Cottages in Sidmouth

Table of Contents

• At a glance: What should you know about renting a cottage in Sidmouth?
• Cottages in Sidmouth: find your perfect retreat
• Exploring Sidmouth: our top recommendations
• Activities: What are the top things to do and see in Sidmouth?

• Cottages of every size: From two-person boltholes to farmhouses sleeping twelve, Sidmouth cottages come with gardens, parking and kitchens, and many sit within a short walk of the seafront.
• Where to base yourself: The Esplanade suits first-time visitors, while Sidford, Branscombe and Beer offer quieter valley and clifftop settings a short drive away.
• Guests rate them highly: Our best-reviewed Sidmouth cottages score 9.5+ and above, with guests praising the peaceful settings, sea views and generous outdoor space.
• Dining worth booking: Sidmouth punches well above its size for food, with seafood on the Esplanade and independent kitchens along Fore Street and the high street.
• Coast and countryside: The South West Coast Path, Connaught Gardens, The Byes and The Donkey Sanctuary are all reachable on foot or with a very short drive.

Sidmouth’s cottages range from converted stables and former farm buildings in the Sid Valley to Regency-era terraced cottages a few streets back from the Esplanade. Larger properties suit families and groups celebrating together, while compact one-bedroom cottages work well for couples walking the coast path out of season.

• Enclosed gardens and yards for drying wetsuits and boots after the beach
• Off-street parking, which matters in a town where kerbside space is tight
• Full kitchens for cooking the day’s catch from the local fishmonger
• Wi-Fi and a washing machine for longer coastal walking holidays
• Pet-friendly cottages, so the dog can join you on the shingle

Book early for August, when the folk festival fills the town and cottages go quickly.

What are the best areas to stay in Sidmouth?

For a first visit, base yourself near the Esplanade, where the beach, gardens and restaurants are all within a few minutes on foot. The table below details regions for specific interests:

What do our guests say?

Guests staying in Sidmouth cottages consistently mention the same things: how quiet the evenings are once the day visitors leave, how much outdoor space they get for the money, and how easy it is to reach the coast path from the door. Ratings of 9.5+ are common across the town’s self-catering cottages, with hosts praised for local tips on tides, walks and where to eat.

Here are our top-rated cottages in Sidmouth from the past year:

1. The Old Piggery - 9.9+: A four-person converted farm building in Sidmouth with a private yard and parking, praised for its peaceful setting and spotless finish.
2. Blue Horizon - 9.7+: A cottage for four on the Jurassic Coast side of town, with sea views, a yard and parking within reach of the Esplanade.
3. Castle Hill House - 9.5+: A twelve-person cottage in Sidmouth with sea views, a garden and a pet-friendly policy, popular with families travelling together.

Sidmouth sits on the East Devon coast, where the River Sid meets the sea between tall red sandstone cliffs on the Jurassic Coast, its Regency terraces facing the Esplanade.

🥗Where to eat in Sidmouth?

Sidmouth rewards a slow week: the town keeps a run of independent kitchens working with produce from the Sid Valley farms and boats off the shingle. According to Google Maps data and reviews, The Courtyard is the best rated restaurant in Sidmouth. Below is a table showing the top 5 highly-rated restaurants hand-picked by our travel experts.

⭐Our guests’ recommendation: Our guest traveller Charlotte recommends the Myca’s Seafood and Grill in Sidmouth: after a slow week cooking in a cottage in the Sid Valley, it was the one table worth walking into town for, with fish landed along this stretch of coast and cooked simply.

1. Walk the South West Coast Path
2. Meet the residents at The Donkey Sanctuary
3. Stroll Connaught Gardens
4. Follow the River Sid through The Byes
5. Dig into the past at Sidmouth Museum
6. Time your stay for Sidmouth FolkWeek
7. Explore the wider Jurassic Coast

1. Walk the South West Coast Path

   Sidmouth sits squarely on the South West Coast Path, and the two stretches either side of town are among the most rewarding in East Devon. Head west over Peak Hill for views down onto the town and out towards Ladram Bay’s sea stacks, or east up Salcombe Hill for a high, breezy walk towards Branscombe. Both climbs are steep in places but short, and the red cliffs make the geology impossible to ignore. Cottages near Exmouth put you at the western end of the same route.

2. Meet the residents at The Donkey Sanctuary

   A short drive east of town at Slade House Farm, The Donkey Sanctuary cares for hundreds of rescued donkeys and mules across large grassy paddocks looking out to sea. Entry is free, the paths are easy going, and the walking trails link down towards the coast path if you want to make a morning of it. Children take to it instantly, and the visitor centre explains the charity’s international work. Come early on summer days, when the car park fills quickly.

3. Stroll Connaught Gardens

   Reached by climbing Jacob’s Ladder from the western end of the beach, Connaught Gardens occupies the old walled garden of a clifftop house. Formal beds, subtropical planting and a small glasshouse sit behind stone walls, with terraces opening onto wide views along the coast. There is a café for a mid-walk stop and benches placed where the light is best in the late afternoon. It is one of the easiest spots in Sidmouth to lose an hour.

4. Follow the River Sid through The Byes

   The Byes is a green corridor of riverside meadow and woodland running from Sidford down into the middle of Sidmouth. It is flat, shaded and dog-friendly, with several bridges to cross and enough kingfisher and otter sightings to keep walkers looking at the water. The route makes a natural way to reach town from a cottage in the Sid Valley without touching the main road, and takes roughly half an hour end to end at an easy pace.

5. Dig into the past at Sidmouth Museum

   Housed in Hope Cottage beside the parish church, Sidmouth Museum tells the story of the town’s shift from fishing village to Regency resort. Displays cover local fossils from the surrounding cliffs, Victorian lace, and the seafront’s architecture, and the volunteers know the area in detail. It is compact enough for an hour and works well on a wet afternoon. Fossil-minded visitors often pair it with a walk along the beach at low tide.

6. Time your stay for Sidmouth FolkWeek

   Every August the town gives itself over to Sidmouth FolkWeek, a folk festival that has been running since the 1950s. Concerts, ceilidhs and dance displays fill venues from the Ham to the seafront, and buskers take over Fore Street and the Esplanade for the week. Book a cottage months ahead if you want to be here for it, and expect the town to feel considerably busier than the rest of the summer.

7. Explore the wider Jurassic Coast

   Sidmouth makes a practical base for the whole Jurassic Coast, the UNESCO World Heritage Site running 95 miles from East Devon into Dorset. Drive east for the pebble cove and quarry caves at Beer, the tramway at Seaton, or the Cobb and fossil beaches at Lyme Regis. Staying further along the Jurassic Coast opens up a different set of walks entirely. Low tide is the best time for fossil hunting anywhere along this shore.