Ball Cottage, Winsford

The perfect holiday cottage! Very homely, comfortable and thoughtfully equipped. Practical too with lots of space for boots and coats. Fire lit easily and gave out loads of heat. Amazing to have the river in the garden. It was great to have a village shop.

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A charming character cottage with a well equipped kitchen in a pretty village with fantastic tearoom that we only tried towards the end of the week and wished we had visited earlier. The garden and river setting was exceptional and it was hard to tear our three children away in the morning as they....

A charming character cottage with a well equipped kitchen in a pretty village with fantastic tearoom that we only tried towards the end of the week and wished we had visited earlier. The garden and river setting was exceptional and it was hard to tear our three children away in the morning as they wanted to paddle for hours.

A lovely little cottage in a beautiful village. Lots of character, and very clean and well stocked (particularly the kitchen). The location is wonderful - right in the heart of Exmoor. The garden is so tranquil - it is on many levels, with fairly steep steps leading between them. The River Exe runs ....

A lovely little cottage in a beautiful village. Lots of character, and very clean and well stocked (particularly the kitchen). The location is wonderful - right in the heart of Exmoor. The garden is so tranquil - it is on many levels, with fairly steep steps leading between them. The River Exe runs through the garden, and has an unprotected riverbank, so the garden isn't really suitable for young children, unless they are being supervised. The cottage is lovely - upstairs there is a large bedroom with two single beds, and a slightly smaller bedroom with a standard double. Downstairs is another bedroom with a standard double. The beds were very comfortable, but we found the double a bit small (as we're used to a superking at home). Be careful of the doorframe from the utility room to the kitchen - it is only about 5ft high, and I managed to brain myself on it a couple of times :-) The living room has two single chairs, and a small sofa (only big enough for two people) - it felt like it could benefit from some more 'lounging space', but was otherwise very cosy. There is WiFi and a modern TV with Netflix, etc. We found the WiFi router to be really unreliable - we had to reset it quite often in order to restore connectivity. Worth noting also that there is no mobile coverage in Winsford (although this may be a blessing, rather than a curse). All in all we had a very nice stay, and I'd highly recommend the cottage (subject to the caveats above). The only sour point was on the last day - we were ten minutes past the 10:30 departure time, and were just clearing the last of the luggage from the kitchen to the garden, ready to load into the car. The couple who were handling the cleaning and changeover arrived, and seemed horrified to find us still there. We apologised, and said that we were just leaving, but there then ensued five minutes of repeated statements that we should have left by now, that this really wasn't acceptable, and they needed to get on. The husband performed a series of exaggerated sighs, tuts and obvious glances at his watch, and all in all we were made to feel like naughty school-children. We had loaded the last of the washing up into the dish-washer, but the couple made clear that this not good enough, and that they would now have to wash it all by hand - the only statement in the folder left in the house re. cleaning was that the kitchen be left in a reasonable state (with the surface wiped down) - we ensured we complied with this, and also tried to help by stripping all the beds down. I fully accept that we should have been better organised, and fully clear of the house 10 minutes earlier, but I felt that the reaction we received was disproportionate and rather condascending, and it is unfortunate that this was our final memory of the holiday. I would suggest that the guidance on pre-departure cleaning be made clearer, and that it be made very clear that 10:30 is absolutely concrete.

We enjoyed an absolutely fabulous time at Ball Cottage. The bed was so comfortable. All equipment you could need. The location next to the river was superb with lots of privacy. The village of Winsford was so friendly with a superb Royal Oak Inn and Bridge Cottage tearooms and everyone so friendl....

We enjoyed an absolutely fabulous time at Ball Cottage. The bed was so comfortable. All equipment you could need. The location next to the river was superb with lots of privacy. The village of Winsford was so friendly with a superb Royal Oak Inn and Bridge Cottage tearooms and everyone so friendly. Would highly recommend.