Renting a cottage or holiday house is like going on “Through the Keyhole”. Who lives in a house like this? I always look for homes to rent as opposed to bland, uniform, faceless rental houses with no character. I like quirkiness.
We just spent a week at Rosewell Cottage in the village of Brockweir in The Wye Valley (on the Gloucestershire border with Wales). The house we discovered from the old photos we found there once belonged to Flora Klickmann. She was an author who moved to the Wye Valley from London in 1912, was editor of the Girl’s Own Paper and who went on to write a whimsical series of books about nature and village life (known as the Flower Patch books). She was an early environmentalist and a literary celeb of her time. Many would visit the village on pilgrimages to see the cottage where Flora lived.
Rosewell Cottage in the Wye Valley
Rosewell Cottage still has a spectacular garden which looks out over the Wye Valley. All you can see from the house are stunning trees and birds swooping across the tree tops. Woodland surrounds the house, with magical mossy paths to follow up the hillside. The kind of woods where you could believe fairies live. The children loved it. There are also two very friendly sheep in the paddock by the house. The owners leave a tin of sheep nuts so visitors to the house can feed them.
There’s a great walk from the house through the woods, along a section of Offa’s Dyke Path to the village’s eco project shop and cafe (The website doesn’t do the cafe justice). It’s in an oak barn perched up high above the river with a playground with a spectacular view. There’s a sandpit, zip wire, slides and climbing frames. Coffee and cakes were all delicious.
From there you can walk back down through the small village of Brockweir and along the River Wye back to the cottage. Tree climbing, sheep fields, cakes and swings, mud and pooh sticks. The perfect walk to keep young children entertained.
The garden table at Rosewell Cottage
The house has 4 bedrooms, sleeps 7 and is just lovely. A huge kitchen and oak and glass dining room looking out to the garden. There’s a playroom with retro fisher price toys, a wooden dolls house, board games and lots of books. The owners kindly left out a stairgate, cot and high chair for us. It was comfortable and cosy with wood supplied for the log burner. It really was perfect. The cottage feels romantic and remote despite being just 20mins from the end of the M4, and walking distance to a village pub. (Took our London friends 2 and a half hours to drive there.)
At the turn of the century, the Wye Valley was the equivalent of a modern day Ibiza. Victorians and Edwardians flocked to Monmouth, cruising down the river and communing with the wild Wordsworthian landscape. Tintern Abbey is just a little further down the river from the cottage. Autumn was the time of year to be seen in the Wye at the turn of the century. You can see why on a sunny October day, walking through an incredible array of autumn colours.
Puzzlewood
The Forest of Dean is 20mins away where you can hire bikes for the whole family and ride through the forest on cycle trails. We got bikes with baby seats attached from Pedalabikeaway and the kids loved it.
We’d also recommend Puzzlewood, an amazing wood with walkways high up in the trees. The woods look like they belong in a Tolkein book or an episode of Doctor Who.
Richard Booth's Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye
We drove across the nearby Brecon Beacons to the book mad town of Hay-on-Wye and loved the children’s section of Richard Booth’s Bookshop. An emporium of books in a beautiful old cinema.
Rosewell Cottage costs from £275 for 4 nights. They also offer further discounts if you don’t use all the bedrooms.
If you’re hunting for other cottages in and around the Wye Valley, try Blaentrothy Cottages , Sheepskin, Manor Cottages and Under the Thatch.
Rosewell Cottage
Tags: brecon beacons, brockweir, children, cottage, family, hay-on-wye, holiday, rivers, self-catering, wales, walking, woods, wye valley
