Shepherd's Lodge (Devon Shepherd's Hut)

Shepherd's Lodge is a single shepherd's hut on a small campsite at Cannamore, in the South Hams countryside between Ugborough and the edge of Dartmoor, and it is built from the outset around a couple travelling with one smaller dog. The hut looks out over rolling Devon farmland through a stable door, and the site is quiet enough that birdsong is what most guests remember about the mornings.

Dogs are treated as part of the booking rather than a tolerated extra. Guests arriving with a dog regularly find something waiting for them, whether that is a box of treats set out alongside the breakfast provisions or a bowl and biscuits left in the hut. The breakfast is locally sourced and left in for you - usually bread, milk, eggs and homemade preserves - which makes the first morning easier when you would rather walk the dog than go looking for a shop. Staff meet guests to hand over the keys, and the warmth of that first contact comes up again and again in reviews.

The setting does most of the work. This is a small site of around ten pitches, so it stays calm, and the lanes and fields around it give you quiet walking straight from the door. Dartmoor is close by for bigger days, and Totnes, Dartmouth and the rest of the South Hams are all within an easy drive.

Two things are worth knowing before you book. The hut is compact and the double bed is a small one, so this is a stay for people happy to trade space for setting. The shower room and toilet are private, lockable and yours alone, but they sit in a separate building rather than inside the hut, which means stepping outside in the night. There have also been occasional mentions of a hob that struggled to heat properly and of the taste of the tap water.

At a 4.7/5 paw rating, Shepherd's Lodge suits couples with one small, settled dog who want genuine quiet and country views. It is not the place for a larger dog, for two dogs, or for anyone who wants the bathroom under the same roof.