Darwen

The cottage was just like the photos and the garden was lovely.

We only heard occasional noise from the road. Parking outside was easy, as was gaining access to the house. In terms of opportunities for improvement - we found the kitchen a little under-stocked as there were no oven gloves, nor a serving spoon, pizza cutter or the bag for recycling paper. The dishwasher soap tray didn't close, some kitchen drawer fronts were loose and it would be handy to have the instructions for the oven. Perhaps leaving some kitchen roll and a little cooking oil would also be handy for short stays. The sofa cushions were not very supportive. Having said all that, it was all lovely and clean, we found the house cosy whilst giving us plenty of room and the rugs were lovely and soft underfoot. We really enjoyed our minibreak and it is good value, especially for a family of five, thank you!

Lovely cottage for our stay.

Plenty of mugs, plates etc… so we didn’t have to wash up immediately after every meal. Beautiful garden and we enjoyed sitting outside in the sunshine. Nice village with several pubs - we had Sunday Lunch at the Crown. Comfortable lounge for relaxing in after dinner. Ideal location for visiting Cannock Chase and the National Arboretum

Lovely cottage in a great location.

Very cosy with the logburner, and everything there that you needed. The garden is beautiful and well tended and was safe for our dog, Lennie. Parking two cars in front of the cottage was great for unloading. We just had a short wait for the spaces to appear, but was a great excuse to use the fabulous pub just across the road, The Bagot Arms. Would highly recommend their Sunday lunch (delicious and great value) and the owners/staff were so friendly. Nice end of the village, and a short stroll to the other end with more great pubs. Had a lovely stay - thank you.

Beautiful little cottage nicely decorated and very warm and cosy.

Very much appreciated the vase of flowers when we arrived. Spacious rooms and wonderful garden at the rear which was a great sun trap. Does face on to a busy main road so there can be noise. Minor niggles, the freezer in the shed needs a clean as does the shower hose (mouldy at the bottom) and some oven gloves would be useful. Saxon church along the street is well worth a visit. Village shop is closed but there is a community shop offering some basic items.

Lovely location, brilliant facilities in a fab cottage.

If you're a light sleeper maybe not for you due to the traffic and tractors passing through. The Bagot Arms is right opposite and The Crown is a short walk - both lovely pubs. We would definitely recommend

We all had a fabulous stay at Darwen Cottage.

It met all our needs and we'd definitely stay again and completely recommend it to other families. Thank you for allowing us all to stay in your lovely country cottage.

A lovely cottage in a beautiful little village.

We stayed as a family of four with 2 young children. We requested a cot, stair gates and a high chair before we arrived, all of which were there. The cot was even set up ready to go! We couldn't figure out the best place for the stair gates to fit so we didn't use it but it didn't affect our stay. The garden is great as well, the kids loved exploring out there. It was a great hub for us as well. Would definitely stay there again.

This was our second stay at Darwen and it was very pleasant with the cottage having everything that we need.

Just to say the cottage was perfect!

“We were six adults and a newborn staying at the cottage for a family wedding nearby, and the cottage was perfect. Spotless, well equipped, and for us, a perfect location “

It took us a while to find the right property for our stay in Staffordshire.

We have a dog reactive border collie and needed somewhere enclosed and peaceful. Darwen is gorgeous, it’s not Instagram perfect and if it was it may loose its charm and curiosity. What it is perfectly functional and very comfortable. We were able to cook, entertain old friends and family, soak up the sun in the lovely south facing garden. No there aren’t six foot fences all around however we took a long line to be practical our dogs loved being outside. The garden has a range of fencing heights and large shrubs it is really pretty. The best thing is we had a lovely relaxing time away and a wonderful nights sleep. We had great walks around Blithfield which is very shaded for dogs and children. We did our food shopping in uttoxeter that has a great range of supermarkets. It has great road and rail links our daughters travelling to join us by road and rail from the south west and south east. Alton towers is really close and I enjoyed an afternoon tea at Weston hall and hoar cross hall is very close.

We had a lovely stay here.

The garden is absolutely beautiful and the beds were so comfortable. Just a couple of things we noticed, as it was so warm we tried to put up the sun umbrella but it is broken on one side. The hob ignition also continues to make the igniter sound whilst you are cooking. A lovely base to explore the surroundings of Church Farm which is amazing, Lichfield and Uttoxeter and the Bagot Arms has lovely food and they are very friendly.

Lovely cottage great potential great situation but cottage clearly needs some work.

We were overwhelmed by air fresheners. The garden is not dog secure..there is a hole in the fence at the bottom of the garden leading to a watercourse. The garden is overlooked by every aspect and all hedges are only 1metre- ish tall.

The cottage was absolutely beautiful and more, the weather certainly helped.

We sat in the garden relaxing for the first few days. Just wow and thank you for sharing your home xx

We enjoyed our stay at Darwen House, very homely and comfortable.

A beautiful place. Everything at hand that you would need, the freezer a bonus for us. Beautiful garden that would be lovely to see and enjoy in the Summer. On road parking directly in front of the property, we never had any problems with. Plenty of things to see & do within the area, in fact way more than a week could cope with. Abbots Bromley a lovely village.

Lovely, cosy, well equipped cottage which was ideal for our family Christmas break.

Beds were comfortable, 2nd double bed a bit tight but ok for a few nights. Garden was safe for the dogs. Located in a nice little village with walks from the cottage and several pubs. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Great cottage, much bigger than it looks.

The bedrooms are beautiful and very comfortable. It was decorated for Christmas so looked very festive! Very homely.

Lovely cosy cottage comfortable with plenty of space, we loved the village with 4 pubs great for eating out.

although Indian restaurant mentioned is now closed. Not sure about the thermo mix looks complicated so didn’t use. Had to put bin behind gate to stop it banging in storm, had a lovely stay thank you.

Lovely, comfortable and cosy cottage.

Very well equipped and clean. Our dog loved the garden and we found parking very easy.

Our overall stay was comfortable.

We booked as the garden was advertised as "fully enclosed" but the fencing is only 3ft, shorter in placed and at the very end of the garden is a piece of trellis with big holes which opens to a drop to a brook that runs at the bottom. Our little dog could of easily fitted so they couldn't be left to roam without supervision. Also it wasn't stated it had a shared access, so to our surprise 2 nights on the trot a man was walking past the patio doors with bins. One evening he was moving bins his at 10.15pm which actually scared me. (I'd already sorted ours) He also put our garden light on and to do this the light switch was at our back door. Again very off putting! So every time we went to let the dogs out we had to check gates. If we'd known this activity would be happening we'd of been less scared.

Lovely cottage, well presented.

The garden is bright and peaceful. The village is nice and quiet but with several great pubs selling food. One word of warning, it’s a period house so all the door frames are very low. My 6’2” son kept cracking his head. If it weren’t for that, we would definitely be rebooking.

Lovely cottage and a beautiful garden, thank you we really enjoyed our short stay.

Lovely cottage with nice garden in a pretty village.

Handy for visiting local area. Good food available at the Crown, Bagot Arms and Infiniti Indian Restaurant.

Property location good & just as advertised, excellent facilities for doggy holidays-side entrance,tap outside & enclosed garden.

Property inside very comfortable however a deep clean required ie-oven & hob not clean,shower tray contained mold. Bedding & bed linen immaculate, Issue with central heating & hot water resolved within the hour, Thank you Hannah. Overall very enjoyable stay will be back.

Lights in dining room did not work.

Electrical power failure on first day (did manage to find “trip” switch eventually) but no guidance as to where or how to find it. Owner did get back to us after 3 days. Kitchen equipment poor and not particularly clean, no teapot, broken glasses in cupboard.

Lovely little cottage in a great area.

Would recommend!

Lovely property would definitely recommend again.

Only problem we encountered was a power outage one of the days for several hours due to works we were not made aware of until we had arrived.

Well-equipped and cosy cottage, which was a good size for two adults and three teenagers.

Had a great week, lovely village with some great local walks and a very reasonably priced meal at the Crown. Local cheese shop was also fab (we came out very much wiser about sheep's cheese!). Really good location for local attractions - we did Alton Towers, Cannock Chase, the National Arboretum and the Tissington Trail (the bike hire place was brilliant). Good comms from Hannah before we arrived.

Beautiful period country cottage set in an idyllic pretty village.

Cottage itself was well equipped & snug but profusion of cobwebs in some corners could be addressed. The cottage garden is secure & huge but sadly rather overgrown towards the end. A patio area with furniture was very relaxing. Although forewarned a gardener may attend, we were not made aware that the neighbour accesses the garden to take his bins through Darwin’s ginnel to the road. This was was worrying as: a) The possibility of the dogs being alarmed & biting the neighbour. b) accidentally letting the dogs out onto the busy main road. Traffic noise could be a problem to some, but did not bother us. We both slept extremely well there & enjoyed our stay.

Back garden safe for my 2 cocker spaniels, but a bit overgrown.

Comfortable and clean, we slept in the bedroom with 2 single beds due to street traffic which we previously read about. Overall, very good.

We enjoyed our stay in this very charming period cottage.

The accommodation worked really well for us (4 adults and 2 children). The children enjoyed playing in the garden. The location Abbots Bromley is a lovely place and there is a good choice of pubs to eat at. We would be very happy to stay here again.

Stayed with my ageing, active, parents.

Darwen is a delight. Mid-summer and it was beautifully cool indoors. Well appointed, to the point I made a cake. Kitchen well appointed. Beds very comfortable and good quality bedding. Garden is an absolute treat, good table and chairs for outdoor meals. If you are a bit older/taking older relatives stairs are fine. Plenty of space to spread out in. Road isn't intrusive and can't be heard in the garden. Invinity restaurant, is excellent and worth a visit. Village is interesting and people are friendly. Excellent Farm shop at Hoar Cross and an interesting Church. We three thoroughly recommend the cottage. Hope to re-visit in future. Area has lots to see including an excellent tour of Wedgwood, well worth a trip.

Lovely cottage.

Layout very good . Lovely garden. Would have given it 5 but one or two things in cottage need attending to. Also after a 300 mile drive some milk in fridge or dried milk even would have been nice so we could have had a cuppa. In other cottages we have rented this is usually the case. Abbots Bromley lovely village. Would recommend.

Lovely cottage in a beautiful village.

My family really enjoyed our mini break. Thank you!

Lovely comfortable cottage .

Close to lots of places to visit. 4 pubs in the village and Indian serving food. Good sized pretty garden.

We all enjoyed our stay, and loved your garden.

There were just a few things missing in the kitchen like a vegetable peeler and cafeteria. Even though you had a coffee machine. We had some great dinners cooked , but a disappointing curry one night but great times visiting local areas

We had a lovely stay at Darwen with our Labrador.

The cottage is pretty in tact, warm and welcoming with many of the original features, the size works really well and the main sitting area works really well with comfy furniture. The garden is decoratively large. Would recommend and stay again. The area is also lovely and great if your looking for that village field, with great walks for pets.

Darwen really is a lovely cottage and we had a great week.

We are keen walkers and are currently walking the Cross Britain Way which goes through Abbots Bromley so it was a perfect location. Well equipped and cosy it was a perfect base and we can imagine how lovely the garden is in warmer weather too. We also appreciated the owner’s email message on arrival and the information left regarding the TV / the heating system etc - always reassuring whether it’s needed or not. Sent from my iPhone

We had a lovely break here for my Sons 30th Birthday.

Lovely to be with the family and our two beautiful grandchildren. Everything was perfect thank you. Great spot, house had everything we needed. Some fabulous walks, pubs and a very chilled place to stay. Would definitely recommend to family and friends. Thank you

Just what we needed, a total drop out of life.

Darwen was warm and inviting from the moment we opened the door. Garden was large and we loved exploring the different areas. Welcome pack was very appreciated, as were the local amenities recommendations. We hope to visit again in the future.

Property was very cosy.

Beautiful location with pubs and Indian restaurant a stone’s throw away. Thanks for lovely experience.

Lovely cottage and well maintained.

Comfortable beds. Garden not very big and could be more done with it. Only issue was cottage sits on a main road and from 6am onwards you can here the traffic. Village is in a great location and has a basketball court/ football pitch/ park, also dog walks. The local pubs and Indian restaurant was great.

Maybe a welcome information pack would be useful.

Just things like the heating, a copy of the cooker instructions and other useful information etc.

Lovely place to stay and a very welcoming host.

We will be back

We had a lovely week at Darwen, Abbots Bromley.

The property was rustic, as expected, with original beams. The furniture and beds were very comfortable. The large back garden was an added extra as it was south facing. We had reason to contact the owner over a small problem and she got in touch with us promptly and resolved the problem. We thoroughly recommend a stay at this cottage.

The cottage is beautifully decorated with a lovely secure garden in a very nice village.

The early morning noise from traffic is disturbing but we knew it was situated right on main road through village before we came so no complaint. The one thing I would mention, and again this is not a complaint but advice having stayed in many holiday cottages, is that the second double bedroom does not really work. The bed us up against a wall one side the other is only 1 foot away from wardrobes. There is no where to sit as there is a footboard on end of bed. The room needs a bed you can sit on bottom of a mirror over the little chest and wall lights over top of bed so you can read in bed if you want. Having said that the bed was very comfortable with lovely bed linen. We enjoyed our stay very much. Valerie Barbara and Jane