Bruern Cottages, the family gem of the Cotswolds

Since we’re having so much building work done around the house and it’s basically a building site in all but the upstairs, we’ve been doing everything we can to get the kids out and away during the weekends. No one needs that level of dust in their lives and having no garden or kitchen becomes a NIGHTMARE when you have three small children.

About 2 months ago we were really kindly invited to pop along to the Cotswolds for a weekend break from the fabulous Bruern Cottages.

Set in Bruern, near Chipping Norton in the heart of the Cotswolds, it took us around 3.45hrs to arrive on a Friday evening after school but it was SO worth the drive.

Here’s what’s what:

The Cottage is surrounded by the most beautiful flowers, lush gardens and a courtyard that is welcoming and a total wow factor when you first pull up. I loved that you could pull right up to your front door for those sleepy kids (ha, yeah mine were awake the WHOLE time) and then you can pop the car in a cap park to the back of the cottages – perfect for keeping the front lawn and cottage area free to enjoy.

First thing we noticed when we walked through the front door was just how spacious the cottage was – the five of us didn’t feel squashed at all. The cottage had every facility that you can think of – from coffee machine (yasss) to all manner of pots, pans, books for the kids to read, board games and even a bottle steriliser for any tiny residents. It was so well equipped it felt very much like a home away from home which is what we need at the moment. The welcome package when we arrived set us up for the majority of the weekend – we had sausages, bacon, eggs, tea, coffee, sugar, milk, cereals, bread, jam and best of all, cake!

Apart from the fully equipped kitchen being amazing, there is also everything you could need for dish washing, cleaning and even laundry – just bring yourselves and your clothes and you’re good to go.

As we arrived at nearly 9pm we let the kids have a very quick explore and then marched them off to bed with the promise that we would have a proper look around the next day. The boys shared the twin room and Edith had her very own rather lovely four poster bed. We took the larger double bed with ensuite at the end of the hallway. All the rooms, bathroom and ensuite were clean and decorated in a really lovely cottage feel.

Everything that Bruern promises to be in terms of being a “home away from home” really seemed to be exceeded. Not only did the cottage have a homely feel but the facilities themselves felt very much like we were in some sort of fab holiday park, just without the crowds and noise. There is a lovely big grassy area where Toby and Adam played football for hours, and a fab children’s play area complete with swings, slide and wendy houses. As if that was enough, Bruern have a lovely little pool and even offer spa treatments so if you’re fancying treating yourself, you can do.

During the day we took a little drive into the town of Chipping Norton where we had lunch at a lovely cafe and grabbed some dinner to eat in the house. The kids came home and built bug hotels in the garden, played for hours and did *minimal* fighting which is really all you can ask for. After that we had a little stroll to the games room and grabbed a DVD and had a very poor game of table tennis! Let’s just say we aren’t winning medals any time soon.

Unfortunately I never got chance to have a nice bath in the lush tub (something that Edith was most put out she didn’t get to jump in too) because we were too busy having so much fun!

The only thing that I would have changed about our stay is that the standard check out time is 10am, which I felt made the leaving morning feel a little rushed, it would have been much nicer to have either an 11am or even 12pm check out time, especially when the check in is 4pm.

Ultimately we had the absolute best weekend in Bruern cottages and we loved it, it’s set in such a beautiful, peaceful location and I can’t recommend it enough.

H 🙂