At the harbour
Self-catering in Lynmouth: cottages and apartments at sea level
A week in a converted fisherman’s cottage a hundred yards from the harbour is a very particular kind of holiday, and worth understanding before you book it.
Lynmouth has very little flat ground and a great many old buildings on it, so the self-catering here is almost entirely conversion: fishermen’s cottages knocked into one, Victorian villas split into apartments, and former commercial buildings on the harbour front reworked into holiday lets. The results are characterful and rarely regular in shape.
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Where the properties are
The harbour front and the Esplanade carry the ones with a view over the water and the Rhenish Tower, and they are the first to book. Lynmouth Street, running back from the harbour, has cottages above and behind the shops. The river banks on both the East and West Lyn have conversions with the water directly below the windows, which is the best and loudest option in the village.
A short way up the hill, Lynbridge and the lower slopes towards Lynton give more space and more parking at the cost of a walk down and a climb back.
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What to expect from the buildings
Steep, narrow stairs are normal, and in a three-storey conversion you may be carrying luggage up two flights. Rooms are often small and ceilings sometimes low. Windows are frequently small too, because these were built for weather rather than for light. What you get in return is thick stone walls, deep sills and a position you could not build today.
Damp is worth asking about. A stone building at the bottom of a wooded gorge beside two rivers has to be looked after, and the well-managed ones are dry and warm while the neglected ones are not.
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The river
You will hear it. In settled weather it is a steady rush that most people stop noticing within a day. After heavy rain on the moor it becomes genuinely loud, and the West Lyn in particular moves stone. If a light sleeper is in the party, ask which side of the building the bedrooms face - see the 1952 flood for why the channel is as wide and as walled as it is.
Living beside the Lyn is the point and the caveat at once. The sound is constant and pleasant, and after two days of rain on the moor it changes register entirely - the river comes down loud, brown and fast between its rebuilt walls. The channel that carries it was engineered after 1952 to a size the village hopes never to need, and watching it work is one of the things that makes staying here memorable.
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Parking and arrival
This is the practical issue in Lynmouth and the one thing to settle before booking. Some properties come with an allocated space, some with a permit, and some with nothing at all, in a village where the public parking fills by mid-morning in season. Confirm what you are getting in writing.
Arrival is easier outside the middle of the day. The harbour front is congested from late morning to late afternoon in summer, and unloading is much simpler at nine in the morning or six in the evening.
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What it is good for
Walkers, because the Watersmeet path and the coast path both start within a few hundred yards and you can leave early and come back late without reference to anyone’s serving times. Families with older children, because the harbour is a genuine playground and the cliff railway never gets boring. And anyone visiting out of season, when having a kitchen matters because the eating options thin out considerably.
It suits small children less well: steep stairs, an unfenced harbour and fast water are a combination that needs constant attention. The valley campsites and the properties up the hill are easier with toddlers.
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Stocking up
The village shops cover the basics and nothing more. A supermarket shop in Barnstaple or Minehead on the way in is the standard approach, topped up mid-week from a pannier market. Carrying a week of shopping from a car park to a third-floor conversion is a good argument for arriving with a parking space.
Both villages have small shops for the essentials, and neither has a supermarket. The practical routine for a self-catering week is one big shop on the way in - Barnstaple and Minehead are the nearest towns with a full range - and top-ups locally, which also keeps the village shops going.
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A week at the bottom of the gorge
The pattern that works here is to treat the harbour as the base and go out on foot rather than by car. Watersmeet and back before breakfast, the coast path east over Countisbury in the middle of the day, the cliff railway up to Lynton for the evening. Very little of a good week in Lynmouth involves the vehicle at all, which is fortunate given where it will be parked.
The one thing to be honest about is light. Lynmouth sits at the foot of five-hundred-foot cliffs, so the sun arrives late and leaves early, particularly in winter. In exchange you get shelter from the wind that is blowing on the top, and a village that is warm when Lynton is not.
Common questions
What is self-catering in Lynmouth like?
Mostly conversions - fishermen’s cottages knocked together, Victorian villas split into apartments, and buildings on the harbour front reworked as lets. Characterful, often on several floors with steep stairs, and rarely regular in shape.
Is parking included with Lynmouth holiday cottages?
Sometimes, sometimes a permit, sometimes nothing at all. It is the single thing to settle in writing before booking, because public parking fills by mid-morning in season.
Is the river noisy in Lynmouth?
Yes, constantly, and much louder after heavy rain on the moor. Most people stop noticing within a day. If a light sleeper is in the party, ask which way the bedrooms face.
Is Lynmouth suitable for small children?
Less so than the properties up the hill or the valley campsites. Steep stairs, an unfenced harbour and fast water need constant attention.
