If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP604.17), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Generally, things that are ‘for your own good’ need a hefty spoonful of sugar to sweeten them, but nourishing and nurturing farmhouse hideaway Yeotown Devon has a more holistic and healthy way of encouraging you through its dynamic but doable five-day retreat. You’ll happily hike for hours to gorge on views of Exmoor or the Atlantic coast; for every strength-training or boxing class, there’s forest bathing or breathwork, and a massage debriefs every full day. There’s streams of orchard-fresh juices, food you’ll love (that’ll love you right back), and good habits you’ll take home – a sweet deal, with no added sugar.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
One additional spa therapy (depending on the therapist available)
2.30pm on the Sunday, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, noon on the Wednesday.
Prices
Double rooms from £725.00, including tax at 20 per cent.
More details
Rates include all meals, return train-station transfers, all activities, three massages, snacks, juices, smoothies, and a laundry service. All retreats last for five days.
Also
Unfortunately Yeotown’s rural setting and active nature make it unsuitable for guests with mobility issues.
At the hotel
Orchards and gardens (including one filled with medicinal herbs), hot tub, treatment rooms, sauna, outdoor gym, courtyard, lounges with selections of books, yoga room, gift shop, and free WiFi. In rooms: kettle and Pukka teas (plus fresh lemon, ginger slices and chicory), umbrella, torch, blanket, the White Company bathrobes, heating, and free bottled water.
Our favourite rooms
Owners Simon and Mercedes have put a lot of love and attention into their 17th-century farmhouse – so much so it’s starred in several decor-magazine photo-spreads – which was their weekend home before they realised that others might benefit from its Edenic setting too. Simon was an art and antiques dealer and interior designer, so has the eye for interesting pieces – say, the hanging meditation ‘nest’ made from volcanic ash and hemp, or centuries-old Indonesian Buddha statue in the Love and Be Loved lodge, which we do adore for its added peace and privacy, all the better for playing through the guided meditations and inspirational talks loaded into your sound-system. Otherwise, you can choose from a sustainably built lodge in the grounds (with Kentucky-oak wall panels insulated with hay), dressed in rustic style, or a more classic Brit-countryside room (Patience has its own ensuite and a balcony); each is named after a tenet of ‘positive-psychology coaching’ (Wisdom, Kindness, Curiosity…), so perhaps choose according to what you’re hoping to achieve.
Spa
The more decadent side of wellness happens at the end of each full day, when you’ll head to the treatment rooms in the former stables (with original doors) for varying styles of hour-long massage. There’s a hot tub in the grounds to wallow in too and a sauna. Additional treatments can be booked on request (these usually take place on the Thursday). These might include lymphatic drainage, various styles of massage, cupping, facials, reiki, one-on-one yoga or tai chi sessions, kinesiology, acupuncture, meditation, hypnotherapy or tests for your gut health and more.
Packing tips
Yeotown Devon will kickstart the healthier new you before you’ve even arrived, sending you a list of things to start cutting out of your diet in preparation. And, try not to feel too intimidated by the hardy gear they ask you to arrive with (waterproof trousers, camel-paks, hiking boots).. Although you can bring your phone, you’re asked to leave them for hikes and to try to use them as little as possible, so maybe – gasp – leave it behind to avoid temptation.
Also
Rather sweetly, you’ll find a personalised inspirational message on your bathroom mirror on arrival.
Children
This is all about self care, so let someone else worry about the little ones for five days.
Sustainability efforts
Set on a farm estate, Yeotown uses the land where possible, with fruit orchards and a medicinal-herb garden. There are electric charging points for cars, the eco lodges have been sustainably built and insulated with hay and straw, and recycling and limited plastic usage are observed.
The communal dining space has a table set under a chandelier made of antlers; it’s open-plan with the kitchen so you can see chefs fussing over the Aga.
Dress Code
Dress for the Yeo you want, whether that’s aesthetically engineered activewear or floaty bohemian garb.
Hotel restaurant
Yeotown Devon will shake up your eating habits, and each of the included three meals a day and snacks are free from refined sugar, dairy, meat, gluten and caffeine; but you won’t be having feverish dreams about drowning in raclette or giant knickerbocker glories. This isn’t about missing or losing anything, but rather enrichment through vitamin-packed menus and nutritional education, thanks to the resident consultant who’ll talk you through your habits and work on your gut health (you can even take a test to acquire a 20-page report if you’re so invested). But, we realise that guts and reports aren’t the sexiest, so let’s get into the no-meat of the menu: sticky cauliflower wings in almond butter, chilli-flecked pineapple in creamy cashew sauce, sustainable fish with lemon-braised leeks, and coconutty blueberry spirulina pancakes. Ferments are a specialty too, with Yeotown making their own kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi and apple-cider vinegar.
Hotel bar
We’re usually the first ones to crack open the minibar to toast our arrival with a dinky slug of spirit. But at Yeotown you drink to your health, with fresh-pressed juices (made using fruit from the orchards), smoothies, house-made kefir, adaptogenic lattes and cleansing shots. And the dedicated, flagstone-floored tea room has house loose-leaf blends and a wide range of Pukka teas.
Last orders
Breakfast runs from 8am to 9am, lunch from 1.45pm to 2.45pm, and dinner from 6pm to 7pm. Although times may vary depending on activities.
Yeotown Devon’s farmhouse and estate is tucked away in a verdant valley just inland from the North Devon coast, where the River Yeo takes a gentle upturn. Exmoor National Park is about a 20-minute drive away.
Planes
Exeter Airport is the closest, and has good links across Europe and over to the US. If you’re touching down in London first, Heathrow and Gatwick are both just under a four-hour drive away. The hotel can help to arrange transfers for an additional cost on request.
Trains
The closest station is Tiverton Parkway, set on the Bristol to Exeter line (but you can reach it directly from London Paddington in two hours, too). Transfers cost £25 per person or per couple each way.
Automobiles
The retreat is remote, but you won’t necessarily need a car – Yeotown staff can pick you up from the train station and ferry you back and forth between off-site activities. But, if you want the flexibility to explore Devon before and after, then the hotel has a carpark that’s a five-minute walk from the main farmhouse, with electric charging points.
Worth getting out of bed for
We’re in awe of the award-collecting work Simon and Mercedes have put into creating a well-rounded retreat with positive and lasting results for many, but Yeotown’s guests might not be quite so motivated if it weren’t for North Devon’s beauty – Exmoor National Park’s misty rolling landscape, the rugged Atlantic coastline and sumptuously green stretches will have you pulling on hiking boots, splashing into frigid waters and waking with a spring in your step each morning. The whole five-day itinerary (dubbed a ‘Yeotox’) is planned for you although you might not always know what’s coming – to pause any psychological blockers, guests are given their next activity around half an hour before they do it, and some surprises are thrown in along the way. But, you can expect scenic hikes and bike rides, yoga lessons for all abilities (Mercedes is a leading Vinyasa-flow teacher – with a diploma in positive-psychology coaching, too), forest bathing and grounding sessions, cold-water immersion in the River Yeo, surfing, swimming, workouts, boxing sessions, mindfulness and meditation, and breathwork. Activities have an ebb and flow feel to keep the balance between ‘working out and working in’, and each day builds on the last. Each evening you’ll wind down with a hour-long massage (three in total over your stay), plus spells in the sauna or hot tub.
Local restaurants
All of your meals, snacks and drinks are included here, and to feel the full effect of the Yeotox, we recommend not sneaking out for a cream-slathered scone. But, food here is as delicious as it is good for you.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this five-day feel-good retreat deep in the British countryside and realised their better intentions, a full account of their restorative break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Yeotown Devon…
If you recoil from health retreats like a vampire on a garlic farm, well, this is a safe space – we wouldn’t steer you wrong, but we might gently turn you in the direction of Yeotown Devon. Their list of what they’re not (a spa resort, boot camp, yoga retreat, weight-loss programme) shows just how much attitudes to wellness have evolved, and their five-day programme shows a balanced, nurturing approach that aims for homeostasis (look it up) and sustainable healthy habits. Your days will start early then oscillate between intense yet idyllic hikes through Exmoor National Park and along the Atlantic coast, soul-soothing forest bathing and breathwork, icy dips in the River Yeo and fitness classes, and meditation or nutritional coaching – capped off with a spell in the hot tub or sauna and an hour-long massage. Meals are free from many things but remain deliciously satisfying (and gut-nurturing); smoothies and juices made from orchard-fresh pickings are on tap, and lodgings are cosily rustic. And – maybe you’re foregoing that ‘I’ve arrived’ glass of wine or decadent lie-in – but this is more about gains, be it a clearer head, soothed soul or all-round healthier approach to food, that last far longer after check-out. So, invest in your health, and check Yeo-self in.
