Holiday Cottages

My casual reading is usually an old Victoria magazine. Do we ever tire of them? No! When we've read the stories over and over, then we enjoy the pictures. So, I was reading through the March 1995 copy of Victoria. They had an article on some "holiday cottages" near Stropshire and Cheshire, an old place called Combermere Abbey. Here is a picture of the "cottages" near the abbey. We don't have cottages like these in the U.S.  Just sayin'.

One of the guest cottages is called Wellington Cottage. It has a shower room in the turret. How'd you like to shower in an old turret?

My favorite of all the cottages is this one, Stone Lodge. It's separate from the rest of the complex;  it's the old gate house. Isn't it precious?

I'll say this: I noticed a distinct difference between the decor of the cottages on the website, and the one in the Victoria article. The actual cottages are outfitted neatly, cleanly, efficiently ... but they're not very, um, "Victorian."  In other words, they're not cluttered, dark, romantic, bookish, winish, nappish. Y'know? The magazine article did say, to be honest, "...Victoria [filled] the cottage with lively colors nad all those little luxuries -- from reading lamps to downy pillows -- that one longs for on a perfect weekend in the country."  Yeah, Bertie Wooster style :) They did their photo shoot, and then took their lovely things away!

Victoria entices us to long to travel to Victorian England. But Victorian England doesn't always await us there! Modern England does, with its stainless steel and it's bright white walls and vivid yellow curtains. Maybe that's why so many of us prefer to travel via the magazine.

With one caveat -- this bathtub in Stone Lodge. I'd love to soak in a tub with a deep ledge next to it. Up to the neck in bubbles!