“We stayed in The Retreat for a week and had a whale of a time.”
It's an absolutely fabulous place, ideal for people wanting easy access to the Cotswolds and Shakespeare Country (Warwick, Leamington Spa, Stratford, Rugby), but who are also keen to stay in a tranquil location well away from traffic and with an open outlook overlooking fields and meadows. We awoke almost every morning to blazing sunshine, dawn choruses and sights of hares and grouse and enjoyed golden sunsets in the evenings. Seating outdoors made our meals an even bigger treat. Relaxing walks are feasible directly from the cottage, particularly around the conservation villages of Barford, Charlecote and Hampden Lucy, each with their own medieval churches and characterful pubs.
The cottage was incredibly inviting and cosy, bright, airy and scrupulously clean, with every possible facility, including fans for warm weather and woodburning stove for cold. The owners, Steve and Dawn, make sure you want for nothing and, if ever you need help or require anything else, they come round in an instant. You couldn't find nicer people to ensure you have the best holiday possible!
In the course of the week we used the cottage as a base to visit some wonderful places: so many pretty honey-coloured Cotswold villages, incl. Chipping Campden, Bibury and Burford. Other hits with us were Warwick & its Tudor architecture, Broadway Tower, offering glorious views in all directions, a guided tour of the famous Rugby School & associations with Tom Brown's Schooldays, Leamington Spa and its Regency parades and parks, the Iron Age White Horse of Uffington and so much else, incl. Kenilworth Castle & many National Trust manor houses and gardens. Our favourites were Kelmscote Manor and Baddesley Clinton.
Recommended:
- a well stocked local village store in Barford and massive Tesco on the road from Warwick to L'Spa.
- great pubs at the Boar's Head, Hampden Lucy and King's Head, Wellesbourne.
- idyllic places to enjoy a coffee are numerous, but among our favourites were Charlescote Orangerie and the Art Gallery & Museum in Leamington Spa.
The Retreat deserves a high rating and we'd love to return sometime soon!!
