10 unusual places to stay in the South West

Bored of the conventional hotel or B&B getaway? Lesley Gillilan finds 10 of the best unusual and unique places to lay your head in the South West. 

Railholiday, Cornwall 
From their home in St Germans’ station, Dave and Lizzy Stroud offer self-catering in three railway carriages – including a Victorian travelling post office, an elderly luggage van and Mevy, a vintage GWR slip coach done up like a first-class carriage with sumptuous red upholstery and a roll-top tub. A biomass boiler supplies hot water and two of the coaches have wood-burning stoves. You are right next door to the Port Eliot estate (for garden visits and the annual festival in July). And no need to take a car. From St Germans, just hop on a train to, say, Plymouth or any Cornish station en route to Penzance.

From £245 for three nights (01503 230783, www.railholiday.co.uk) 

Sonia, West Wales
There is nothing unusual about sleeping in the bow of boat except that this one, Sonia – a 1950s pleasure cruiser – is moored in the middle of a field. Under the Thatch reckon its their quirkiest property ever – and this coming from the Welsh holiday company which lets everything from gypsy caravans to caves. Sonia’s snug, colourful interior sleeps 2 adults and 2 children, there are timbers, port holes and a cute log-burner. A detached barn provides the kitchen, bathroom and living area. The sea isn’t far away (a mile from Llangrannog beach) and you can sea Cardigan Bay from the poop deck.

From £250 for three nights (0844 5005 101, www.underthethatch.co.uk/boat)

Spring Park, Cornwall
Set in woodland and wildflower meadows, in the secretive Tamar Valley – on the Cornwall-Devon border – this collection of quirky holiday retreats includes a 1940s showman’s wagon, a railway ale wagon called Maiden (pictured) and a cute timber cabin which used to be a steam-roller living van. As lovers of the vintage aesthetic, owners Kitty and Paddy have created a little world of picnic hampers, candles, cast-iron bedsteads, fire pits, hot-water bottles and snakes and ladders (the old-fashioned board game). There are no TVs here, though each space has a proper kitchen and bathroom.

From £70 a night (07805 990302,  www.quirky-holidays-cornwall.co.uk) 

The Land Girls House, Somerset 
A step back to the 1940s, this corrugated iron cottage was built during the Second World War to house Women’s Land Army recruits – usually city girls sent to the country to help the home-front war effort by working on farms. Close to Baltonsborough on the Somerset Levels, the two-bedroom cottage is done up in authentic period style with original Utility furniture, tongue-and-groove panelling, a working radiogram, enamelled stove with coal fire, a cast iron toilet cistern and even a gas mask.  In the garden, you get your own Anderson shelter and a view of Glastonbury Tor.

From £217 for a 3-night break (0844 5005 101, www.underthethatch.co.uk) 

Monty, Wye Valley
‘Totally unique’ is how the owners describe Monty, a restored Brockhouse military wagon turned woody cabin. A veteran of the Second World War, he’s heavy-duty (just over 3 tonnes), bomb-proof and roomy enough to sleep five – if you don’t mind bunking up on double bunk beds. Monty is the only boy in the Mad Dogs and Vintage Wagons family. Sisters Elsie and little Darcy are spruced up 1950s caravans – all Formica, bunting and Laura Ashley; plus there’s a woodland campfire and a boho bathhouse,  all set in a bucolic ‘glampsite’ in the grounds of an old rectory close to Ross-on-Wye.

From £220 for two nights in Monty; Darcy from £150 (07966 474323, maddogsandvintagevans.co.uk)

Lima, Gloucestershire
There are so many shepherd’s huts around these days, they are beginning to feel a bit last year, but some – like this little gem – stand out from the crowd. A one-bedroom shack-on-wheels, its home is the Bluebell Wood in the Cotswolds. Its folksy interior is furnished with jolly paintwork, vintage fabrics, woolly blankets and a tiny black wood-burner. Outside, there’s a ‘kitchen shelter’ with a couple of gas rings, a cooking pot over a campfire, an eco-friendly composting toilet and a safari shower. Look out for badgers and heavenly night skies.

From £70 a night through Bristol-based glamping specialist Canopy and Stars (0117 204 7830, www.canopyandstars.co.uk) 

Treetops, Devon
Built around the trunk of a 200-year-old oak tree in the Eggesford Forest, this arboreal multi-storey is the ultimate in tree-luxe. The roomy tree-house has a penthouse bedroom with a kingside bed, a bunk room, a bathroom with a copper tub, fully fitted kitchen and a living room with a large elevated terrace overlooking a lake –¬ all quite contemporary and almost conventional if it weren’t for rustling leaves and the odd tree-branch beam. In the grounds of a country hotel near Chulmeigh, it’s handy for North Devon’s Tarka Trail and the River Taw.

From £250 a night (01769 580 345, www.foxandhoundshotel.co.uk) 

Beach Hut, Cornwall
Newquay’s family owned Tolcarne beach already offers basic, bunk-bed surf shacks and salubrious apartments; now they’ve added a row of deluxe beach cabins – perfect for romantic weekends by the sea. Each of the cosy timber cabins are furnished with a double bed, en suite bathroom, flat screen TV, and a sun terrace with two deck chairs. Wake up to the sound of the waves – you can lie in bed and watch the surfers – open the door and step right out onto the beach, and then head up to the Breaks beach bar and kitchen for breakfast.

Cabins from £100 a night (01637 872489, www.thebreakstolcarnebeach.co.uk) 

Upcott Roundhouse, Devon
Based on an Iron Age roundhouse, it has a thatched roof, a smoky open hearth at the foot of a rustic four-poster bed, candles, animal skins and no electricity – all very Game of Thrones. The 30-metre roundhouse was hand built by Devon farmer, Charles Cole using sand and lime topped with six tonnes of water reed thatch. The idea is to provide an adventure in primitive living – and a little taste of the 8th century BC. Luxuries include a hot shower, hand-woven carpets, rough-hewn furniture a la Flintstones, and an en suite compost loo, and if you are desperate for the 21st century, head for nearby Crediton or Tiverton.

From £170 a night through Canopy and Stars (0117 204 7830, www.canopyandstars.co.uk)

The Bus, Herefordshire
No fancy name for this one; simply The Bus – a converted Bedford Panorama, built in 1968 and in service most of its life: first taking day-tripping Welsh shoppers to London, then as a local school bus. In a secluded corner of a meadowy flower garden, close to Hay-on-Wye and Offas Dyke, the retired Bus is now fitted with solar panels, two double beds, a neat little kitchen-dinette and a wood-burning stove. Original features include strips of chrome, a sun roof (now a stargazing skylight) and a steering wheel. The loo, tub and shower is in a private bath-house nearby.

From £100 a night (www.majesticbus.co.uk)