A wonderful place to stay, a beautiful area, and such kind, helpful, and laid back hosts! My fiancee and I went for a weekend in February with a programme of rural walks and pub dining planned, and Harriet was not only very flexible around check-in and -out, but also whole-heartedly took up our cause and helped planning by producing some excellent food recommendations and some local maps with helpful notes. She and Paul have decorated their house beautifully, so that the comfortable simplicity of a traditional farmhouse is enlivened by dashes of colour and texture informed by their own good taste and, in some cases, their extensive foreign travel. I'd never used Airbnb before, and felt all the anxieties that are probably usual: Will we be in the way? Keys? How much should one try to chat with one's hosts? It's not quite like staying with friends, is it, but then not a hotel either... All these worries evaporated in the face of Harriet's polite and unstudied hospitality, and her genuine warmth. The room is well-appointed and the bed comfortable; it's the window to the left of the tall rectangular one in the picture, and has a view of the garden. It's large, has its own sofa, and also tea-making facilities. You also have exclusive access to a practically all-new bathroom, in which there is a real connoisseur's shower with all kinds of exotic jets and tiles and glass, just like in all the best adverts. The village of Colston Bassett is rural England at its best: neither a chocolate box, nor forsaken by civilisation. Good walks nearby, not too many hills. There is one functioning church for religious purposes, and one ruined church on a lonely hillside for poetic ones. Colston Bassett dairy makes quite simply the best blue cheese I've ever had, and the Martin's Arms (Harriet's first recommendation) can do both casual taproom dining and a really luxurious dinner for special occasions. The second pub we ate at, the Red Lion, was also great. Best to book ahead at both of those. The breakfasts are a real luxury to those of us who like work just so so much that we rush in every morning at 6am without time to have any. It's lovely to get up at a gentle pace, find good toast, jam, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, coffee etc all laid out, and then just get up and go (leaving the washing up). Overall, a great trip, and would recommend this to anyone.

Bed & Breakfast 4th March 2016