My wife and I spent a week in Mallard Cottage at the end of November 2021. What a charming place to be. The kitchen is spacious, with everything you could ever need in.
The living room is smaller, but still a lovely room to spend time in. The large window looks out onto the small front garden, fields, hedgerows, and the railway line. It's akin to a widescreen for birdwatchers, which my wife and I definitely are. I've never seen quite so many different species while having my breakfast.
There are two bedrooms, one with a four poster double bed, and one with bunk beds. Obviously we had no need to try these out, but we found the double to be really comfortable.
The decor and furniture in Mallard Cottage perfectly suit the style of the building and location. There is solid wood throughout, which leads to a homely feel and relaxing atmosphere.
The house is also a lot warmer than we thought it would be. This is probably as much to do with how thick the walls are and how well the modern windows fit. It's also part of a terrace, which also helps. Therefore the heaters don't have to be on that much to keep the house toasty warm. I should point out at this point that the beautifully tiled bathroom doesn't have heating, but the airing cupboard is in there. This generates the hottest water I've ever encountered. You could probably make tea with it....
Mallard Cottage is located in the Esk Valley, which also happens to be most of the address. It is remote and exceptionally peaceful there. Therefore it takes some getting to. There are steep valleys either side, then roughly a mile of single track road. I've been driving for 25 years, and drive many different vehicles as part of my job. I pretty much had to recalibrate my driving style while we were there.
Any bad points? None worthy of mention really , although the stairs are similar to the landscape, steep and twisty. We always found them somewhat of a challenge.
Pauline and Peter, who own the house, are probably the nicest people you're likely to meet. Pauline sent us concise and accurate directions and a map, although due to time constraints, we had to find it in the dark. It was more than worth it when we eventually did..
In summary Mallard Cottage is a beautiful house, owned by two lovely people, in an incredibly scenic location..
If you happen to live in a town that's never completely quiet, as we do, even during the night, then there's no better place to get away from it all.
