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March 2023 Newsletter

It’s time to grab a cuppa and a scone and sit back with this month’s cracking English Cottage Vacation March edition!

If you were here at Well Cottage we’d fetch that cream tea for you while you relax in the garden, read the paper or have it ready for you after a nice countryside stroll!

If you’ve got some headphones, grab those just in case and enjoy this month’s all things English, cottage, countryside and vacation!

The most stress free vacation you’ll ever have!!

Nathan with tea tray tea & scones on tray

In this month’s newsletter…

  • Take a trip through our village and surrounding area with us!
  • Daffodil Heaven! Our gardens are blooming marvellous!
  • Travelling to Scotland after your visit with us? Our recommendation!
  • Continuing down memory lane, Part 12 – The Final Chapter!
  • 2023 Availability!
  • Still waiting to hear back from us?
  • Featured FAQ: How Far Is The Cottage From The Airport?
  • Our final thought! What’s coming up in our next edition.

A Very Local Experience!

If the popular tourist hotspots are not on your ‘must see’, we can create something far more personal – something no other travel company can offer!

Our guests ask us all the time about meeting the locals and immersing themselves in local English country life and we say, excellent!! The opportunities are endless but here are a few ideas to get you thinking…

Surrounded by farmland, Well Cottage is in walking distance of dozens of farms. How about a visit to a local dairy farm and a chat with a local farmer? Visit our local churches, watch the bell ringing and attend a service. Delve deeper into the history (dating as far a back as 800AD) of our local Saxon town Shaftesbury and local village of Fontmell Magna, with a walking tour specifically designed for you.

Take a tour of a local brewery, winery or cider farm. In May you can visit miles of beautiful bluebell woodland, all within just a few miles of Well Cottage. Pop in for a coffee and slice of cake at the village hall ‘pop up cafe’ or delve into the local history even further at the archives club! Stay active with a game of tennis on the village courts or a lovely stroll through the countryside surrounding Well Cottage.

There is so much you can enjoy right from Well Cottage’s doorstep!

St Andrew's Church

St Andrew’s Church in Fontmell Magna – just down the lane from Well Cottage.
Come with us on a trip through our enchanting village during the summer months!

Local scenes collage 1 Local scenes collage 2 Fontmell Magna village hall Local scenes collage 3 ecv Local scenes collage 4 ecv Local scenes collage 5 Fontmell Village Shop Stream historically used as a 'sheep wash' ecv Local scenes collage 6 ducks

Local scenes collage 7 child in natureThe Fontmell Down is about 2 miles from Well Cottage and our local town of Shaftesbury
is only 4 miles away. Gold Hill is one of the most photographed views in the country!

Fontmell Down ecv Local scenes collage 8 Fontmell Down ecv Local scenes collage 9 Shaftesbury Gold Hill Shaftesbury

March Garden is Daffodil Heaven!! The First Signs of Spring!

Although we don’t have guests during the month of March there is still much going on in our English cottage garden. The snowdrops have just gone over and we have welcomed bunches of yellow from our daffodils! They seem brighter than ever this year!

March garden at Well Cottage

Travel to Scotland, The Isle of Skye: Our recommendation!

If you are planning an English Cottage Vacation with us but you want to extend your stay in the UK by visiting Scotland, we would love to recommend a beautiful accommodation and spot on the Isle of Skye.

Our friends and fellow ex yacht crew, Hannah and Stu, own a fabulous house aptly named ‘The View’.

The View is a self catering, 2 bed house and it is located in the perfect position to explore the Isle of Skye and experience the Scottish Highlands.

If Scotland is on your bucket list this is an absolute must! We went to visit them a few weeks ago to check out their accommodation first hand!

ecv The View 1 ecv The View 2 ecv The View 3 ecv The View 4 The View 5 ecv The View 6

Continuing Down Memory Lane – Part 12

Goodbye turquoise waters, hello English countryside and pastures new!

Yes folks, this is our last chapter!!! It’s a long one so we have created this video for you! Sit back and relax as we tell you our story in person!

The Lockdown Yacht Marathon!

During April 2020 Nathan and Laura spent time anchored in a bay on St Thomas, USVI, alongside fellow crew Hannah and Stu on ‘Ohana‘. The ladies decided that they needed a focus and came up with the idea of doing a marathon around their respective yachts on the same day as the London Marathon was supposed to take place, to raise money for charity.

Check out this video for the lowdown on how they did!

Check out some of our most memorable moments as yacht crew over the past few years!

This completes our ‘Looking Back Through The Years’ series and wow, what a story it has ended up being! It truly was an amazing part of our lives, so many memories made and skills learned along the way, and we are both so grateful that we found this hidden career/lifestyle and that we were given the opportunity.

We want to share this part of the yachting industry with other couples looking for adventure, community, freedom and abundance. That’s why we are creating a guide to help others to find their way into the industry as smoothly as possible. We will be launching our guide in the coming months. If you know a couple or young person who you think would love to know more about living and working on yachts, we would love to help them achieve their dreams!

If you missed any of the other chapters in our previous newsletters, you can check them out by clicking HERE.

2023 Availability: Don’t Miss Out On Amazing Opportunities!

HM King Charles III Coronation

This week is still available so perhaps the lucky ones could be YOU!

Enquire now to book this unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience and celebrate with local Brits in the English countryside!

7 Night, All Inclusive, Mixed Retreat – May 23rd – 30th

A perfect opportunity if you are travelling alone or as a couple and you like to meet new people.

We still have 2 rooms available! We’d love to fill these rooms so we have dropped the price – enquire now!

PRICE DROP – From $3,000.00 pp!

  • Bedroom 1: Master King with en suite
  • Bedroom 3: Twin or Queen with private adjoining bathroom.

Check out the itinerary by clicking HERE!

We still have availability from late June 2023 onwards for our Tailormade and Set Itinerary packages!

Please reach out to see if we have dates that suit your travel plans.

Click here to enquire or book now!
or email – info@englishcottagevacation.com

Haven’t Heard From Us? Well, That’s Not Right!

We always respond to enquiries within 24 hours and usually much sooner. Occasionally we don’t receive any further response from enquirers. This could be for a number of reasons and sometimes it is because our emails get sent to spam folders. If you are still waiting for a response from us, please check you spam/junk folder as we may be stuck there or please get in touch with us!

Well Cottage seen from the front

Guest Voices: Reviews and Testimonials

First hand reviews from our guests who have stayed with us at the cottage are so powerful! They confirm our promise and trust for our future guests. Here are a few links to various sources of where guests are leaving glowing reviews about their time spent at Well Cottage here in the English countryside.

Website Reviews
Google Reviews
Tripadvisor Reviews

If you want to read our reviews and testimonials you can look at our website where you will also find our Google reviews.

Please remember that we offer much security and flexibility within our agreement including our cancellation and rescheduling policy. You can even find our business – Appanage Vacations Ltd on the UK Government Website “Companies House” if you would like a little further peace of mind.

Featured FAQ: How Far Is The Cottage From The Airport?

The trip from London Heathrow to the cottage should not take more than 2 hours, and if you fly into LHR terminal 5 it should take no more than 1 hour & 45 mins.

London Gatwick is a bit further, it takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

To view our other Frequently Asked Questions, click HERE!

Laura and Nathan laughing with guests

Our Final Thought…

Looking after our guests fills us with so much happiness and satisfaction, we just love what we do!

We truly believe that what we offer is such a unique, authentic and personal experience that isn’t available anywhere else. There’s a magic about our vacation experiences that is very hard to put into words. This is what keeps us motivated and inspired to keep working hard to make English Cottage Vacation an authentic and personal, nationwide success.

Cheers to that!!

Much love.

Nathan and Laura

Guests toasting outdoors champagne and strawberries