If you like waking up on Christmas morning in a luxuriously cosy holiday cottage with log fires and a Christmas dinner that only needs heating, while outside lie a choice of beautiful winter walks, then an Exmoor Christmas will tick all the boxes. Most cottages will be decorated (be sure to ask). If you're booking a cottage with children in your group, request the owner to supply the tree but leave the decorations in a box for the children to decorate.

Arrive a few days early to allow time to complete your Christmas shopping in the veritable treasure trove of independent shops in places such as Dulverton, South Molton and Dunster. Book a Santa Special on the Lynton Barnstaple Railway at Woody Bay.

Pull on your wellies and explore riverside walks along the Exe, East Lyn and Barle valleys - most of which can be based around a classic Exmoor pub or tearooms in villages such as Winsford, Withypool, Challacombe and Exford. Exmoor also boasts a lovely

With the cottages on our site, we’ve begun to notice a correlation between the quality of owners’ photos and the amount of traffic they’re getting. If your stats seem a little low, this may be why. It’s not for nothing that the main photo is endearingly termed ‘the money shot’ in marketing circles. So, to ensure your cottage listing receives the attention it deserves, the images you use must be as good as they can be. To get the best photographs on our website, ensure that: - Your main picture is in landscape, not portrait. - The file size needs to be a minimum of 1 MB to ensure quality. - The picture is bright and colourful to attract the reader’s eye.

My Favourites has teamed up with Essentials Magazine to increase our presence nationally. With the help of 12 cottages already picked from My Favourites, Essentials will include a place in a monthly competition for readers to win a short break throughout

Additional Selection Boxes: To make it even easier for visitors to the site to find the exact cottage they’re after, we will add a further 3 Selection Boxes on our front page to join our other 12 buttons. We’ve done this partly in response to user feedback and partly as a result of analysing the number of times potential bookers use them to start their searches. We will soon add boxes for ‘Cottages that allow smoking’, ‘Newly listed properties’ and ‘Favourite Favourites.’ The most recent 20 cottages will appear in the Newly Listed Properties, so if you own another cottage, why not add it for a further £4, which will appear in our box?

Still in its test phase, you may have noticed a big red button on our front page called “My Favourite Favourites Login”. To make it easy for people to bookmark and rate a property, visitors to the site can create their own property portfolio. Whenever someone comes across and adds

Using some technical wizardry, we’ve used your cottage’s postcode to pin it to a map of the UK. Bookers can now see your property’s exact location, making it even easier for them to work out how close your property is to the beach, countryside or the nearest town. We’ve also colour-coded the ‘pins’ so you can immediately see the size of each cottage, making it quicker and easier for relevant people to arrive at your website.

Quick Tip: If your postcode shows your property in the wrong location, log in, and you can change it by using the Map Icon under ‘Your Properties.’

Need to gain those extra bookings for a particular month? With Featured Favourites, you can now pay to have your cottage displayed on our front page. Adding your cottage only costs £10 per month, and if you want to pay for five months, we’ll give you an extra month for free - it’s a fantastic way to boost traffic to your website. The number of

With a new box for late availability, you can add your last-minute vacancies at your cottage quickly and easily. Log into the ‘Owner’s section,’ click ‘Add Late Availability’ and enter the necessary details. It costs nothing and will undoubtedly increase the chances of filling empty weeks. We’ll also try and mention any spare dates on our Twitter page. We also send an e-mail with details and web links to the national media on the 1st of each month. If you e-mail us, we’ll endeavour to include details of your offer. NB: You must show you are offering it at a discount.

Unsure how many people view your listing or link to your site? We’ve added a new section to see how many visitors have viewed your page and, more importantly, made an e-mail enquiry or clicked through to your website. To view your stats, click on the ‘Your Statistics’ tab, and you’ll be able to see the views, click-throughs and enquiries your listing has

Sea Ilfracombe 2 - 4 Sept 2011.

A re-enactment of Napoleon Bonaparte’s failed attempt to capture Ilfracombe is an example of the highlights of this charming North Devon town’s Maritime Festival. Promising an eclectic mix of events, visitors can enjoy historical guided tours, restaurant and gourmet trails, street acts and a tug of war during the 3-day celebration.

Lake View in West Down near Ilfracombe in North Devon

Looking for an Ilfracombe holiday cottage in which to stay while enjoying the festival? Stay nearby at Lake View Farmhouse, an idyllic converted barn sleeping 6.

Lobster and Crab Feast Clovelly in September

Celebrating Clovelly’s famous lobsters and crabs, this fishy day offers live folk music, quay kitchens, wine and beer tasting, storytelling, street theatre, and arts and crafts stalls. The day is in aid of The National Lobster Hatchery, which will also bring along a tank of baby lobsters to be later

It’s not long to go before the 30th June deadline in 2011 for all holiday cottages to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) if your property is let out for more than 4 weeks a year.

As part of European legislation, the certificates will grade your property from A-G based on its energy efficiency in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. Failure to comply with the new legislation could lead to a £200 fine.

So, to make things easier, we’ve teamed up with Energy Performance Services to offer all ‘My Favourites’ subscribers in north Devon and north Cornwall a special discounted rate EPC survey costing only 39.99 +VAT *figures correct in 2012.

If you’re interested, then please contact us by emailing us at info@mfhc.co.uk or calling us on 01598 710631

Please note that we do not charge a markup - it is simply part of the service we provide for all subscribers to My Favourite Holiday Cottages.

This offer is available only to

With petrol topping £1.40 per litre (2012) in some places, suggestions for a car-free holiday can be very welcome. My Favourite Holiday Cottages features a wide choice of charming UK self-catering retreats where guests can make the most of their holiday without using a car.

At Derwent House in Matlock, guests can arrive by train (East Midlands railway has frequent services to Matlock) and not miss the car all week. All the shops and restaurants of this Peak District Town are within easy walking distance, and there are no worries about who is on driving duty after a stroll to the local pub. The historic village of Bakewell can be reached by bus, as can the majestic Chatsworth House. Scenic Dovedale Valley is on the doorstep. Committed to eco principles, the thoughtful owners have arranged for cycle hire delivery and collection from the property. An award-winning Matlock holiday cottage, Derwent House sleeps up to 12 people in 6 bedrooms, and seven nights

Marwood Hill Garden in North Devon offers stunning displays of Camellias and Rhododendron at this time of year, and the new Magnolias are a welcome addition. The gardens also host National Collections of Japanese Iris, Astilbe, and Tulbaghia.

Stay nearby at Orchard Cottage, a cosy two-bedroom rural holiday cottage nestled in the peaceful North Devon countryside near South Molton. Within easy reach of The Gardens, Exmoor and the North Devon coast beaches.

Levens Hall Gardens

Colourful spring bedding sets the impressive topiary off to its best advantage at historic Levens Hall & Gardens in Cumbria. The topiary is among the oldest in the world, and the garden dates back to 1694. The Buttery serves delicious home-cooked food and also helps the Estate’s own recipe, Moroccan Ale – worth a try.

Stay close by at Pudding Cottage in Windermere; you can take your dog too. This 4-star property sleeping 6 has official