Holiday home for max. 20 persons
Axminster, England, (Devon), Great Britain

Rushay is a beautiful 9 bedroom Edwardian country house and cottage, at the edge of a traditional English village. It has a tennis court and huge gardens, sleeps 20, and stands just a mile from the beach at Charmouth. 

Easy access from Channel ports (Portsmouth 2 hours) and airports at Exeter, Bristol, Bournemouth and Heathrow.

With four reception rooms, open fires, two fully equipped kitchens, and excellent shopping in the lively market towns of Bridport and Lyme Regis, there’s so much for family groups and holiday makers to enjoy, from the sea itself to a terrace BBQ to table football and tennis.

Two huge king-size bedrooms * Three further double bedrooms, en suite attic ‘dorm’ with four single beds, three bathrooms * In the cottage 3 double bedrooms, including ground floor bedroom en suite * Drawing room with open fire * Study with widescreen tv * Dining room seats 18/20 * Kitchen with traditional tiled floor, Aga, electric oven, induction hob, island * Pantry with full-sized American-style fridge freezer * Separate utility room with washing machine * Downstairs lavatory * Cottage with second kitchen and its own sitting room *

Beautifully decorated with original paintings and antique furniture.

Lovely gardens

Tennis court

Mini-football table

Four sitting areas

West-facing terrace

Village location

Charmouth's beaches are justly famous, great for families and for fossil hunters on the Jurassic coast. Three miles away is Lyme Regis, with the famous Cobb where Jane Austen's Louisa slipped and fell, and Meryl Streep stared out to sea in the French Lieutenant's Woman. Bridport, with its lively shops and market, is ten minutes in the other direction. Axminster is a sleepy town ten minutes over the Devon border, with a mainline railway station.

The area is full of fabulous restaurants to suit everyone, with chefs like Mark Hix and Harriet Mansell in Lyme, and Cass Titcombe at Brassica, in Beaminster. There are wonderful places to buy local produce, meat and seafood. In the village a tiny hut with an honesty box is kept supplied with seasonal organic vegetables (and a useful healing herbal salve). Felicity's Farm Shop sells local rare breed pork, raised by her brother, as well as really good meat, cheese, and everything else - vegetables, bread, tea, milk, beer, dried beans... A fish van comes to the car park on Fridays, with spanking fresh Portland fish, and the organic Baboo ice cream truck rolls up daily.

For all West Dorset's sophisticated food scene, you can leave it all behind in a moment by walking up into the hills around you, two of them crowned by Iron Age earthworks, part of a chain of hill forts across the Marshwood Vale, itself still dominated by small fields and ancient woodland. You get views to the sea, and into two counties. There's much to explore, and whether it's walking or swimming, cooking or exploring, or just relaxing with family and friends, Rushay makes the perfect base.