Like other rental properties available through Hideaways' partner Rural Retreats, our cottage was a typical well-located, vintage country home, beautifully remodeled with modern amenities, and comfortably furnished. Rural Retreats does a wonderful job of managing these homes, located throughout Great Britain. (The majority are in the Cotswolds.) Almost every member we've sent to a Rural Retreats' property has raved about it.

Rentals come with well-thought-out, convenient starter kits. Ours included a larder stocked with butter, rich milk in an old-fashioned glass bottle, wine, fruit, fresh bread, coffee, tea, sugar, salt and pepper, spices, and paper towels, plus a welcome note from Bernice, the housekeeper, and a supply of her fresh-baked Welsh cakes. A guide book explained the workings of systems and appliances, and gave tips for activities, stores for supplies, and restaurants.

On our late-night arrival, Bernice phoned to make sure we got into the house, and the morning after, called again to check on us.

In spite of all this, we, too, had to deal with the idiosyncrasies members tell us about European rentals. Directions to the place, while pretty good, were still confusing. In the dark, it was a feat finding the house key, stored in a jar inside a garden shed.

Spring/Summer 1998