Frequently Asked Questions
What are your check in and check out times?
Our check-in is from 4:00 PM onwards, and we kindly ask that you check out by 10:00 AM on your day of departure.
Because we take pride in our crisp linens, spotless spaces, and immaculate finishing touches, we utilise every single moment to clean and prepare the cottages. This ensures everything is perfect and pristine for our next arriving guests.
Thank you so much for your understanding and for helping us keep our standards exceptionally high!
How do we find you?
We are tucked away in a beautiful corner of the Shropshire Hills, which means our postcode covers a fairly wide rural area. To guide you straight to us without any stress, we highly recommend locating us on Google or Apple Maps or by using the free What3Words app.
- Our exact What3Words location is: ///brightens.qualified.accompany
- Our postcode for standard sat-navs is: SY6 6NP
The surrounding country lanes are beautiful but narrow. They are fully accessible for regular cars but always be mindful of potholes. When you pay your final balance, we will send you a welcome email with precise, step-by-step driving directions to ensure your journey into the hills is completely smooth.
Do we have an EV charger?
While we don’t have electric vehicle charging points directly on the farm just yet, adding them is high on our wish list for the future!
In the meantime, topping up your battery is incredibly easy. Our lovely local town, Church Stretton, is just a few minutes away and features five public EV chargers. You can find them at the central Co-op (Lion Meadow car park) and the adjacent Easthope Road car park, including a mix of fast and rapid charging options. It’s the perfect excuse to plug in and wander the local independent shops or grab a coffee while you wait!
Do you provide linens, towels, and toiletries?
Yes, absolutely. We believe a luxury rural retreat should mean packing light and relaxing completely, which is why we provide everything you need for a restful stay.
- Premium Bedding: Every bed is dressed in crisp, high-quality pure cotton bed linen. For the comfort of all our guests, we use premium non-feather duvets and pillows that offer a blissful night’s sleep without any allergy worries.
- Plush Towels: You will find exceptionally soft, large bath towels and hand towels waiting for you in your bathroom.
- Luxury Toiletries: There is no need to pack heavy bottles – we stock our bathrooms with high-quality shampoo and conditioners infused with natural botanicals, perfect for a soothing rinse after a day exploring the hills.
What is the Wi-Fi like? Can I stay connected or work from the cottage?
Yes, you can stay fully connected. Unlike many rural escapes, we feature high-quality, high-speed fibre broadband in all our holiday cottages.
Our seamless fibre Wi-Fi extends across the entire property, covering both the cottage interiors and our beautiful outdoor seating areas. Whether you need to jump on a smooth Zoom video call for a remote working day, stream your favourite films in full HD, or simply share your Shropshire Hills photos on social media while sitting out in the garden, you will have a fast, reliable connection.
It is the absolute best of both worlds: a peaceful farm stay experience with zero compromise on connectivity.
Will it be warm enough in Winter?
Absolutely. Our Shropshire holiday cottages are beautifully cosy and fully heated to ensure a warm, luxurious stay even in the depths of winter.
To perfectly match the rhythm of a relaxing country getaway, our heating is automatically scheduled to run beautifully warm from early morning until mid-morning, and then again from the afternoon right through until late evening.
Because we know you want complete comfort during your rural escape, guests have full control of the thermostats inside their individual cottages. If you plan to swap a day of exploring the Shropshire Hills for a slow, cozy day indoors, just let us know! We are more than happy to adjust the master schedule so the cottage stays wonderfully warm for you all day long.
Are the cottages accessible for guests with limited mobility?
Because our cottages are beautifully historic, traditional farm buildings, the natural layout of the properties and the surrounding landscape does present some architectural challenges.
Due to the age of the buildings, there are multiple steps, varying floor levels, and uneven gravel or stone surfaces in the outdoor areas and courtyard.
However, we love welcoming guests of all generations and will always do our best to accommodate you:
We do have an Accessibility page for each of our cottages located on the cottage page.
- Our Most Accessible Option: The Barn is our most suitable option for guests with limited mobility. It features a spacious downstairs bedroom and an accessible ground-floor bathroom, minimizing the need to navigate stairs during your stay.
- Get in Touch: If you or a member of your party have specific accessibility requirements, please get in touch with us before booking. We are more than happy to chat through the exact layouts, door widths, and step counts to help you decide if our cottages will be comfortable and safe for your stay.
Are the cottages environmentally friendly and eco conscious?
Yes, deeply so. We take our sustainability and our impact on our planet incredibly seriously, and it influences everything we do here.
We believe that true luxury and environmental care go hand-in-hand. To ensure your rural escape has the smallest footprint possible, we have a variety of sustainable, low-impact systems running seamlessly behind the scenes:
Largely Off-Grid Living: We are incredibly proud to generate our own clean energy through a large array of solar panels. We also have our own private, pure water supply and an advanced bio-digester system for completely eco-friendly waste management.
The Dedicated Recycling Barn: We recycle and compost as much as possible on the farm. We have created a beautifully organized, designated recycling barn and warmly encourage our guests to use it during their stay.
Eco-Conscious Cleaning: To protect our local ecosystem, all of our cottages are looked after using 100% eco-friendly, biodegradable cleaning products from Miniml, a fantastic independent, zero-waste company based in Yorkshire.
By staying with us, you can completely unplug and enjoy the wild beauty of the hills, knowing your holiday is tread-lightly sustainable from the moment you arrive.
Can we bring our dog along and are the gardens enclosed?
Yes! We absolutely love welcoming four-legged friends, and we proudly remain a dog-friendly rural retreat.
Unlike many holiday rentals, we do not charge an extra fee for dogs. We want your entire family to enjoy the magic of the Shropshire Hills without hidden costs!
To help you plan your stay, here is everything you need to know about bringing your dogs to the farm:
Our Cottages & Dog Policies
Dog Limits: We gladly welcome up to two dogs per cottage. Because Gooseyard Cottage and Daisy’s Place have cosy ground-floor layouts, we recommend them for either one large dog or two smaller dog breeds.
Cottage Rules: To keep our luxury interiors looking immaculate and allergy-friendly for future guests, we politely request that dogs stay downstairs on the hard flooring and remain off carpets, beds, and furniture.
Relaxing at the Farm: Dogs must never be left unattended in the cottages. However, if you want a day out exploring a non-dog-friendly attraction, we have a wonderful local dog sitter who is more than happy to come and walk or sit with your dog!
Our Gardens & Farm Life
Are the gardens enclosed?
Our large gardens and beautiful outdoor spaces are not enclosed. Because we are a working smallholding with rare-breed farm animals, dogs must not wander unsupervised.
Exploring the Farm: You and your dog are more than welcome to explore our gorgeous grounds together, either on or off the lead, provided they have a reliable recall and respect our resident livestock. We just ask that you always pick up after your dog.
A Polite Request to Help Us Keep Dogs Free
Our guests are incredibly grateful that we don’t charge a pet fee, and we really want to keep it that way! In return, we simply ask that you give the cottage a quick vacuum before you check out to leave it beautifully free of dog hair. It’s a wonderful mutual respect that allows us to keep our doors open to furry companions for free.
Can any of the cottages use the social spaces?
All of our guests are more than welcome to relax in our large garden, which features a wonderful, communal fire pit area – perfect for a relaxing evening under the stars. You are also welcome to gather and socialise under our beautiful ancient Byre, complete with its own log burner.
Because we are a peaceful rural retreat and want to ensure everyone enjoys a perfectly restful stay, we gracefully ask for a little mutual respect in our shared areas:
Quiet Hours: We politely request that any outdoor socialising, chatting in the gardens, or gathering under The Byre wraps up by 10:00 PM.
A peaceful atmosphere: This helps us preserve the magical, quiet tranquillity of the Shropshire countryside and ensures that guests in neighbouring cottages can enjoy a peaceful, undisturbed night’s sleep.
Can we meet the farm animals during our stay?
Yes, you certainly can! Because we are a working smallholding, you will find a wonderful variety of beautiful farm animals right on your doorstep.
Please note that we are not a petting zoo experience and are completely closed to the general public. This experience is kept strictly exclusive for you and the other guests holidaying in our cottages, giving you a peaceful, uncrowded, and authentic slice of country life.
Best of all, getting up close to our animals or joining in on morning routines is completely complimentary and included in your stay! As a busy, smallholding, we do have to balance animal encounters with our daily chores and cottage changeovers. Because of this, we’ll just need to arrange a specific time together – but we promise to make sure you get to experience the farm at some point during your holiday.
We love sharing our passion for rare breeds and our small holding life with our guests. Here is who you will meet around the farm and where to spot them:
The Magnificent Shire Horses: During the winter months, the Shires can be seen inside the barn directly opposite the cottages. In the summer, they graze beautifully in the fields along the farm track. If you’re lucky, you might even get to watch them being trained by their expert owner and handler Steve while you enjoy your morning coffee!
The Rare-Breed Soay Sheep: Our flock rotates between two fields close to the farmyard. We head out to feed them between 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM (depending on the season), which is a lovely time to watch them.
The Valais Blacknose Sheep: Famously known as the “cutest sheep in the world,” our friendly Valais flock lives in the field just behind the chickens (though they love to shelter in the barn during hot summer days). If you’d like an up-close look, just let Marcus and Amy know, and we will happily call them over to the gate for you!
The Chickens & Ducks: You can watch our eclectic mix of free-range chickens and ducks waddling and pecking away in their pens at any time. Egg Collecting: Children absolutely love collecting fresh eggs in the morning! Simply mention it to Marcus and Amy during your stay, and we will do our best to arrange a time for little ones to join in.
A Note on Farm Safety
To ensure both your safety and the well-being of our animals, we respectfully ask that guests do not enter any of the animal fields, pens, or enclosures. You can get a wonderful, close-up view of everyone safely from over the gates and fences!
Please note we aren’t a petting zoo so this is not open to the public. You will have this place just for yourself and other guests holidaying here.
Out and about in the Shropshire Hills
Are there good walks right from our doorstep?
Yes, absolutely! We are perfectly positioned for walking holidays, with miles of beautiful footpaths accessible directly from the cottages.
To help you explore like a local, you will find a specially curated walking book waiting inside your cottage, packed with plenty of map routes, trail suggestions, and our personal favourites. As well as that we have a huge OS map in the guest’s information area.
While you can lace up your boots and head straight out into the landscape from your door, we always recommend taking a short drive to the far side of the Long Mynd or the surrounding hills during your stay. Getting just a tiny bit further into the heart of the hills allows you to experience the true, untouched tranquillity and breathtaking panoramic views of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Are there good country pubs and restaurants close by?
Yes, we are incredibly spoiled for choice when it comes to fantastic local food and drink!
Our Wonderful Local Pub: We are lucky enough to have a fabulous traditional English pub located in our neighbouring village, just a scenic, short 15-minute walk from your cottage. It is the absolute quintessential country pub – think roaring cosy log fires, hearty homemade meals, and a wonderfully warm welcome.
The Surrounding Area: If you want to venture a little further afield by car, the surrounding valleys are dotted with brilliant historic inns and gastropubs. We have listed all of our absolute favourites on the Local Area page of our website
Fine Dining & Restaurants: For a special evening out or a vibrant food scene, the historic towns of Shrewsbury and Ludlow is just a half-hour to 40 minutes drive away. It is bursting with fabulous independent restaurants, elegant bistros, and wonderful cocktail bars, making it the perfect destination for food lovers.