Firstly, the owner was very flexible with my arrival time, considering I'd booked only that morning!
It was raining and late when I arrived by car in the small village of Peasedown St John. I received a phonecall from the owner who helped me find the location - it was a bit tricky to find as my GPS couldn't locate it exactly. We established I'd gone a little too far down the lane and Ruth volunteered to come down in her car. She's so friendly and hospitable and I appreciated her coming to get me!
I was ready for a retreat experience having traveled around for a few months, and that was exactly what I found. The place is cosy in size and with good heating; it has nice contemporary/farm decor with attractive little features; tv in the lounge and bedroom with a DVD player & a few movies, which I watched; a writing desk and awesome massage loungers! Loved the kitchen. I never used the dishwasher or freezer, but fridge and washer/dryer were perfect for my needs (and I had a lot of washing!). Powder was provided as was milk, tea and coffee. Great to have iron and ironing board too.
Bed was oh-so-cosy. Sigh. Just remembering the snuggly bed...
I loved that there was a wardrobe and drawers to put my stuff away in...even a jewellery box! The holland blind in the bedroom was a bit dickie as far as getting that up and down.
I appreciated the automatic lighting in the bathroom, and all the provided towels.
So the view. Early in the morning with a nice sunrise over the hills below, then sunset at night showed different colours in the landscape. I could easily have sat and looked at the view for a while each day. There are houses a little distance either side, so do be prepared to see someone...although only every now and then!
I spent a fair bit of time traveling around the local countryside and used the cottage as a base. Ruth has a good welcome folder of local attractions, and has even written some good - and not so good - restaurants and pubs to go to. I found this quite handy having not known anything about the area.
It's 40 minutes to most of the sites like Stonehenge and Salisbury cathedral. Also I visited Cirencester in an hour and Bath of course is only 20 mins away by car. There's a bus stop at the top of the lane on the main road and takes 5 minutes to walk down to the cottage, and I recommend using the bus as it can be a nuisance finding a carpark in Bath.
I recommend going to the Fox and Badger in Wellow. It's not far from Peasedown - only 15-20 mins drive - and an old pub with character and a well traveled and friendly proprietor called Eric.
Overall, an excellent stay and I would highly recommend this place to anyone wanting a quiet getaway, not too far from most tourist sites.