Hello! We are Letti and Dan, a husband and wife team, both Devonshire natives who love this beautiful county and thoroughly enjoy sharing it with our guests.
We have both lived in Devon for most of our lives, except for a four year period when we lived in Cheltenham whilst Dan completed his degree in Business Information Technology at the University of Gloucestershire, however, the draw of the coast and being close to family brought us back to Devon quite soon after graduation so we left our jobs in Cheltenham and moved back to Newton Abbot in 2008.
Dan works as an IT Analyst for a local Engineering company based in Newton Abbot with offices worldwide, Letti worked for Social Services and now manages Pilchard Cottage and its popular Facebook page. Letti can often be found traipsing around Dawlish in all weathers taking photos and videos to share on social media.
We have a lovely Golden Retriever called Freddie, who we absolutely adore even though he would happily trade us in for a biscuit. Fred loves swimming and helping us search for sea glass on the beach, but will always prioritise finding an ice cream kiosk and pushing his way to the front of the queue. In his spare time Freddie enjoys lounging on the sofa and demanding attention.
We love renovating the houses we have lived in. Being covered in dust and concrete is probably not how most people would choose to spend their weekends, but for the last 13 years we have done this more often than we care to remember. Our most recent project resulted in the lovely Pilchard Cottage, a sympathetically renovated Georgian Cob Cottage where Letti learned how to plaster with lime. Fortunately, the old cottage walls are built of mud and straw and so a rustic plastering style doesn’t look too out of place!
Since opening Pilchard Cottage to guests in February 2024, we have both become active members within Dawlish Chamber of Trade and Commerce, a fantastic groups of local business owners working together as a supportive community to make Dawlish a wonderful place to live and visit.
We hope that our learned experiences over the years in home renovation and travelling has allowed us to create a wonderful holiday cottage set up and guest experience.
Providing excellent customer service is our top priority and we truly hope that everyone who comes to stay at Pilchard Cottage feels very welcome indeed.