Cottages to Rent Cornwalll

The headline Holiday Cottages Cornwall UK conjures up visions of a bolt-hole from the hassles of modern life in this most beautiful of all counties.   Cornish Self Catering Accommodation is another one inspiring pictures of coming home to one’s own holiday base after a fantastic day out and being able to make one’s delicious meal with all the wonderful local Cornish produce available.   One of the joys of self-catering accommodation is not having to get up in a rush to get to the hotel breakfast buffet in time, or not having to race back in the evening in case one misses dinner.

Here at Rayle Farm our self-catering holiday cottages started life as our milking sheds.   In the 70’s,   due to a sad change of circumstance following  the untimely death of farmer Tim, the milking herd had to be sold and, instead the milking sheds were converted into comfortable Cornish  self-catering accommodation. 

 The buildings were particularly attactive at the outset.    They had been built at the start of the 19^th century and centred around a courtyard with Pump Cottage as the focus.   The buildings are of lovely golden local stone with magnificent granite quoins and lintels.   Pump Cottage is, in fact, much older and was the original farmhouse of the Rayle family in the sixteenth century.

Talking of Pump Cottage, when our marvellous team of builders, Mike, Gerald and Eric, not to mention Barry, the designer, got to work on what had been the accommodation for our machinery for the milking, they uncovered a superb inglenook fireplace with a cloam oven where the bread used to be baked.   Above the fireplace near the ceiling is a little alcove where the baby was put to sleep because of the warmth from the fire.

Our other self catering cottages are named after our favourite cows, Daisy, Buttercup, Girlie, Jessica and Bridget.   Daisy’s Cottage and Buttercup’s Cottage are ideal for couples seeking cosy holiday accommodation with lots of comfort and character.   Girlie’s Cottage and Jessica’s Cottage are more family oriented self-catering accommodation and both have an upstairs.   Long before our family came to Rayle, the upstairs in Jessica’s Cottage housed a billiard club for the residents of Bridge.   Finally,   Bridget’s Cottage is always a favourite as the living room has windows on three sides making it particularly light and bright.   Having said that, of all the many, many loyal visitors who have been coming to Rayle Farm time and time again during the 46 years we have been here, they all have different favourite cottages.