Sunnyside
Appledore
North Devon
4 Bedrooms
2 Baths
Dog Friendly
Sea Views
Sunnyside is a secluded, peaceful, elegant and comfortable four-bedroom Victorian villa set in the heart of the north Devonshire seaside village of Appledore, with stunning views across the Torridge estuary.
On the ground floor is the hallway, with its original stained-glass door and tiled floor. The blue console table contains a selection of brochures, leaflets and a couple of maps, all of which might be useful for researching things to do.
On the left-hand side is the comfortable sitting room with estuary views and a large bay window. There is WiFi, a (Smart) TV, DVD player, a good selection of games, jigsaws and DVDs.
The canvas Ordnance Survey map on the wall - with Sunnyside at the centre – is there to help guests get their bearings and plan some amazing coastal and country walks.
The kitchen has a dishwasher, washing machine, fridge freezer, electric hob and extractor and double oven. There’s a Nespresso coffee machine, toaster, kettle, water filter jug and a Magimix. In the drawers there’s every useful gadget we could think of. We’ve also supplied decent cutlery and sharp knives as, in our experience, these are often lacking in rental properties.
The downstairs loo is at the end of the corridor, where you can find the understairs cupboard housing a vacuum cleaner, laundry basket, peg, iron, ironing board and a mop and bucket, should you feel like doing some housework…
There are also some buckets and spades, a couple of body boards and hooks on which to hang wet coats.
(First floor)
At the top of the stairs the first room you come to is bedroom 1. This has lovely views across the estuary. The beds can be configured as twins or a superking bed. The bedside lights have an adjustable reading light and USB charging point. There is a wardrobe and a bedside chest of drawers.
Bedroom 2 is a double sleigh-style bed, positioned by the sash window to make the best of the estuary views. The room has a dressing table, mirror and a selection of hooks and clothes hangers.
Bedroom 3 looks out onto historic Alpha Place. The beds can be configured as twins or a superking bed. The alcove near the door offers hanging space for clothes and there is a chest of drawers and smaller set of drawers. Look on the right of the sash window and you can see the original key holder (deeply painted in) complete with the key. A secondary glazing specialist told us that in 30 years working with sash windows, he’d never seen a key holder with its key still in place.
The main bathroom is spacious and comfortable with a bath, an over the bath power shower and Victorian wash stand. And lots of lovely photos to look at.
(Second floor)
Open the pine door and follow the stairs up to the second floor. This is bedroom 4, the master suite. The view from the sash window is wonderful. The whole of Instow and the estuary is before you. The Velux window has views out across the east of the estuary and over Appledore.
The room has a king size canopy bed, dressing table, a unit with a hanging rail, shelves and drawers, a long mirror, Smart TV, and seating area. The ensuite bathroom has a very comfortable corner bath. Thanks to the quirky Victorian plumbing, the loo had to be fitted with a macerator, which makes a weird noise, but works well as long as you only put loo paper down it. Anything else and it will get very upset and break. Which is disruptive and expensive.
House and Garden
The garden is extremely peaceful. It’s secluded, enclosed and secure for dogs. It offers different areas and seating for relaxing, reading or snoozing. The garden faces south east, so gets the morning sun. In the evening, the sun streams down the entrance path and you can enjoy the last rays of the day on the raised patio - maybe while your dinner is cooking on the barbecue.
Although Sunnyside is in the heart of Appledore, it is very quiet and secluded. The deck and garden offer a peaceful haven away from the lively bustle of the quayside and seafront. While many houses in Appledore have courtyards and patios, not so many have a garden with a lawn. At Sunnyside the outside space is arranged on different levels and edged with shrubs and trees that provide seclusion and privacy: you can bask on the deck that overlooks the garden, relax on the patio or recline on the lawn.
Sunnyside has an allocated parking space in a private, gated car park at the end of Alpha Place, a minute’s walk from the house. There is also a public car park two minutes down the road.
Dog Freindly
Appledore is a wonderful place to bring the dog: it’s extremely dog friendly. Almost all the bars and restaurants welcome dogs, or have a designated dog-friendly area.
There are great dog walks along the beach at Appledore at low tide or across the estuary (by ferry) to Instow Beach or, best of all, to Northam Burrows, which is half way along the three miles stretch of sand from Westward Ho! to the mouth of the Torridge estuary. Wide, sandy and fringed with pebbles and dunes, dogs are welcome here all year.
Nearby Shops
John’s (open 8am to 7pm) is our local store. It’s on the Quay and has grocery essentials, newspapers, fruit and vegetables, alcoholic drinks and a Post Office counter. Next door, John’s Deli serves delicious freshly baked sourdough, croissants, quiche, scotch eggs, sausage rolls, cake, biscuits, fresh coffee and tea. Everything, in fact, for a picnic, a snack or afternoon tea.
Marshford Organic Foods (10pm to 5pm Tuesday to Saturday) is on the A386, half way between Appledore
and Northam. It has a lovely selection of vegetables and fruit, fresh and frozen fish and meat, eggs, cheeses, wines, chocolates, cakes and other really nicely chosen groceries. They deliver to Appledore (on Fridays) marshford.co.uk.
Morrisons Superstore in Bideford is the nearest supermarket and is less than 10 minutes’ drive from Sunnyside. The Clovelly Road Industrial Estate isn’t lovely, but it’s very useful. It has Lidl, Aldi, Starbucks, McDonalds, B&M, a garden centre, Asda and the Affinity Outlet Centre with Next, ProCook, Quba, Clarks, Crew Clothing etc. Bideford’s covered Victorian Pannier Market Hall is well worth a visit.
There are several gift shops and art galleries here in Appledore. And there’s even a tiny library. You’ll discover these as you wander around the village.
Appledore Antiques on Marine Parade is definitely worth a visit if you like that sort of thing. It’s open from Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 4pm.
Beaches and Swimming
The Quay is a just a few minutes walk from Sunnyside. At high tide you can swim from the Quay, but a favourite, and better, spot is the RNLI ramp. The Lifeboat Station is at the far end of beautiful Irsha Street and the slipway there offers easy access into a sheltered area of water in the little bay.
Take the ferry to Instow (or drive). It has a lovely, sandy beach, edged with dunes. It’s great for dog walking, building sand castles and paddle boarding.
The beach at Northam Burrows is beautiful. It is a ten minutes drive away, lots of parking, there are lifeguards on patrol during the summer months and the beach is wide, spacious and uncrowded. You can see out across to Clovelly to the south and, on a clear day, to the Isle of Lundy on the horizon. It offers great swimming, body boarding and surfing. Westward Ho! is just five minutes drive from Sunnyside and is a great destination for swimming and the beach. It’s really popular with surfers and swimmers and there is a sea pool built amongst the rockpools that edge the sea wall. Croyde, Saunton Sands and Woolacombe are all within easy reach by car.
Sunnyside is right in the heart of Appledore and the pubs, restaurants and shops are a walk away – and the walk is wonderful: through narrow streets with pastel-coloured cottages and tiny winding alleyways.
It’s very dog friendly. Most pubs and restaurants will let you bring the dogs. If you want to eat out, plan ahead and book. If you fancy a takeaway, get in early as last orders vary, but none are open particularly late. Try Flame Factory (eat in, eat on the quay or takeaway) for delicious burgers, salad and pizza.
For a fabulous view of the estuary and lovely food, try The Royal George on pretty Irsha Street. Book well in advance and ask for a sea view upstairs. (Dogs are welcome downstairs only). The Sea Gate Hotel is great for drinks overlooking the quay and the food is pretty good too. In the summer, weather permitting, the Appledore Brass band play on the quay every Monday night.
It’s very dog friendly. Most pubs and restaurants will let you bring the dogs. If you want to eat out, plan ahead and book. If you fancy a takeaway, get in early as last orders vary, but none are open particularly late. Try Flame Factory (eat in, eat on the quay or takeaway) for delicious burgers, salad and pizza.
For a fabulous view of the estuary and lovely food, try The Royal George on pretty Irsha Street. Book well in advance and ask for a sea view upstairs. (Dogs are welcome downstairs only). The Sea Gate Hotel is great for drinks overlooking the quay and the food is pretty good too. In the summer, weather permitting, the Appledore Brass band play on the quay every Monday night.
It’s the nearest pub to Sunnyside and it’s tiny – a drinker’s pub. You can take your fish and chips in there and listen to live music: folk on one day, blues on another.
For lovely coffee, cake and sandwiches, wander down to the Market Street Kitchen. It’s about three minutes’ walk from Sunnyside.
Finally, we are very lucky to have a lady in the village who cooks really delicious takeaway Taiwanese food. See Candy’s Cuisine www.facebook.com/candysasiancuisine/ She only lives down the road and will deliver.
The Torridge River has one of the largest tidal ranges in the country. From Sunnyside you can admire the estuary in all its states according to time and tide: sometimes it’s sparkling blue and alive with sails and rowing gigs. Other times it’s a broad ribbon of sand dotted with beached dinghies and yachts resting on their sides. But even at the lowest tides there’s a very narrow channel that winds between Appledore and Instow, stretching east to Bideford.
From upstairs you can admire the grass-topped dunes at Instow, the sands at Braunton Burrows in the distance and the rollers from the Atlantic beyond. To the east you look towards the hills around Tapeley Park and its surrounding estate. At night you can see the lights from Instow twinkling across the estuary.
The views from Sunnyside are endlessly fascinating because the estuary is so dynamic and the landscapes constantly changing. Sometimes you can spot figures walking about on the wet sand, apparently in the middle of the estuary. It is possible, we are told, to walk across to Instow at low tide but it’s not advisable. When the tides come in, they sweep in fast. It’s probably better to wait until the tide is high and catch the little passenger ferry from the Quay instead.
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Sunnyside, Green Lane, Appledore, EX39 1QZ
