Howe, September 2020
August 2020
The Tack Room Cottage is a beautifully re-furbished out-building in an idyllic farmstead setting, in a small complex of stone buildings, courtyards and gardens, with an elegant small 'manor farmhouse' at its heart.. The whole is surrounded by pastures and woodland belonging to the property, allowing a fair bit of walking whilst hardly leaving the grounds. This includes seven minutes to your very own 'Farm Shop and Cafe', extremely friendly and well-stocked with self-catering treats, liquid and otherwise, and a perfect place for 'brunch' made largely of home grown or very local fresh food.
The local area, just outside the Peak District National Park, is classic, English countryside: deep valleys with woods and running streams, high moorland, unspoilt villages clustered round their churches and traditional pubs. If you want peace and quiet, you've got it! If you like a heritage site to visit, Chatsworth is unmissable: both the house and the gardens are worth every penny and every minute of a few hours at a time. We went twice, once for the gardens (with grandchildren) and once for the house (by ourselves).
Coming back to the cottage itself, it can cope well enough with two couples and two children, accommodation-wise, though the kitchen - and especially the fridge - did struggle for space a bit (we arrived in a heatwave!) The only other thing we would have different (in an ideal world) is more daylight in the main living room - just one window to see out of would be nice. On the odd rainy day, being cooped up in the house felt a little claustrophobic. This was apparent from an earlier review, so we were happy to accept it as it was and not let it spoil the holiday. When the sun was shining, we used the small, pretty back lawn for meals and drinks. The outside table and chairs there were fine but there was nothing to lounge on, so bring your own loungers or a rug, if that's what you like!
The owner, Lesley, was fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble. We were left to our own devices unless we asked for something - such as re-booting the wi-fi router, which there was quite a need of for a day or two. There were plans to address that, so it may no longer be an issue; and it worked well anyway, with good bandwidth, most of the time. We went away with a couple of bags of lovely fresh vegetables from the next door garden, too - very generous and very tasty! To cap all that, we left something quite precious behind (it had slipped under a wardrobe) and Lesley followed up on it assiduously. The cleaners found it, on looking again, and it was posted back to us without charge. You could not wish for warmer or better organised hospitality!