Rural Retreats Arvostelua 

9 out of 10 places rented have either met of exceeded expectations

Who designed their website? An idiot who never uses it?
All I want to do (in the very limited time I have available) is check what might be available for a short break. There's a constant irritating pop-up that keeps asking if I want to chat - I DON'T! And then some kind of window at the bottom of the screen that wants me to sign up for their newsletter and I can't get rid of it. If I wasn't such a long-standing customer I'd give up and try elsewhere!

Wonderful holiday at Sundown in Widemouth bay. Was everything we expect of a ruralretreats property. Great property, clean, hamper, beautiful location. Easy check in via a key code. We always use ruralretreats for our UK holidays and have never regretted it.

We where welcome by the host Jenefer who was amazing. The kettle was on & a lovely welcome pack that was un believable awaited us.
We visited all around the coast & Jenefer was on hand to tell us where the best places to go.
We didn't want to come home, we fell in love with Barley [the pup]
Coco & Hector the dogs & would have loved to bring Barley home with us.
We had a puncture on our last night & as soon as we limped back Hemish offered to take the wheel off & take us to a garage ( unfortunately they where closed) we got taken to the nearest stockist on a low loader the following morning, but if they could have helped they would. We will miss the peace & tranquility the dogs & the hosts for making us feel so welcome.
We would love to return in the future & we would highly recommend staying here to everyone, you will love it thank you Mike Jackie Jake & Bailey our dogs.

I stayed in the Cygnet apartment in the centre of Harrogate. It was fantastic. A lovely, thoughtful owner and a most beautiful apartment. A bag of Betty’s goodies was in the kitchen plus all the essentials and a bottle of bubbly.

They have dealt with a cancellation caused by a double bereavement with commendable speed and understanding. Very good customer service.

Had no issues with our accommodation or booking. Everything was perfect and we were given paperwork in plenty of time with instructions. We stayed in Dorset and would definitely stay there again.
Had the most stunning cottage and scenery couldn’t have asked for more.

We have had so many very good breaks with this firm. Lovely cottages in very good locations. Strongly recommend.

My negative review is based on Rural Retreats passing my details to third parties who then used the details to send me marketing information.

This is despite me making sure I ticked the boxes to say I didn't want marketing info and definitely didn't want my details passed to anyone in the world with an interest in using my personal information.

This is a very disappointing abuse of trust.

I do understand that many customers are quite happy for their data to be passed, without consent, to third parties. But I am not one of those people.

I actually enjoyed my holidays booked via Rural Retreats but their lack of data protection puts me off future bookings, which is a real shame.

I have contacted them about this and await their response ( if any ).

And will take the issue up with the ICO ( Information Commission ) as this abuse of data is a potential breach of GDPR.

Had a wonderful Easter Break at the Well House, Crossbrook Farm. Vicki and Stuart were there to greet us, made us feel very welcome with the hot tub and fire pit ready to go and left us with a lovely Hamper. It is an amazing and relaxing place and is even better than the photos, we didn't want to come home. Lots of walks, and meals out, Pizzas at the Queen Head and Yorkshire pudding wraps at Ascotts. We already decided on the way home that we will be back next year. Perfect getaway x

Just had a fantastic holiday at Trevose lighthouse.
From booking to arrival rural retreats were very informative.
The hamper on arrival was excellent
The accommodation was lovely and clean they had thought of everything you may want.
Can't wait to go back next year.

BEWARE-Never book with this company as you will get below par accommodation followed by even worse customer service when it goes wrong. I booked a house which when arrived had not been cleaned and had some of the most outrageous insects in places they shouldn’t be like the beds for example. Instead of an apology and refund or credit we were accused of bringing those insects in with us. Special shout outs to Elizabeth & Justine (Head of some department, but in reality shouldn’t be in charge of running a bath) who were disgusting in every way and should never be allowed to work in Travel & Tourism every again.

As I said, BEWARE!

We had booked the lovely cats abbey cottage in the cotswold for a family Christmas reunion , unfortunately Covid struck son in law in London and in the end we decided to cancel. The bookings team were helpful with this process and great communication- would definitely use Rural Retreats in the future and would recommend to anyone.
Thank you to the bookings staff.

We stayed at a cottage owned by Castle Howard recently which is bookable through Rural Retreats. The standard of accommodation was awful. The decor was tired, the fixtures were rickety, with nails protruding from furniture and fixtures falling from the wall. The lighting was not working in the upstairs, the fuse box seems dangerous when we tried to reset the fuse, the landline provided to contact them in emergencies was not working, the heating had been off all week, and there were seven unguarded mousetraps in one cupboard. We lasted one night of the stay before leaving. We were also given admission to Castle Howard a part of the rental, but the house closed and no offer of an alternative date was given to use these. We are now pursuing a full refund but Castle Howard staff are not accepting this request. I would recommend you definitely avoid Lime Kiln Farmhouse, and any other properties owned by Castle Howard. I am surprised Rural Retreats deal with properties this poorly maintained.

We recently stayed in Inglenook Cottage in Broad Campden. We had a slight issue with the key safe on arrival, but this was resolved promptly and efficiently by a very polite and friendly customer service operative. We couldn't fault the cottage - spotlessly clean and in a lovely location. The welcome pack was amazing (both on the table and in the fridge) and the cottage was extremely well equipped. The housekeepers, who arrived just as we were leaving, were very friendly.

Accommodation excellent but the description by Rural Retreats of “You'll also be able to walk in your own area of the secluded and fully enclosed garden” is a gross misrepresentation of fact. On arrival we saw the enclosed garden with numerous signs saying “Private” we couldn’t see where to walk our our dog. There were no details in the Stables information pack. When talking to the housekeeper over other issues she explained that you are free to walk up to the private signs - in other words you can walk around the periphery of the owners private garden with your dog on lead whilst the owners dog and housekeepers two dogs ran free. It was not what we were expecting as “seclusion” for our nervous dog restricted on lead whilst other dogs can roam freely and in front of our accommodation. There is also chickens in the middle of the lawn within a soft fence at the periphery of the private lawn which is not mentioned in the details. Dog owners must be aware and we couldn’t relax in the immaculate property due to this fact.
We booked a two room conversion as it allowed one dog but there were no toiletries or towels in that room despite having paid for it. In fact there were no toiletries at all provided and had to phone the housekeeper who said we do not provide. After saying that is strange as having used Rural Retreats for 20 years it is usually White Company toiletries provided in full for the accommodation. Emma said that she was new and we were provided with generic toiletries “ Flowers by Lammas from the White Company” .
The hamper provided was good quality and with their own eggs from their garden.
The water in the hot taps was immediately boiling and a safety risk with single pillar taps. A mixer tap could reduce this health risk but scalding hot water is inexcusable in any public facing business with no direct risk mitigation. A sign warning of ‘ hot water’ is indefensible as vulnerable persons may be subject to scalding. The Premier Inn scalding due to uncontrollable hot water in a shower is precedence.
We could not believe that you could not get Freeview or Terrestrial channels and the information said that tv was provided by the internet. So we could not watch live itv and bbc and missed our usual serial programmes. BBC can be watched on iplayer but you are unable to watch local news as it switches to channel 1 and unable to watch. This is our first experience in 40 years of domestic and international travel that you can only access through the internet.
When we booked and paid the deposit check out time was 1000 but on receiving the access details it was changed to 0900 and doesn’t make a relaxing finish to your holiday. We couldn’t understand this as having stayed in a Rural Retreats properties prior to this that they had all reverted to 1000 departure as Covid risk in handling and surfaces was now more scientifically defined as minimal risk.
In conclusion it was a very beautiful property but didn’t make for a relaxing break for us with the various issues.
Robert the owner was perfectly pleasant and aware of some of the issues.

Just spent a great long weekend at RedRoofs in the North York Moors. There were seven of us including two young children. The house was beautiful and very well equipped and comfortable to live in. We had a wonderful valley view which we never tired of but there were plenty places to visit within a short drive. My only criticism is there are 14 steep stone steps down to the house from the driveway and they have no hand rail which makes them daunting for someone who has slight mobility issues. Also there is an unexpected step just inside the front door which I stumbled down. I am sure these issues could easily be resolved and then I would have been able to award 5 stars.

Avoid this business at all costs. With a fully paid trip, booked well in advance, we were given just a few days notice of cancellation. Clearly a case of a better offer in Staycation Britain had popped up and the current policy of profiteering from it came into play.

A well planned holiday in tatters.

Just had a week at 2 The Oaks Hoarwithy in Herefordshire with Rural Retreats. Beautiful location and completely rural and quiet throughout the stay. The cottage is well-equipped and presented and the house-keeping contact, Lesley Anson, was delightful and helpful; particularly with our request for a vegan no soya based hamper. Would return again without hesitation. Covid protocols in place and effective.

I recently booked a holiday through Rural Retreats and had a great experience with them. The website was easy to navigate with lots of gorgeous detailed photos of the cottages, and loads of information. I had reason to ring their office and the lady I spoke to was really helpful, friendly and efficient. I had a wonderful holiday in a beautiful cottage.