Inside Dingle Dell
The Heart of Dingle dell
Dingle Dell isn’t just somewhere to sleep. It’s somewhere to be — together.
At the centre of it all is a single, open-plan space where life naturally unfolds. The G-shaped kitchen curves around a breakfast bar, inviting children to join in — whether that’s helping with the cooking, drawing pictures, or just being close by with a snack and a story.
It’s not a house that hides the cook — whoever’s on kitchen duty stays part of the action. Meals are made side by side with conversation. Cups of tea are passed with laughter. From kitchen to table to the lounge and out onto the deck, this is a space that keeps everyone connected.
It’s where memories are made.
More importantly, it’s where they’re recalled — and where stories are retold.
It’s a place where people are remembered, just as much as the holidays themselves.
The Living Room
This is more than a living room — it’s the living life to the max room.
A space that captures what holidays — and maybe even retirement — ought to feel like. It’s not the clinical sharpness of square-edge plasterboard and greyscale minimalism. It’s warmth. Charm. Character. And effort made to look effortless.
The open-plan layout was part of the big Dingle Dell rethink, made possible by a hidden Warren girder that quietly spans the space without fuss or fanfare. You won’t see it — but you’ll feel what it makes possible: light, room, and freedom to move.
Overhead, the ceiling is clad with wide sarking boards — made from reclaimed white pine floorboards — giving the room a gentle, golden warmth. The glow changes with the seasons — caramel and cosy in winter, mellow and summery in the sun. It’s a detail many wouldn’t notice straight away, but once you’ve seen it, you won’t forget it.
There’s an L-shaped sofa big enough for stories, snuggles, and the occasional mid-afternoon doze. A wall-mounted TV that swivels to face the kitchen or lounge. And a BIG drawer of board games and puzzles, tucked away and waiting for the moment screens get set aside.
This room was designed to beat cabin fever, bring people together, and give you a reason to stop and sit for a while.
It’s not just a living room. It’s how life should feel.
When It’s Time for Bed
There are three bedrooms at Dingle Dell — enough space for everyone to rest their heads when the day finally winds down.
The Double Room
When it’s time to turn in, the double bedroom is ready with everything you need — a comfy double bed, a double wardrobe, and USB charging points by the bedside. Simple, practical, and perfectly peaceful after a day by the sea.
Bedroom Two – A Bit of Flexibility
Bedroom Two
Traditionally, Dingle Dell had two double rooms — but we’ve rethought the space to give guests a little more flexibility. Bedroom Two is now arranged as a generous single, with a pull-out trundle bed underneath that can be made up as a twin on request. Whether it's two kids sharing or an extra adult joining the fun, the room adapts to suit. There's also a double wardrobe and handy USB charging points for everyone’s kit.
Sleeps: 1 (standard) / 2 (with trundle)
At this point we’ve comfortably reached 2 to 4 guests depending on the setup.
The Shower Room
One of the more memorable quirks of the original Dingle Dell was the setup for washing and toilets. Water came from a well — which is still there today, quietly hidden in the front garden of Heatherdale. You won’t spot it unless you know where to look, but it’s a little piece of Dingle Dell history still in place.
Back then, there was also a discreet spot for emptying a chemical toilet — not the sleek cassette models of today, but something altogether more… bucketty!
In 1989, when the “new” bathroom was built (using a leftover partition wall from the North Devon Journal office, no less), we gained the luxury of proper indoor facilities. A spacious shower room was added — big enough to handle multiple sandy children after a day on the beach.
So when we began planning the bunk room rebuild, a casual comment about the tired old shower room triggered a big “what if?” Initially, the idea was dismissed — replacing the sewers would be a huge job. But with the ground already cleared for the building work, the impossible suddenly became perfectly sensible.
What we’ve ended up with is the best shower room we’ve ever had: a large shower tray, a high-performance electric unit that keeps up with South West Water’s summer pressure, and two shower screens to keep a drying area clean (and give wetsuits somewhere to hang).
It’s bright, practical, and genuinely pleasant to use. Not just a place to rinse off salt and sand, it’s where the day shifts gear — from beachcomber to bistro-ready. Whether it’s a quick wash before tea or getting poshed up and polished for an evening out in the village, this is your getting-ready space. Flip-flops off, a fresh shirt on, and you’re back out into Croyde feeling like your best self.
The only thing we ask: please try to leave as much sand outside as possible — a quick rinse of the feet helps keep Dingle Dell ready for the next guests, just as we hope it was for you.
The Bunk Room
This is where Dingle Dell’s transformation truly began. The old bunk room — a later addition to the original chalet — gave us the inspiration to reimagine the space altogether. We rebuilt it from the ground up, designing the new room around two full-size bunk beds, a higher ceiling, and more generous space throughout.
The result is a bunk room with character, comfort, and plenty of room to grow memories. You might notice there’s also a trundle bed tucked underneath — not full width, but comfortable enough when one more needs a spot to sleep.
Now, we know bunk beds can come with one big question: “Who gets the top bunk?”
Whether it’s taking turns, sharing stories, or deciding with a game of chance, the top bunk rota is all part of the fun —
The Kitchen
One of the hardest jobs in any build is planning the kitchen. It has to be thought about before the walls go in — before there’s even a floor to mark. It’s one of those key decisions you can’t put off, even though you’re being asked to imagine how you’ll cook, clean, and chat in a space that doesn’t exist yet. Getting the layout right — the working triangle, the units, the sightlines — isn’t just design, it’s guesswork. And often, the person drawing the plans isn’t the person who’ll be standing at the hob. It’s a gamble.
But, as with many things at Dingle Dell, fate lent a hand.
While we were still working on the structural girder that makes the open-plan space possible, Facebook did its thing. A kitchen — a very posh one — was being given away. The only catch was that it couldn’t be collected until the end of the season. It came from a high-end holiday home in Croyde that had barely been used since lockdown. It was bigger than we needed, but too good to miss.
So we waited. And when the time came, we chalked out the floor, moved some things around, and made it fit.
What we got was a kitchen far smarter than we’d planned for. There’s a fridge and a freezer, a wine cooler, a washing machine (though who wants to be doing laundry on holiday?), and a breakfast bar that’s become the heart of the space.
It’s where kids can get stuck into craft projects while dinner simmers. It’s where someone peels carrots while someone else pours a drink. It’s not a separate kitchen — it’s a social space, designed so no one is ever left out or stuck on their own ‘doing the food.’
And then there’s the china.
We don’t do plain white plates here. We do Beryl Wood Ware — that unmistakable soft green crockery that so many of us remember from school dinners, church halls, or village fêtes. It’s solid, familiar, and oddly comforting. It takes people back. It’s not just functional — it’s nostalgic. We’ve collected enough Beryl Wood Ware to restock most of England, and every cup and saucer carries a little bit of shared memory. Designed to be the heart of Dingle Dell
