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Luxury
Holiday Cottages
Full
Serviced Cottages and Farmhouses to rent
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THE
COMPLETE GUIDE TO UK HOLIDAY COTTAGES
SOMEWHERE MORE
LUXURIOUS?
by Harriet O'Brien - Independent Newspapers UK Ltd
Many agencies and
individual owners now offer the sort of facilities that might
be expected of a boutique hotel: chic furnishings; dinner
delivery options; and discreet hospitality including a welcome
hamper of local produce, wine and more. Rural Retreats (01386
701177; www.ruralretreats. co.uk), for example, prides itself
on its standard of accommodation and its quality of service.
At the time of
writing the company still had a few properties available over
the Bank Holiday. One such is The Chapel at Dinnington near
Hinton St George in Somerset, an extremely stylish conversion
with lots of exposed beams and brickwork.
The property is
set in a pretty and peaceful hamlet about half an hour's drive
from the coast. It has two bedrooms sleeping four and costs
pounds 825 over the Bank Holiday week.
Meanwhile the most
glorious sense of luxury has been developed at Bruern Holiday
Cottages (01993 830415; www.bruern-holiday- cottages.co.uk),
the beautifully converted stables and barns of Bruern Abbey
near Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds.
There are a dozen
fine properties here, all filled with antiques (many bedrooms
have four-posters) and all stylishly decorated with Nina Campbell
and Colefax and Fowler furnishings. They also contain facilities
" from microwave, dishwasher, tumble dryer and hairdryer
to wide-screen TV and an extensive video library. Shared facilities
include a heated outdoor pool, croquet, tennis, ample gardens
to explore, a playhouse for children and much more.
At the time of
writing Aintree Cottage, probably the grandest former stable
you could ever hope to find, was available from 26 August
to 2 September. Such luxury doesn't come cheap, however: sleeping
six, the property costs an eye-popping pounds 2,331 for the
Bank Holiday week.
ALL-SINGING, ALL-DANCING
SERVICES?
By renting a cottage
in the grounds of a country house hotel " the likes of
the Priory Bay near Seaview on the Isle of Wight (01983 613146;
www.priorybay.co.uk) or The Kings Arms Hotel at Hawkshead
in the Lake District (015394 36372; www.kingsarmshawkshead.
co.uk), you can often get the best of both worlds: self-catering
privacy but also restaurant services and other facilities
as and when you want them.
At the time of
writing one- and two-bedroom cottages were still available
at Eastwell Manor (01233 213000; www.eastwellmanor. co.uk),
a sublime Jacobean-style country house. The stately hotel,
complete with Italianate gardens, is set among rolling countryside
near Canterbury in Kent, and offers two restaurants, indoor
and outdoor swimming pools, spa, all-weather tennis courts,
petanque pitches, croquet lawns and more. In addition to 23
guest rooms within the manor house, there are 19 self-catering
mews cottages, converted from a Victorian stable block.
Among those still
available to rent is Bluebell Cottage, a two- bed, two- bathroom
property with a sitting room with French windows leading on
to a little patio. The cottage sleeps four and is priced at
pounds 550 for a three-night stay including free use of the
outdoor pool and other leisure facilities. Children are welcome
and there is a dedicated play area for them.
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