Dog Friendly Cottages In Bourton On The Water

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Catherine - Verified booking

  Stayed for one week in Benfield with parents and our toddler.

  We SO wanted to love this place after the great reviews on here and the pretty pictures. However, as charming as the cottage was, we couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with a few elements. Let’s start with the good stuff. As I said, the cottage is utterly charming and the rural decor makes it welcoming and cosy. The downstairs space is great – it was nice to have ‘zones’, so in a big group you can separate off either into the front room, the dining area or the conservatory. They’re connected enough to not be isolating, so you can still chat from each room, but you’re not all cooped up in one communal area. The beds were really comfortable. As other reviews have commented, the road is busy and noisy, making it impossible to open the windows on a hot evening, but with some ear plugs, the less light sleepers among us had a good night’s sleep. The location was perfect for enjoying the many delights the Cotswolds has to offer. We did way more than we anticipated because there was so much on the doorstep and Stow-on-the-Wold itself is gorgeous, with lots of pretty little shops and some great pubs. On the downside, the courtyard area was unclean. Not sure when it was last swept, but the paving was dirty and the bench and cushions were filthy - making it pretty unappealing to sit out there. It’s such a shame because it could be a really great addition to the house, but at the moment it’s a real waste of the space. A large chunk of it is taken up by the Wheelie bin, which itself wasn’t quite big enough for a week’s worth of rubbish for a group of seven. Appreciate space is limited, but it could’ve been better organised. Maybe some housing around the bin. There was also no recycling bin, so everything ended up in one place. We didn’t expect there to be an Aga and no traditional oven (there’s a microwave, and mini oven in the pantry). While it was very beautiful, we had to rethink our evening meals somewhat and it made the downstairs area very hot on a warm summer’s day (it’s not advisable to turn off as it takes such a long time to heat up again). There was a wide array of crockery, utensils and cookware in the kitchen, but quite a few hadn’t been washed properly. The bathroom on the first floor has a beautiful roll top bath, but only a handheld shower head with no curtain or screen. So no matter how careful you were, the bathroom got soaked with water splashing either off the bath or your body. The bathroom on the second floor had such a low wattage bulb in it, we had to keep the door open to see what we were doing. We had a good experience with the owner - very prompt responses - and we were very grateful to be allowed to check in an hour early, but on the whole the cottage itself is currently a bit disappointing in places.

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• Sue - Verified booking

  So here is the positives- the building, stone floors, beams, pieces of beautiful furniture Negative that really ruined our holiday.

  Before we went and due to finances we planned to eat in most of the time. My husband has asthma and uses an inhaler, as soon as we arrived and opened the door there was a really overpowering smell of air freshener. There was numerous bottles of liquid air freshener containing the bamboo sticks, the smell was so strong and sweet that you could taste it when you was drinking. I removed numerous bottles, some even in plant pots of flowers. My husband really suffered with his breathing and used his inhaler several times a day. As we have been going to the cotswolds for 20 years this was supposed to be a restful time spent in the cottage but due to the smell even when I had moved the airfreshners outside we had to spend as much time as possible out of the cottage, which also meant eating out every night which isn’t what we wanted to do. Even though I moved them outside the yard area is very small so even when I had shut the door you could still smell them. I’m sure some more must have been buried in the house that I couldn’t find A few other small things there is that much stuff in the cottage you really lose the beauty of it it’s as if there has been a need to fill every space with something. There is well over 20 spoons, knifes and forks, lost count of how many bowls and coffee pots, what this also did was leave lack of space should you want to food shop and store I contacted Sykes and they was very good and offered to send someone round but there wasn’t anything they could do that I hadn’t Such a shame our holiday was ruined

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• Victoria - Verified booking

  We had a lovely stay, thankyou.

  There were no tea towels in the kitchen and this was our biggest frustration over the weekend. The property is a little worn and well lived in, but it's comfortable and clean. My biggest issue with this overall booking was the difficulty in speaking with anybody to discuss our reservation ahead of our stay. I was desperately hoping to organise an early check in, was more than willing to be accommodating for how this might work (appreciating check outs and preparing the property), but trying to speak to anyone on the phone was impossible. The customer service when trying to accommodate the request to speak to someone was unhelpful and dismissive, it would take them days to respond to my queries and as a new representative was picking up would have to start the query all over again- their system does not log your previous enquiry. On the day of our reservation I received a voicemail from a very chirpy representative- the property was ready and we could check in from 2pm. Not particularly helpful when it's currently 1.30pm you've got 20 people arriving from all corners of the country and you yourself have a 3hour journey ahead. If you are looking to book this property, please be mindful of check-in times and the ability to liaise with anyone about your reservation ahead of time.

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• Ian - Verified booking

  Property was super and we really enjoyed our stay.

  House was well located just a few minutes walk from the town centre via a nearby cut-through. Easy parking outside. Although weather was cold outside when we arrived, the house was warm inside and during our stay. Property was good throughout with decent showers and hot water always available. House was clean, kitchen well equipped (but could do with better cereal bowls and there was no salt and pepper!). Appliances all worked fine. Lounge had comfy sofas. Nice to see a few family games there too. Lounge also had a good but older style smart TV. This worked well, with Netflix and a few streaming apps. An HDMI cable was required to connect our laptop for games and other streaming services. Fortunately we had our own. Upstairs bedrooms were roomy and the beds comfy. There was a table tennis table in the garage. A bit cramped but we did manage a short game! Only a very small enclosed patio area outside. Worth noting especially if you have a dog or small children but not an issue to us as we didn’t use it. Finally, it was nice to have a welcome pack on arrival! All in all a great place to stay. Stow is a lovely town with several small shops to browse, great pubs and restaurants and lots of walking nearby even in the middle of winter!

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• Sharon - Verified booking

  Positives: We had a lovely stay at this well appointed house.

  The house itself had lots of indoor and outdoor space where a large group could socialise together. There was more than enough crockery and large pans etc to cook at scale. The enclosed garden was fantastic for the dog and humans to have a good run round and the large tree swing was great for the teens. The bedrooms were all comfy and there were plenty of en suites and bathrooms to service us all. Water pressure and showers were good. The cottage was only a 15 minute walk into Stow on the Wold although as others have mentioned, crossing the busy main road is only for the able bodied teens and adults, otherwise driving is safer. Very friendly and helpful neighbours too which we discovered when we inadvertently sent a parcel to the wrong address. Negative: Just a couple of maintenance issues - there was a bucket in the window between the kitchen and games room to catch water when it rained. The main fridge (in the front kitchen) only had one shelf which limited how much could be stored in it, so frequent trips down the corridor to the extra fridges was required. Minor issues in terms of impact on our stay.

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