Lundy Island Hotels

maykal
Reviews: 1290

2.5 out of 5 stars Helpfulness

Other Properties

The Landmark Trust owns 23 properties on Lundy, all of them in unique old buildings. You can choose to stay in the 13th century Castle, an old lighthouse, the tiny blue school or a former radio room.

Castle - there are four cottages inside the castle, about 15 minutes' walk from the village overlooking South Light and the Landing Bay. One thing we noticed was that the cottages didn't have that many windows, so while staying in a historic castle sounds appealing, we were quite glad not to have chosen one of these.

Hanmers - a small fisherman's hut below the castle with possibly the best views of the island, right along the east coast.

Bramble Villas, Little and Big St John's Cottages - these four properties are all quite hidden, in the valley below the village

Milcomble House - this housed the Heaven family, owners of Lundy, before being turned into a hotel. Nowadays, it sleeps up to 14, but be prepared for a steep climb up to the pub at night.

Square Cottage, the Radio Room, Old House, the Quarters - these are all properties right in the centre of the village.

Old School - just round the corner from Government House, this tiny blue "shack" sleeps two.

The Barn - this is the nearest thing to a hostel on Lundy, sleeping 14...I think you can just pay per bed and don't have to rent the whole building. Again, it is right in the middle of the village, opposite the shop.

Stoneycroft - a cottage close to the Old Light with a private garden

Old Light cottages - three properties in the historic Old Light, two in the lighthouse itself and a tiny one-man cottage in the garden. I would imagine there would be lots of daytrippers wandering through your garden, as it is possible to climb up the tower.

Tibbetts - the most remote property on Lundy, this one has no electricity and is stuck about three-quarters of the way along the island, a good 2 miles from the village.

It is also possible to camp in a field behind the village. The campers did spend a lot of time in the pub when it rained!

All the properties can be booked through the Landmark Trust website given below...but book early, as many visitors return year after year, booking almost a year in advance to get the property they want.

Opinion of Price: N/A
Written August 15, 2010

Hanmers

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maykal
Reviews: 1290

5 out of 5 stars User Rating

2.5 out of 5 stars Helpfulness

Government House

Landmark Trust owns about 20 properties on Lundy available as self-catering accommodation, and the one my brothers chose to rent was Government House. Built for the governor of Lundy, who decided not to live there for some reason, it is the only property on Lundy that was actually constructed by the Trust, using bricks from the old hotel which was so damaged it had to be demolished.

Government House occupies a very sheltered position, just below the village at the top of Milcombe Valley, with a steep garden overlooking the sea. Sleeping five, it is a very comfortable house...a double room, a twin room and a single, two bathrooms, a huge lounge, a kitchen, a dining room, and two gardens complete with deckchairs. All the furniture inside is, well...I'm not quite sure how to describe it...traditional? Period? Antique? Old-fashioned? Anyway, it's all wooden floors and bookcases and framed paintings of shipwrecks.

Electrical devices are discouraged. There are sockets in all the rooms, so you can charge your mobile up, but really, what's the point? Lundy's mobile coverage is patchy at best, and isn't that why you came, to escape things like mobiles?! Electrical entertainment is considered a luxury here, so no television, no radio, no CD player, no washing machine, no dishwasher...but essential things like fridges and electric kettles are provided. As in the rest of the island, electricity goes off at midnight until 6am.

The logbooks dating back to 1984 makes for entertaining reading. So many visitors ended up stranded here for much longer than anticipated due to adverse weather conditions, and most of them seemed pretty pleased about that...I can sort of understand why. Many also mentioned a pygmy shrew scuttling around the house, falling into bins and rustling around in plastic bags late at night. We thought it must have either died or been fictional, until on our final night I was woken up by hearing something padding around my bedroom. Scrambling to find my torch in the darkness, I must have frightened it away, and he ran through to my brother's room where he performed acrobatics in a plastic bag until dawn.

Having a wall between us and the village did give us the sense of privacy...but we soon realised that means nothing on Lundy, as there is no private land. You're free to wonder around at will, and many did, opening the little blue gate and tramping right past the house. On daytrip days, we would end up with a constant stream of visitors somehow finding their way into the valley below, emerging from the bushes all red-faced and panting, embarrassed at finding themselves in our garden! one even thought he'd found the pub, and sat down in one of our deckchairs!

One of the most convenient things about the house was that it was just twenty yards from the pub, so we were free to go and drink as much as we like without any worries about losing our way home and falling off a cliff.

Opinion of Price: more expensive than average
Written August 15, 2010

Government House, Lundy

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jorgejuansanchez
Reviews: 512

4 out of 5 stars User Rating

2.5 out of 5 stars Helpfulness

The Old Light: sleeping in a lighthouse!

This is a most exotic accommodation in Lundy Island (other are the Governor House or The Castle). You have a two stories house with kitchen plus the Light House (the old one, the new one is near the pier), where you can climb and enjoy a beautiful view of the tiny island resting in a hammock.
The round ticket in the boat MS Oldenburg, sailing from Bideford or from Ilfracombe to Lundy Island, costs 47 pounds.
They have hot and cold running water, electric shaver points and heated towels rails.
Take into account that the given telephone is from the Lundy Island Development Office, in Devon coast, since no accommodation in Lundy Island has telephone, radio or television; indeed you will be in an island very isolated.

as above

Opinion of Price: about average
Related to: Farm Stay, Backpacking, Romantic Travel and Honeymoons
Written October 16, 2006

grets
Reviews: 3429

3.5 out of 5 stars Helpfulness

Various: Next time I will stay here

Next time I go to Lundy - and there will be a next time, of that I am sure - I will make a point of staying overnight on the island. Just four hours (which is what you get when you go on the day trip with Oldenburg) on Lundy just wasn't enough. We spent nearly 1.5 hours just getting up the hill and back down again, and over half an hour having lunch.

I would have liked to have been able to take my time and see the island with a leisurely stroll, rather than rushing here, there and everywhere to make the most of our limit time.

There are 17 different buildings offering accommodation on the island, and they cater from just a small cottage for two, to a geat mansion house for 12.

Check out the website below for details.

Opinion of Price: N/A
Written June 26, 2005

Millcombe house

Galahad
Reviews: 387

2.5 out of 5 stars Helpfulness

Hanmers: Fisherman's Cottage

We have stayed twice at this very small self catering cottage perched on the edge of a sea cliff. 2 rooms of bunk beds, sleeping 4 all told. Living room, kitchen, and plenty of reading material.

On one occasion we were 2 days in a hurricane gale when it was too dangerous to go outside, in case you were blown into the sea.

Opinion of Price: more expensive than average
Related to: Eco-Tourism
Written June 15, 2003

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Other Properties

Government House

The Old Light: sleeping in a lighthouse!

Various: Next time I will stay here

Hanmers: Fisherman's Cottage

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