Picture your typical, roses-round-the-door farm cottage, and chances are you will find that Penfold Cottage, situated on the quiet back road between Earlston and Lauder (4.5 m to each) in the Scottish Borders, meets that picture in every respect.
Semi-detached and in a leafy setting, there is off-road parking alongside and, to the back, a paved area which leads to a large, enclosed and quite private grass garden (furniture.)
But it's once you get inside that you will realise the full charm of this wholly delightful cottage. Fully modernised, beautifully furnished and presented, the sitting room, with its beams, exposed stone chimney breast and wood-burning stove, is cosiness itself. The kitchen is fully fitted and equipped, with an additional utility area and there is a downstairs shower room. The stairs are turning and quite steep and lead to a lovely double bedroom with polished wood floor and coombed ceiling and a small twin room with limited headroom. Every scrap of available space has been put to use, for there is an additional 'gnome's shower room' upstairs which is bound to make you smile; while it has a full height shower, negotiating the loo under the steeply coombed ceiling requires a certain amount of care!
From your snug retreat here you can venture forth to explore the many charms of the surrounding area. The quiet lanes round about lend themselves well to cycling, or more demanding mountain biking can be enjoyed on the dedicated trails in the forests at Innerleithen and Cardrona; there is excellent walking in the Border Hills, with the Southern Upland Way running quite close to the cottage; riding stables are just a few miles away to the south of Earlston and, of course the local rivers, including the mighty Tweed itself, lend themselves to fishing and kayaking.
Both Earlston and Lauder have shops and pubs, the pretty town of Melrose (10m), nestling under the Eildon Hills provides more, or you are very well placed for a day trip to Edinburgh, with buses regularly passing through both Earlston and Lauder on their way to the capital. The Berwickshire coast can be reached within an hour.
Bed linen, towels, first £15 of electricity and first £15 of gas CH are INCLUDED in the rental. One small well behaved dog is welcome by arrangement. Smoking should be confined to the outside porch. There are two additional sofa beds in the sitting room, if adults would prefer these to the upstairs twin.
