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Review 3635: Owner, Sansome Cottage

www.sansomecottage.co.uk

Recommended. Review by Vicki from NJ

2bed/2bath cottage in village near Chipping Campden, Cotswolds, Heart of England

When

July 5 -12, 2008, 1 week

Location

The Cottage is located in the quaint village of Ilmington, which is in the Cotwolds and is about 10 minutes south of Stratford-upon-Avon. The Cottage is located across the courtyard from the main house in which the owners reside. They are very careful not to intrude on your privacy, but are always available if you need anything.

Nearby Amenities

Ilmington itself is very cute village with building of the traditional honey colored limestone for which the Cotswolds are famous. It has two pubs, one of which (The Howard Arms) is known for its excellent dining. Stratford-upon-Avon is nearby and has several grocery stores (Tesco, Sainsbury's & Morrisons) as well as many good restaurants. We ate home most evenings, often bringing home gourmet meals from Marks & Spencer's food department.

The House/Apartment

The Cottage is in excellent shape and very clean. It was very spacious and had all the amenities you could ask for. This was the nicest self-catering we have stayed in yet - and we've stayed in many both in the US, UK and Europe.

Garden

The private garden was beautiful, although we did not take full advantage of it due to the rainy weather we had most of the week we were there. But it was very pretty to look at through the enormous kitchen windows and French doors.

Furnishings/Cleanliness/Living Areas

The furniture was in very good shape. Everything was very clean. There are two couches and an arm chair in the sitting room, so there was plenty of room for us to relax and watch the TV and read. There are about 25 DVDs and dozens of books to enjoy should you get some of the rain for which England is famous.

Bedrooms/Bathrooms

The beds were comfortable and the bedrooms were very nicely furnished and clean. The bathrooms were fine, one had a small shower and the other a tub bath (no hand-held fixture).

Kitchen

The kitchen was huge and had everything we needed to eat breakfast and dinner in the cottage every day. It is larger than our kitchen at home!

Problems or Bonuses

The owner has created several notebooks for the Cottage which are full of information on walks, restaurants, pubs, castles, gardens, manor homes, and other sights all of which are located within one hour of the Cottage.

You have to be comfortable renting a car and driving on the left to enjoy this location. I recommend a small car which makes navigating the narrow roads easier for those of us used to driving on the right.

Agency and Representatives (and price)

The best part of the cottage was the owners, Felicity and Tony. They were very gracious and hospitable, always making sure our needs were attended to and providing excellent suggestions of places to visit and dine.

Do you recommend this vacation rental to others?

We would definitely recommend this Cottage to family and friends. I'm not sure we would stay there again, only because we aren't the type to repeat a holiday - we always want to see new things and visit new places. This was the nicest self-catering we've stayed in yet, so we recommend it very highly to anyone interested in experiencing rural England and doing day trips in the Cotswolds area and beyond.

Things to do in this area

We visited Oxford, Sudeley Castle, Blenheim Palace, Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, along with many picturesque Cotswolds villages. We enjoyed the local market at Moreton one day and found Stow-on-the-Wold to be the cutest Cotswolds village we visited.

We enjoyed dinner at the Howard Arms in Ilmington, and lunches at the Thai Boathouse in Stratford, Chaing Mai Kitchen in Oxford, the dining room at Sudeley Castle. We ate at the Cottage for most dinners which helped our budget!

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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