East Liscombe is a traditional farmstead, with parts of the buildings dating back to the 15th century. Each cottage has been sympathetically renovated and equipped to a high modern standard, while keeping the character of the original stone, cob, thatch and timber.
The Grade II listed barn, the Devon longhouse and the old threshing barn sit around a sheltered courtyard, all set within 180 acres of beautiful countryside. Each cottage has its own private garden and outdoor seating area, making it a lovely place for a holiday with family or friends.
As it is a farm, children have plenty of safe space to run about and play, well away from traffic. Many of our visitors tell us how much they enjoy the calm and quiet of East Liscombe and the chance to unwind in peaceful surroundings.
Our Feature in Exmoor Magazine
July 2014
“If you spot a German tourist on Exmoor there’s a good chance they’re here because of one woman, ninety-year-old Rosamunde Pilcher. She’s a romantic novelist, with a stack of Mills and Boon books under her belt, who has taken Germany by storm after her books were serialised on national television.
The films are set in the West Country and have had such a positive impact on tourism that Rosamunde received a British Tourism Award in 2002. One German who can certainly testify to the ‘Pilcher effect’ is Doris Braukmann-Pugsley, owner of Anstey Mills Cottages. As a German running two holiday cottages which nestle in a valley just outside Dulverton, she’s in a particularly good position to take advantage of German interest in the area.
“Rosamunde is huge in Germany and they come here looking for the big, unspoilt landscapes they see in her films,” she explains, <…>
Doris herself came to live on Exmoor twenty five years ago. She met her husband Tim Pugsley in a youth hostel in SanDiego in her early twenties. He was there running his first marathon and she was holidaying with a friend. Little did she think that four years later she would be lured to deepest Exmoor where Tim grew up in a farming family.
Doris remembers her family’s anxiety about her living in such a remote area but says she was quickly absorbed into the community, helped by her popular, extrovert husband. Tragically Tim died of a brain tumour in 2005, leaving Doris and two young sons Max and Leo, as well as a growing holiday rental business.
Tim had just finished transforming a semi-derelict thatched cottage into a luxury rental property for two. The ancient beams and exposed woodwork remain but the cottage boasts a galleried bedroom, whirlpool bath, heated tiles and oak floors. Doris was left in charge of this property as well as Anstey Mill Cottage which sleeps up to seven and adjoins her own home, a Devon long-house dating back to the fifteenth century.
Fast forward nine years and Doris has much to be proud of. She has renovated and refurbished Anstey Mills Cottage, coped with power cuts and a succession of winters when they were snowed in – not to mention picking up a Quality in Tourism Gold Award last year from the English Tourist Board for the fourth year running.
It’s easy to see why this thriving business enjoys so much repeat custom. Guests are greeted on arrival with a cream tea and Doris is warm, knowledgeable and justifiably proud of what she has achieved. And then there’s the location. With uninterrupted views of rolling hills from both cottages, you don’t need to be from Germany to appreciate this idyllic corner of Exmoor.