Groups and gatherings
Large group accommodation around Lynton and Lynmouth
The village stock is small rooms in old buildings. For a group of more than about eight, the answer is usually out on the moor.
Both villages are built on slopes out of small old buildings, which is charming for two people and awkward for fourteen. Group bookings here work, but they usually work somewhere other than the harbour front.
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Big houses on the moor
The most reliable option is a single large self-catering property - a farmhouse, a converted barn complex or a country house - somewhere in the valleys or on the open moor. These routinely sleep ten to twenty and sometimes more, they come with parking and land, and they are set up for the practical business of feeding a lot of people at once. Brendon, Martinhoe, Parracombe, Simonsbath and the country towards Exford have most of them. See self-catering on the moor.
The trade is that everything becomes a drive, and organising twelve people and three cars along single-track lanes after dark takes a certain amount of goodwill.
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Taking a small hotel
Several of the smaller hotels and guest houses in Lynton and Lynmouth have few enough rooms that a group can take the whole building, and out of season this is often welcomed. It solves catering, it solves the awkwardness of splitting a party across postcodes, and it puts you in walking distance of the pubs. It is generally only realistic outside the peak weeks.
Taking a small hotel outright is more achievable here than it sounds, because the hotels are small - a dozen rooms is a large one. For a family gathering or a walking club it solves the beds, the breakfast and the evening meal in a single booking, and out of season it can cost less per head than the same number of cottages.
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Splitting across properties
The usual compromise: two or three cottages within a few hundred yards, with one nominated as the kitchen. It works well in the villages, where properties are close together, and badly on the moor, where a few hundred yards can mean a mile of lane.
Splitting a group across two or three cottages in the same village usually beats waiting for one house that sleeps twenty. It gives everyone somewhere to retreat to, it spreads the parking, and in villages this small the walk between properties is measured in minutes. The one thing to fix in advance is where everybody eats.
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What to settle before booking
- Parking. Count the cars and ask about spaces before anything else. This is the constraint that ruins group bookings in Lynmouth.
- Beds versus bedrooms. Sleeping fourteen and having fourteen people comfortable are different claims. Ask how many are on sofa beds and in bunk rooms.
- Bathrooms. The ratio matters more than the headline number.
- Catering. Whether you are cooking, and whether the kitchen and the table can actually take the whole party at once.
- Access. Minibuses do not fit down every moorland lane. Confirm before hiring one.
- Cancellation. Group deposits are large. Read the terms and consider insurance.
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Walking groups
This is the area’s natural group visitor, and the inns are the ones set up for it - rooms above a bar, a drying space, food that runs late and a landlord who has seen wet boots before. The valley inns at Brendon, Rockford and the Heddon Valley sit directly on the routes described in the walking guide, which removes the transport question entirely.
The other thing worth agreeing early is transport. A group of twelve arriving in nine cars is a parking problem in either village; two or three shared cars is not, and it means nobody has to drive back over the moor in the dark after dinner.
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When to book
Peak-season group bookings go six to twelve months ahead, and the good big houses go first. Long weekends outside the school holidays are far easier and considerably cheaper, and for a walking group the shoulder seasons are the better weather anyway.
Large properties here are booked a long way ahead - often a year for the summer weeks and the New Year - because there are very few of them. If the date is fixed, book first and plan afterwards; if the group is flexible, the shoulder months are both cheaper and easier.
Common questions
Where can a large group stay near Lynton and Lynmouth?
Usually in a single large self-catering property on the moor - a farmhouse or country house sleeping ten to twenty - around Brendon, Martinhoe, Parracombe or Simonsbath. Small village hotels can sometimes be taken whole out of season.
How far ahead should a group book?
Six to twelve months for peak season, when the large houses go first. Long weekends outside the school holidays are much easier and cheaper.
What is the main problem with group bookings in Lynmouth?
Parking. Count the cars and confirm the spaces before committing - it is the constraint that most often catches groups out.
Where should a walking group stay?
At the valley inns - Brendon, Rockford and the Heddon Valley - which sit directly on the walking routes and are set up for wet boots, late food and early breakfasts.
