self catering holidays in the Devon area of England that include fishing and sight seeing.
• A self catering holiday is a holiday where you provide the catering, your hosts provide the venue, whether that venue may be cottages or apartments or indeed any other style of self catering accommodation.
• You may have other requirements, perhaps your self catering accommodation needs to be pet friendly and specifically cat friendly or dog friendly or you may have a disability you wish to be catered for.
Introduction
Self catering can be enormously rewarding and provide the ultimate in holidaying freedom, but be aware that there are a multitude of differences in quality that this style of holiday may provide. You can run the whole gambit of self catering holidays, be they luxury or otherwise.
Main Item
The Joys of Self Catering Accommodation
Never miss breakfast, get up when you like. Never miss dinner, eat when you like and what you like. Stay in a suite, stay with your family.
Self catering accommodation, you may think is obviously described, but then only to those of us who are aware of how self catering cottages or apartments work.
A self catering holiday is a holiday where you provide the catering, your hosts provide the venue, whether that venue may be cottages or apartments or indeed any other style of self catering accommodation.
These styles of holidays are a particular niche and very popular in the Southwest of England, specifically Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, and Dorset, although self catering cottage and apartment holidays are available in other areas of the United Kingdom.
Large companies including Thompson's and Marsdens promote self catering cottages, but never fall into the trap that just because a large company promotes this style of holiday, that their venues all include the same quality of cottage or apartment.
Self catering can be enormously rewarding and provide the ultimate in holidaying freedom, but be aware that there are a multitude of differences in quality that this style of holiday may provide.. You can run the whole gambit of self catering holidays, be they luxury or otherwise.
Your host would normally provide the accommodation, complete with bedding and linen, including towels.
But it can then get very quite confusing, at the lower end of the self-catering holidays you may have to provide your own cleaning materials, the linen may not be the quality you expect, you may be expected to pay for electricity or heating additionally.
Be sure to decide the comforts you require and ensure your cottages or apartments provide them, list them out before you book and if you cannot find your requirements listed, ensure your holiday provider confirms they can give you what you want.
Another important consideration, does the area where your proposed self catering cottage or apartment is situated, provide what you are looking for. Do some investigations into the area before you book, to make sure it has what you want.
Newbarn Farm Cottages is partially self explanatory, however if you add Paington, many more would recognize the area and what it has to offer.
It instantly becomes recognizable with the Torbay area along with Brixham and Torquay, also described as The English Riviera.
So doing some investigation into the area along with the delight is has to offer can reap dividends.
Also investigate what is available on site, If you take Newbarn Farm Cottages and Angling Center, then it is instantly recognizable that fishing is available. Look at their web site, see if it describes exactly what style of fishing is available, but don't presume, some self catering holiday cottages and apartments can be vague.
If you want to go to Devon for fishing then do some homework, investigate the area, talk to people, personal recommendation is always good, but take care to make sure that the people you are asking expect the same thing from their holiday that you do. It may seem obvious and it is an exaggeration, but grandma will probably not require a self catering holiday recommendation from her 17 year old grand daughter.
Personnel recommendations from families are good, because you can give a broad cross section of information on how the different ages reacted to the different things the "Devon Fishing" self catering holiday may have to offer, but be aware, that only works if the families have similar ages and interests.
If you take fishing or angling holidays, there are numerous derivatives from the initial description.
Do you want fishing in the dark or night fishing? Is it a carp fishing holiday in the UK? Or are you a specimen fisherman or fisher-woman Tenchfishers Roach, Bream or Ghost Carp?
Mirror Lake is the main carp lake, covering 1.25 acres with an island and underwater plateaus. Depths average 12ft and go to 14ft with shale sides and a silty bottom. There are 9 swims with huts plus other swims. The lake is stocked with 200 carp (from 7lb to 29lb), roach, rudd, perch (up to 3lb) and eels (7lb+). The best baits for carp are boilies, pellets, sweetcorn, and floating bread (a killer in summer!).
Island, Rosie and Lulu pools are small pools located near the car park, with depths of up to 6ft. They're specially suited to the young or inexperienced carper, with carp averaging 2- 4lb. There is also roach, rudd, perch and tench to 2lb, great for the keen silver fish angler. The best baits here are sweetcorn and maggots.
Willow lake is about 1/3 acre in size and has many carp (up to 18lb; averaging 6- 7lb), plus a few ghost carp (up to 18lb; averaging 10lb) and grass carp (to 10lb). The bottom is slightly silty with depths of 4ft - 9ft. There is also bream, roach, rudd and perch in this lake. The best baits are luncheon meat, sweetcorn and pellets.
Lily Lake is a small lake, about 1/4 acre in size, and predominately stocked with tench and bream (to 9lb). Roach, rudd and perch (to 3lb) can also be caught here. The best baits in here are pellets, bread and sweetcorn.
So you can see from these descriptions that the information is quite detailed and it is relatively easy to understand what is available, the species that can be caught by the specimen fisherman or fisher-woman, what bait is required, the sizes of fish available and more importantly that you don't require any experience, you can find the corner of a quite pool, ask the assistance of the friendly staff, have your own first experience fishing or introduce your partner or children to fishing.
Many fishing or angling venues can be located in the angling times or angling news, these periodicals have a wealth of information for those wishing to investigate angling or fishing venues and accommodation.
The internet is always wealthy source of information, search for your desired activity, some of the fishing sites you may wish to visit could be, anglingdirect, marshalward, carpforum, carplines, carpuniverse, fishingnet, leslies-luton, tacklebox.co.uk, carp-uk-net Foxint, carp-fishing-holidays, swiftys-fishing-tackle, telephonetackle, but this style of web sites will translate into any of your chosen interests.
Make your searches specific, if you want to try fishing, search under, beginner fishing, junior fishing, beginner angling, junior angling. You can find some first time fishing experiences at the newbarn farm website, but there are numerous other sites which can promote your initial experience into your favorite activity.
A wealth of information can be gleaned from associations in your chosen areas of interest; these could be fishing associations, angling associations, British angling associations, National fishing association, federation of anglers, or any derivative within your chosen field.
If you want peaceful fishing search for it, if you want expert fishing, search for that, or try the following, improve your coarse fishing, Totnes fishing, Paington fishing, fishing near Torbay, fishing lessons, fishing tuition, quality coarse fishing, no National rod license, fishing equipment for hire, self catering accommodation, fishing near Brixham, Collaton St. Mary, Collaton St. Mary fishing, fishing for beginners, specimen anglers or pleasure anglers, but altered accordingly for your specific activity.
Be aware that you can gain some very interesting information by changing the spelling of your search, instead of searching for self catering cottages and coarse fishing, try self-catering cottages and course fishing, the result of different spellings can be very interesting.
Search the blogs, they can reveal a great deal of information, there are thousands of blogs in all manner of holiday experiences, do some research in this area.
You may have other requirements, perhaps your self catering accommodation needs to be pet friendly and specifically cat friendly or dog friendly or you may have a disability you wish to be catered for. If you can't find the information in the holiday brochure or information, ring the company, ask them specifically to describe how they will accommodate you and your particular requirements.
It is obviously easier if you know specifically what you want, because then you can narrow your search to that confined area. It is beneficial to get everyone together who is going on holiday and find out what they want to do, whilst you may have to compromise you can compromise equally, before you get on holiday and reduce arguments to a minimum..
Do you want to go to an area of outstanding natural beauty?
Do you want a self catering cottage in South Devon?
A cottage in Dartmouth or simply a cottage on a farm, try and define it as well as you can, then move onto the facilities and attractions?
Make lists
What do you all want?
Tranquility, breathtaking views, bustling harbour , fresh groceries, barbeques, footy field, trampoline, Devon ice-cream, peace and quiet, hustle and bustle, private drive, lakes, vistas, farm, children friendly, pet friendly, family holiday, wilderness, rural lanes, medieval ruins, national park, Tors, wild bilberries, stunning landscapes, fresh flowers, beautiful views, birds singing, relaxing holiday, bolt hole, pool, sauna, steam room, leisure complex, taste of Devon, cider, white wine , hamper, local beverages.
Where do you all want to go?
Collaton St Mary, Devon, Torbay, English Riviera, Dartmoor, Paignton, Plymouth, Cannonteign Falls, Dart valley, Paignton Pier, Quaywest, Torbay Golf Center, Kent's Cavern, Torquay Museum, Oldway Mansion, Torre Abbey, Compton Castle, Cayman Golf, Princess Theater, Babbacombe Theater, Paignton Harbour, Sharpham Vineyard, The Valiant Soldier, South Devon Railway, Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary, Buckfast Butterflies, Hedgehog Hospital, Buckfast Abbey, Falcon Leisure Center.
What do you all want to do?
Make sandcastles, activities for the kids, dramatic walking, exploring, bird watching, Paignton Zoo, dolphins, sea fishing trip, watersports, diving, waterskiing. walking, cycling, steam Railway, National Marine Aquarium, angling and fishing
Do you specifically want activities on site?
Trampoline, swings, slide, play field, cricket, badminton, volleyball, football, basketball, golf, swingball, frisbee, kites, garden field, wireless LAN, internet connection, organic vegetables, homemade scones,
You can be very specific in your lists and compromise as you find out what everyone wants to do. Once you have decided what you all want to do, then make a list of the protective clothing you might need to take with you, to enable you all to do the activities you want to do in comfort and in safety.
Pay special attention to the time of year you are going, even try to get a long range weather forecast, although don't forget the further ahead you are looking into the weather, the less accurate a forecast becomes. There is nothing to stop you, however, in fine tuning your self catering cottage or apartment holiday as the time draws near.
You can see that planning is probably the best advice that I can provide. If you find a place like Devon gives you everything you want from a self-catering holiday, then you can be happy in the knowledge that a lifetime of holidays in Devon will never reveal everything that is on offer here. Meaning therefore that your holiday planning will be reduced every time you come.
I wish you great times, great holidays, great activities and most of all a great life.