We are staying in Boat Cottage, Welford-on-Avon. A few miles from Stratford.
To get to the cottage: Drive to Welford. Turn off at the tall Maypole (largest in somewhere, I remember reading). The road gradually narrows. After a few hundred metres we turn off that road onto Duck Lane. Near the end of Duck Lane, turn left, between the oak posts (one of which is entirely hidden by ivy). Down a lane with tall hedges either side and a foot trail on one side. Round someone's yard, between the mini soccer goals and the large tree cubby. Park then walk another 50m...
Boat Cottage has a thatch roof. It's 20m from the Avon River, with its own jetty. Surrounded by a quarter acre of cut pasture with trees. Wow!
I suspect that the cottage was originally a shed -- boat shed, perhaps? The living area (kitchen, dining, lounge) is a rectangle: the original shed. On the side away from the river is a later addition: bedroom and en suite. Plus an extra toilet, accessible from the entry passage between the two parts of the building.
That entry passage has glass either side, so there's a view outside. All rooms -- including bathroom and toilets -- have windows with views. Just looking out on garden or river. No neighbours in sight.
Out front -- the river side -- there's a verandah. It runs round two sides of the building. We've been out there but not for long. Temperatures are eleven degrees or less. Though the weather is mostly fine and there is occasional sunshine. Oh, and there's a barbecue on the verandah. No, we're not planning of having a barbecue!
The kitchen is well equipped. Even a dishwasher. Plus tea, coffee, a loaf of very nice bread, butter, a litre of milk. A good tv, plenty of DVDs. Another tv in the bedroom. A small wood heater.
The toaster... is a four burner DeLonghi. Black and stainless steel. Claims it can toast, or bagel, or defrost or reheat. Dials for toast colour...I bet that's just a timer. But it looks... really... techno:-)
And the fridge... Took me a while to find it. It's not behind a cupboard door... The cupboard door -- including a drawer above -- are the door of the fridge! So you open the cupboard or drawer -- and it's really the fridge that's opening. Impressive :-)
On the down side... The dining room -- the only -- table, is small. Enough room for two people to eat. But very quickly crowded with our junk. On holiday I like to store things where I can see them. And won't forget them. With such a small table -- there's a lot of stuff "stored" on the floor.
Lots of lights. In-ceiling lights in all areas. A couple of standard lamps. (Is that right? Lamps standing on table or floor?) Reading lights in the bedroom. And night lights... In the skirting boards around the en suite. Just little lights, enough to see. Very clever!
The bed is enormous. Though it does depend on a single doona. Well and truly warm enough, though Deb, last night, started to pull it over to her side.
The whole place is heated. Plus heated floors in the bathroom and spare toilet. Large bath... with spa jets. (Bath is not large enough to stretch out in. So I guess it's really a standard size bath.)
Little bay windows here and there. Music player in one, chess set and vase of tulips in another. Cute wooden ducks in the kitchen, a rubber ducky in the bath -- a rubber Shakespeare ducky :-)
Very nice, very cosy, very pleasant :-)
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