Holidays by the Sea Since ’63
Claire and Robert May in Dingle Dell - ‘Drandad’s House’ as it’s known to the twins
Dingle Dell was built in 1948 and has been in Claire’s family since 1958. They started letting the chalet in 1963, after agreeing terms with Colonel Ingleton-Webber. Frank — Claire’s dad — hand-dug the sewer trench and connected the chalet to the electricity. That’s how things were done back then.
Claire was ten when she started helping with Saturday changeovers. She’s still doing them now.
It’s safe to say we’ve been around a while — long before the shiny new chalets and the grey-fronted holiday homes with digital keypads. We’ve watched a lot of changes happen in Croyde. Some we welcomed. Others we let drift past. But through it all, Dingle Dell quietly kept doing what it does best — offering a simple, proper seaside holiday with soul.
And now we’re back, doing it with purpose.
Claire’s retired. I’ve been semi-retired for a while too — long enough to know that consultancies can wait, and that I’d rather be rebuilding something tangible than sat in another boardroom. So we rolled up our sleeves and gave Dingle Dell the attention it deserved. A three-month ceiling job turned into a three-year reimagining. Every inch reconsidered. Every detail rebuilt. And every reason to start again, properly.
The new website is live. It won’t outgun the booking portals on ad spend — but it wasn’t built to. It was built to reflect the place itself: nostalgic, practical, quietly joyful. For people who notice the small things done well.
We’ve added a new “When You’re Here” section for guests and visitors — local knowledge, gathered over decades, to help people make the most of their stay. It’s our way of reconnecting with Croyde, and sharing the best of what’s around us.
We’ve had a Twitter account since 2011, but haven’t posted since 2014. Our old website was even older. So it’s fair to say it was time to rebuild. This blog, the new site, and our return to social media are all part of that — a way to reconnect, and to reach out to the Croyde network.
If you’re running a local business, eatery, event or activity, we’d love to hear from you. We’re not here to compete — we’re here to collaborate. If you’re doing something brilliant in North Devon, we want to point our guests in your direction.
That might make us look like newcomers — like we’ve just arrived to join the crowd. But that’s not quite right.
We know it’s too late for some of our old regulars. Life moves on. But there’s still time for others. There’s space in the book for the summer holidays, and we’re looking forward to welcoming a few new guests — people who appreciate the quiet magic of a place that’s always been here, tucked just out of sight, away from the noise.
We’re not new here. We’ve been here since there were donkeys on the beach.
And now, we’re ready to share Dingle Dell again — properly.