Cotterdale & Coast is an independent magazine about UK and Isle of Man self-catering holidays. We write about coastal cottages, Manx apartments, design notes from operators who do it well, and the wider self-catering world for British travellers who occasionally want a change of climate without changing their format.
The magazine is edited by L. Chen from a small apartment overlooking the Manx coast. The starting point was straightforward: after a decade of booking self-catering accommodation on the Isle of Man, in Cornwall, in the Lakes, and occasionally further afield, we noticed there wasn't a single sensible publication that took the format seriously. The hotel press wouldn't cover it. The travel supplements treated it as a budget option. The booking platforms were busy selling listings, not curating them.
So we started writing. The articles here are written by people who actually stay in the apartments they describe, cook in the kitchens they review, and walk the paths they recommend. Nothing on the site is sponsored. We don't accept paid placements in editorial. Where we mention specific properties or operators, it is because we have stayed there or because a reader we trust has done so.
What We Cover
Five rough buckets: the Isle of Man (the heart of what we do), coastal stays around the UK, the self-catering format as a category, design and architecture for people who care about how a holiday home feels, and travel inspiration for the small minority of our readers who want to extend the self-catering habit further afield.
Most posts are around 600 words. Most go up between April and October, with a quieter winter publishing schedule. The tone is editorial rather than promotional. We will tell you when an apartment is good and when one isn't.
Who Reads This
Our readers are mostly British, mostly in the second half of their working lives, mostly people who have booked the same kind of self-catering holiday for at least a decade and want better information than the platforms provide. They tend to be loyal, opinionated, and unusually well-travelled within the UK. We write for them.
If you've found us through a search for a specific Manx apartment, a particular coastal walk, or a question about which self-catering format suits which kind of trip, you're in the right place. Welcome. Have a look around.
Editorial Contact
For story ideas, corrections, reader letters or anything else editorial, please write to [email protected]. We read everything. We reply to most things, eventually, from a coastal apartment kitchen table.