This is a very pretty cottage in a pleasant village. The setting is really fantastic, with views across to Castle Howard, a nice garden and outdoor table/seating. The downstairs rooms remained very cool during an extremely hot spell of weather. No welcome hamper is provided, but there was a voucher for the farm shop at Castle Howard and also a voucher giving free admission to the house and gardens on a day during our stay -- that was a nice surprise and of real value. The decoration and furniture of most of the cottage is 'vintage', including some items formerly from Castle Howard itself; the bathrooms are more modern and very good. Our only (very) small criticism would be to echo the earlier reviewers' comments about the kitchen -- it's a nice kitchen and generally well equipped, but (for instance) it was strange that there was no dish-drainer or flat baking tray, and the dishwasher was dirty and not very effective (e.g. tea stains and lipstick were visible on washed items). This didn't spoil our experience -- it was just a tiny drawback. There is a good and popular deli just down the road which we visited many times. We'd be very happy to return to the cottage in the future!

Lovely farmhouse,well equipped and in a great location Minor point there was no heating on when we arrived at 6pm and the house was cold. We then spent 20 minutes trying to locate the control which we finally found behind the microwave. The heating had been switched off by the switch in the cupboard. We switched it on and it took a while to heat the house. We also moved the microwave for easier access to cupboard. Hot water is scalding hot! This didn’t spoil our stay but not a great start when you’ve driven for five hours and are tired Hope to return next year to this beautiful house.

We had a very nice week in Chanting Hill Farmhouse - it was clean and well equipped and comfortable. It’s in a quiet attractive village (Welburn) with a good pub and a lovely tea shop/bakery/cafe nearby. There are also many beautiful walks from the cottage that give wonderful views over the stunning countryside and Castle Howard (of which estate the cottage is a part). Our stay was very slightly marred by an abrupt need to depart on the last evening, when a Carbon Monoxide alarm went off and no immediate assistance was available to us, so we felt there was no choice but to leave immediately. I’ve brought this to the attention of Rural Retreats who are investigating it. We’ve had many lovely holidays in Rural Retreats cottages and will definitely use them again in future.