Book a stay at Dartmoor Domes and you'll swap your bedroom ceiling for a canopy of stars. Tucked in a little meadow that’s surrounded by trees in deepest, darkest Devon, these geodesic domes offer a window into the natural world. The skylight in the roof lets you stargaze while you lay in bed and the huge picture windows let you spy on deer passing by.
It’s all about being comfortably cocooned in nature at Dartmoor Domes, which sits just south of the national park and 10 miles from the nearest beaches. On arrival it seems appropriate that you leave the car behind and walk 150 metres through a woodland and over a stream before finding the site’s four domes. Each sits on its own wooden deck, like a bubble that’s floated in and landed there. The reality, of course, was more hard work than that. A labour of love by owner James, who carried every piece of the puzzle into site and constructed somewhere to stay so his glamping guests don’t have to.
The domes are insulated and inside have made-up beds and a log burner to keep things cosy. Outside there’s a little kitchen cabin and a solar shower on your deck with your own private toilet just a few steps away. Sit outside and from this sheltered low-point in the land, you can see alpacas grazing in the fields that rise up behind you and hear woodpeckers tap, tap, tapping in the trees. The site is bathed in sun from mid-morning until sundown and if you get too hot, the tinkling stream which passes by each dome offers a place to cool hot feet (or drinks).
From this location in south west Devon, Dartmoor and the coast hold equal appeal; one an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the other a National Park. It was a love of these outdoor spaces that kept James and his wife Em coming on holiday to Devon year after year, until they decided to stay. It’s the wild open moorland that James says he loves the most but, then again, there’s that particularly spectacular stretch of the South West Coast Path. And don’t forget those stars; so dazzling, he put a window in the roof so you wouldn't miss them as you drift off to sleep.