Our family recently had the great pleasure of staying at Udford House. It was the most wonderful break, completely peaceful and surrounded by nature on every side. We saw a wide variety of wildlife, from hares grazing each morning and evening outside the kitchen door, swans, a kingfisher, a large flock of Canadian geese resting on the nearby fields, a stag swimming across the river early one morning, herons fishing, pheasants - sadly the otters remained elusive this time! The house is situated down quiet, wooded country lanes, and sits within farmers fields that are grazed by sheep (dogs need to be kept under tight control - pregnant ewes in situ). There is a mostly fenced garden surrounding the property (a stretch on the river bank remains open), and a cattle grid keeping the ewes and tups on their side, but they come right up to the fence to say hello, as they pass by several times a day! There are beautiful riverside walks from the back door - well worth exploring. It truly is beautiful and only 10 mins drive away from Penrith. The house is lovely, big, very warm and comfortable, with stunning views from all windows, in every direction. We will definitely be returning, and we highly recommend this beautiful property for anyone wishing to stay in and around the Lake District.

We loved staying at Udford House as it was in a beautiful rural spot among fields of sheep. There was not another house in sight and we and a river ran through the garden which was lovely. The house was in perfect condition and very clean. Due to the rural location and the time of year, we had to close the windows in the evenings, when the lights were on to avoid filling every room with midges. This made the house rather stuffy at times and it would benefit from a mesh screen on one of the kitchen windows to allow fresh air in whilst cooking. Once the lights were turned off, it was possible to open the windows again. I would also say the beds could have been better quality to reflect the quality of everything else in the house. Other than these minor points, the house was perfect for our needs which was to spend some family quality time away from the hurly burly of frantic city life.

We have stayed here before, and (obv) like it very much. Great house, lovely location. Very rural down a long farm track to an idyllic setting by the river. The owner kindly lets my son fish there. Cannot think of any negative things, certainly nothing significant - possibly the kitchen could be slightly better equipped but it's not that important. FABULOUS views nad would quite like to move in and live there all the time.10/10

We had a great holiday here. The house itself and cleanliness were good. Lots of dead flies everywhere which we understand happens in country properties when empty but an explanation for this would have been helpful. It also meant it had not been visited for a while since it was cleaned. The hamper was not up to usual Rural Retreats standards and was very dissappointing. It is usually a lovely part of the welcome but they had put bits in the fridge and cupboards and you could not really tell whether it had been left by the past guests it whether is was all new. No nice welcoming basket which families like. We also felt the crockery needed a bit of updating. Not many serving dishes. Overall we had a great holiday though.

Having read the previous persons comment I felt it was important to say something about the flies as we stayed a week or so later in December. There were a few flies on the windowsill but nothing like the hundreds the previous person stated, and they certainly didn’t spoil our lovely stay in a tranquil setting, we just threw them out of the window! If you get the opportunity to stay at Udford house, do it was brilliant.