Featherdown Farm - Aller Farm, Devon - wow!

[milfAKAmonkeymonkeymoomoo]

Just got back from a week at Aller Farm in Devon, just wanted to highly recommend this place The farmers were so helpful and lovely and my nephews (5 and 2) and my DD (2.5) loved it.

So idyllic and worth every penny!

I have their brochure and would love to try them, they all look good. Does the chest refrigerator really work? Is it hard work cooking on the stove? Do you think it would be enough for 10 yr old active triplets?

You have to get ice blocks daily (twice if it was really hot) to put in the chest cool box, they supply them at the farm. It does seem to work. the stove wasn't a problem, took about half an hour to heat up to a cooking heat and everything cooked quickly, we took a gas camping stove as back up so we could quickly heat soup, pasta or whatever else in a hurry if needed. they also have a BBQ for hire as an alternative if the weather is nice.

Not sure about ten year olds but there was an 11yr old girl in one tent when she was there and her Mum said she was enjoying it. There was plenty to do in the area we stayed in so you wouldn't have to be confined to the farm.

We're thinking about this for next year - but a bit worried about how it would work in the event of a downpour. Did it rain? And if it didn't, do you think it would be miserable if it did?

It pee-ed down with rain!! (Got back on Friday). We didn't find it miserable as the tents are huge (3 adults one child and two big dogs in ours, my sister had two adults and two children in hers), so the children can play comfortably if it does rain. The toilet is inside the tent and the woodburning stove releases alot of heat (infact we were too hot the first night with the window coverings down!) so the issue of dampness is not a concern and it is easy to dry coats and boots etc inside. Plus in the area we stayed in there was lots of inside activities to do in the event of rain so you can get out i.e. good swimming pool, 'Diggerland', Cricket St thomas, soft play etc etc.

How did the hot stove work out (in terms of safety) with having two-year-olds running around the place? That's been my only concern about it from the brochures as it looks from the photos to be right in the middle of the living space.

We had two two year olds between us and didn't find it a problem. My nephew is a livewire and we thought he might be drawn to it but to be honest once it is going it is very hot and too uncomfortable to stand next too. Plus it you can't walk around it, it backs up to the kitchen area on one side so its not a hazard from that perspective. They do provide fire guards on request for those who want them (well they did at our farm )