“Great New Years Break”
We stayed at Barks Cottage for a short New Years break for 4 nights at the end of December. We left it late to book anywhere but luckily they had the dates available. We were attracted by the fact its pet friendly and the location just on the edge of the Peak District. It's a new area for us, but we really enjoyed it.
The cottage is lovely, tucked down a track in the quiet Hamlet of Moneystone, yet not far from Oakamoor, Cheadle and Alton. There were 2 adults and 1 Border Collie. The cottage is 2 bedroomed and has a large kitchen, large dining/lounge and a good bathroom with a large shower. The real fire was lovely and a bonus. The supply of logs was very generous. Most cottages give you the 1st basket free, but that usually consists of 6 logs!! We probably only used half the logs provided and had a fire every night.
The kitchen is really well equipped with a good dishwasher, full sized oven and a fridge freezer. The lounge had a brilliant 32 inch TV which also makes a change! It was also nice to have a decent supply of essentials like condiments, cleaning materials etc.
We are walkers and this cottage didn't let us down in that sense! There are loads of walks from the door (the track is actually a public footpath) and the walks in the area are lovely. We walked approx 10 miles each day, didn't touch the car and hardly met anyone which is nice when you have a slightly grumpy dog!
James and Catherine were lovely people. The booking process was simple and they live next door if you have any problems. They also keep hens and ducks if you want eggs, you can purchase some. A nice touch was a bottle of Champagne waiting for us to celebrate the New Year. There are nearby supermarkets and shops in Cheadle which is only a 10 min drive away if you need it. They also offer pet sitting services, though we didn't use them.
All in all a lovely break in a really nice cottage. Thank you!