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Which? Recommended Provider for UK Holiday Cottages August 2023 Which? Recommended Providers are companies that are both rated highly by Which? members and meet the high standards of Which? researchers.
Starter pack included View details
Welcome hamper included View details
Welcome hamper included
A complimentary welcome hamper is provided on your arrival which includes essentials such as tea, coffee, sugar and milk along with a few extra goodies. Please note that the size and contents of the hamper may vary from property to property and there may be regional and seasonal variances. Sadly we are unable to vary the contents according to preference, or cater for individual dietary requirements.
Starter pack included
A complimentary starter pack will be awaiting you on your arrival containing fresh coffee, tea, sugar, fresh milk and biscuits.
A complimentarty starter pack will be awaiting for you on your arrival containing; Tea, Coffee, Milk and Sugar
A complimentary starter pack will be awaiting for you on your arrival containing fresh coffee, tea, sugar, fresh milk and biscuits.
A complimentary starter pack is provided on your arrival which includes essentials such as tea, coffee, sugar and milk plus a welcome treat.
A Dorset complimentary starter pack will be awaiting for you on your arrival containing fresh coffee, tea, sugar, fresh milk and biscuits.
A Cornish complimentary starter pack will be awaiting for you on your arrival containing, Tea, Coffee, Fudge, Shortbread, Sugar, Milk, Salt and Pepper.
A Cotswolds complimentary starter pack will be awaiting for you on your arrival containing fresh coffee, tea, sugar, fresh milk and biscuits.
An Isle of Wight complimentary starter pack will be awaiting for you on your arrival containing fresh coffee, tea, sugar, fresh milk and biscuits.
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Good quality holiday cottage, a bit off the beaten track.
Lovely spot, stylishly decorated, and very well equipped. Welcome hamper much appreciated!
Lovely location, excellent accommodation an ideal place to get away from it all.
Beautiful Old Stables. Spotlessly clean. Fantastic welcome hamper. Stunning view. We will definitely be going back.
Lovely secluded property with well appointed furnishings. Just what we needed to chill out after our long haul flight from Australia. Great hamper of goodies provided.
Clean, tidy and peaceful - exactly what we wanted.
Excellent, comfortable cottage.
A lovely quiet cottage but with many interesting sites to visit, either on foot or by car. Very well furnished and provisioned. Driveway has many potholes so take care!
FROM THE OWNER - Thanks for your kind review. Because we had very wet weather over the winter, a few minor pot holes did develop in our main entrance, which dates back over 100 years. However, as part of our regular maintenance, these are repaired in Spring, which is just about to happen.
This is a very well thought out holiday let. Everything works very well indeed and is very comfortable. It is surprisingly spacious. We had a day of snow and were warm and content. The surroundings are lovely. Horses, deer and an arboreteum. The owners are friendly but not intrusive. We are planning our next stay here already.
The cottage was in an ideal place, it was decorated to a high standard, very warm and cosy. On arrival, there was a lovely food hamper left with some excellent provisions of food. In the morning you could watch the deer walking around the field. There were plenty of places to visit in the surrounding areas. The host gave us the key to the gates and we went for a walk to the "packhorse bridge" through some fields, and walked across to the river Avon, an idyllic setting for a picnic. The public houses in the village provide excellent food, and I can recommend the "Tollgate" for Sunday lunch. We had an excellent time there and will return, thanks Chris and Ian.
Top notch accommodations; beautiful surroundings and gracious hosts. A winning combination. We look forward to returning in the future for another quiet and relaxing stay in Wiltshire.
great place to book our second time and canot fault th holiday other than the weather you cant help that i would say the people are great and very helpful
A lovely, light, well-designed property in beautiful surroundings. We were very comfortable and made good use of the outside seating area in the nice weather.
We had a wonderfully relaxing break at The Old Stables - what a beautiful, tranquil place. Just perfect!
Some comfortable outdoor furniture would have improved the experience. Hard wooden furniture needs some cushioning. Some essentials were missing from the kitchen - a salad bowl and servers. We were disturbed by the freezer humming away, empty and using masses of energy as they are extremely inefficient if run this way adding to CO2 in the atmosphere unnecessarily. Rural Retreats could encourage their property owners to be more eco conscious. You could put some recommendations together. This would be a plus point for many customers who value the countryside - it would certainly attract me. Electric car charging points would be a start.
FROM THE OWNERS - “Thanks for your observations in the review, for future clients we would like to clarify some points. We do have a large bowl in the cottage and utensils that can serve a salad. With regards to outdoor seating, because of Covid-19, we have followed guidance that unnecessary cushions can encourage increased spread of the disease, so we are refraining from offering outdoor cushions while Covid is a threat. We are very concerned about energy use and ecology, and as a recent conversion, the cottage meets contemporary regulations of insulation. With regards to the freezer, this is continually available for clients, as this has been a frequent request. The freezer is new, small in size, it uses little energy, and it makes little noise. That said, we encourage any customers that are coming to the cottage, to consider asking us to turn off the freezer in advance of arriving, if they don’t want to use it. Previous clients have charged their electric car, we have an easily accessible outdoor electric socket, which a can be used with an adapter.”
Thank you so much for such a lovely place to stay, The Old Stables. It was great experience. The Old Stables was spacious for a 1 bedroom barn and immaculately clean. The welcome hamper was much appreciated by us after a very long journey, and included everything we needed. The bedroom was a good size with a double bed. The only negative was the double bed was not very comfortable for 2 tall people. However, The bathroom had great water pressure and lovely fluffy white towels. Thank you for a lovely short break.
FROM THE OWNER -Thanks for your great review. However, to clarify for other guests, the bed is king size, it's a memory foam mattress, and it's the standard length of any bed, which also has no footboard, so feet are not cramped, even if you are tall.
This is a lovely, extremely well equipped property and it was our second stay.
Lovely quiet location with distant views. Very clean and tidy with all the items you need for a stay away. Decorated to a good standard and all the seating very comfortable.
The Old Stables is beautifully designed and has a lovely view of the Wiltshire landscape. Ours was an extremely comfortable and enjoyable stay and despite the time of year we were even able to enjoy the sunny, outside seating area which was a treat.
Beautiful property, set within a vast piece of land. Chris & Ian left a wonderful welcome hamper, which made an introduction even that bit more special. The old ham tree pub in the village was exceptional, with all their menu, including desserts, homemade. Plenty of places of interest close by, which made our stay, that bit more memorable.
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Monday to Friday - 9am to 8pm
Saturday - 9am to 5.30pm
Sunday - 10am to 4pm
My Personal Sanctuary is a Luxurious and truly indulgent beauty therapy service delivering 5 star quality organic treatments carried out in the comfort of your cottage.
Updated at 10:00 on Friday 8th April 2022
As all restrictions have been lifted across the United Kingdom, you are no longer legally required to self-isolate upon a positive Covid-19 result. You won’t be asked to take daily tests or isolate following contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This means, if you would like to modify or cancel your booking due to Covid-19, our normal terms and conditions now apply.
If the restrictions are reintroduced and you are forced to cancel your holiday due to legal restrictions, please be rest assured that we will help you to move your booking within the same property, offer a voucher to be used within the same property within a year or cancel your booking in this instance and we will refund you the price you paid in full.
If you are concerned about the potential impact of Covid-19 on your holiday plans, outside of legal restrictions, we strongly advise you to seek out travel insurance which covers you in these and other eventualities.
Which? Recommended Provider for UK Holiday Cottages August 2023
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