About Us And Our Slapton Journey
I'm Emma and along with my husband Richard we are fortunate to own Whitebeam Wood along with our 3 Gordon Setters. We have both been dog lovers all our lives and Richard grew up on a farm with dogs everywhere I got my first dogs when I was 22.
We fell in love with the South Hams region over 20 years ago and brought our 1st holiday home in Dartmouth 17 years ago. From the start we have always welcomed unlimited dogs, no breed restrictions, to stay as we knew the trouble we had trying to find somewhere as we have always had 3 large dogs.
Sophie with her Dad, actually she is a right Mummy's girl.
George and Richard, taken with my mobile in the Queens Arms one of the village pubs
Charlie when he was a puppy and I at a party, I promise I don't wander around with sparkly bits stuck to my face normally!
We used to drive out to Slapton from Dartmouth to eat at both village pubs and fell in love with the village. We 1st fell in love with Rill House and after it was on the market for 4 years we managed to buy it and so our holiday home adventure continued. As much as we loved our Dartmouth House, we got engaged and spent our honeymoon there with our dogs, not having parking and a large garden was frustrating so we sold it as we were not using it ourselves.
We had seen Whitebeam was for sale and 5 years after it first went on the market and after 2 years of trying in October 2021 we were successful in buying it. Our aim from the start with Whitebeam was to completely renovate it as it had not been touched since the 60's. The garden also needed a lot of TLC as the wood had gone wild and not in a nature-friendly way. We also wanted to create a space for reactive dogs and so enclosed the grounds that surround the house with 5ft stock fencing like a dog park.
One of Whitebeam's original bathrooms... Yes the bathroom scales are covered with the flooring covering as well.
While the interior of the house is finished the grounds will be a forever-evolving project I think. Our aim is to make it the perfect dog paradise but also a haven for wildlife. The first decision we made was to only have paths cut through the grass allowing the rest to grow like a wild meadow, introducing more local wildflower seeds each season. We have added more fruit trees to the Orchard area and plan to add more still.
Future plans include bat, bird, and owl boxes as we often hear Tawny Owls at night. We had a number of non-native trees felled as they were killing the others and nothing was growing on the wood floor due to lack of light. We have had them placed in piles around the wood and are now home to all sorts of insects and small mammals as well as great climbing structures for dogs.
We are a member of The Professional Association of Self-Caterers (PASC UK)
We only take direct bookings you will not find Whitebeam (or Rill) on any booking sites as we don't want our guests to feel that there is any barrier in communication with us. When you book we want you to know that you have asked all the questions you want so you know you have booked your perfect holiday location for you and your dogs.
We would love to welcome you to stay please let us know if you have any questions for our pricing click here and then choose 'Show More' at the bottom. To see our availability click here. We only take direct bookings so contact us to book your dog welcoming holiday