Press Reviews & Awards

Everything here is incredibly discreet and tasteful: whether you're playing ping-pong or splashing around in the pool, you'll feel as if you're enjoying the hospitality of aristocratic friends at their beautiful country pile....In this case, "holiday cottages" is a bit of a misnomer. It's more like staying in your own little country house tucked away in the heart of the Cotswolds. It is heritage heaven, and you can see why it has been such a hit with well-heeled Americans, who can visit Blenheim, Burford and Oxford by day and return in the evening to their exquisitely and generously decorated "country home", complete with small private garden.

I arrived on a lovely spring day and could happily have taken residence until Christmas. I stayed in Cope, a one bedroom holiday cottage with a 30ft-high vaulted sitting room, which I noticed contained more books than I've managed to accumulate over 30 years. A large slice of coffee-and-walnut cake in the hearty welcome basket just about left room for the tasty, pop-in-the-oven homemade fish pie left out for my supper.

Bruern Holiday Cottages indulges the whims of even the most high-maintenance guest. Yes, I'd like non-allergenic bedding, the deluxe cleaning service twice a week, The Times and Herald Tribune delivered daily, Mackerel fishcakes and chocolate roulade for supper the evening we arrive. Oh, and I'd also like to order bacon and sausages for breakfast. Booking at Bruern Holiday Cottages can take quite a while.

If I tell you that the kitchen in my one bedroom holiday cottage was fitted with two dishwashers, you'll get the picture. This was not excessive zeal on the part of some kitchen installation man; it was just in case I fancied hosting a lunch party for 25 during my stay. At Bruern Holiday Cottages, nothing is left to chance.

Conde Nast Traveller.

Self-catering holiday cottage as style magazine? Unlikely. But then most places haven't been designed with the helping hand of Jocasta Innes. The design guru has lent a helping hand to her sister, The Hon. Mrs Judy Astor, who is the mastermind behind a stunning courtyard of holiday cottages at Bruern. These eleven holiday cottages are tastefully, not to say, lavishly, decorated Nina Campbell wallpapers, marble-topped washstands imported from France and the sort of furniture that you'd expect from only the best of country house hotels. Would suit sybarites.

The Sunday Times.

Entering "Saratoga", Bruern's honeymoon holiday cottage, we walked into a spacious blue-and-white kitchen where tea and chocolate cake waited on a tray. The larder included homemade bread, as well as wine, cheese, farm-fresh milk and eggs. Judy Astor and her sister, Jocasta Innes, are responsible for the tasteful charm of the eleven converted stable-yard holiday cottages, each with its own small private garden and entrance. No detail is missed - from towel warmer to white cotton robes to walnut lavatory seat. I defy anyone to leave Bruern Holiday Cottages without a pang of regret, a feeling of ownership and plans to stay'.

Country Living - Great Escapes.

Bruern Holiday Cottages are probably among the best self-catering options in the UK. They are in the Cotswolds and are beautifully furnished and kitted out with libraries, music systems, board games and videos.' Family Travel.

One step inside the door of Goodwood Cottage put the sunshine back in our lives. It was just exquisite.... In all this luxury, you would expect that children would be banned. But quite the opposite, Bruern Holiday Cottages welcomes children with open arms.... The holiday cottages are a gem in the mundane world of self catering. They have been awarded five keys de luxe by the English Tourist Board - the highest rating you can get. "Can't we take it all back home with us, Mummy?" I only wish we could...'

The Lady.

The holiday cottages have been beautifully converted to retain the rural charm of Cotswolds architecture, while delivering the characterful luxury of a much-loved family home. Everything, from fresh milk, eggs and your morning paper to olive oil and free range chickens, can be delivered to your door with the minimum of fuss. There's trout fishing and golf nearby, not to mention a dizzying choice of walking and rambling routes leading direct from the doorstep.'

Square Meal - The Magazine.

For a taste of the upper crust Britain not seen since 'Remains of the Day' head for Bruern Holiday Cottages, eleven Merchant Ivoryesque holiday cottages within striking distance of Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Oxford. Each antiques-filled cottage, fashioned from the Victorian stables on the Cotswold estate by Judy Astor, offers one to four bedrooms, up-to-the-minute kitchens, and access to a secret garden of lavender and wisteria. Children will gallop straight for the playhouse, complete with Lilliputian tea set and canopied bed. One of the holiday cottages is a converted barn set apart in the apple orchard. In other words your own Howards End'.

Condé Nast Traveler.