Broadway Manor is a beautiful farm on a quiet lane on the edge of Broadway in the northern Cotswolds, England. The original manor house was built in the 1500s and is beautiful. The owners, Debbie and Ross, live in the manor house. They offer five vacation rentals: Rafters, an apartment on the top floor of the manor house - Willows, three attached cottages (2bed/2bath or 1bed/1bath) in their own area on the farm - and The Stables (2bed/2bath), a renovated out building near the manor house. They offer Internet access in some, but not all, of their vacation rentals.

The location is perfect. You can walk into Broadway in five minutes, following a footpath through a field. The long distance footpath, the Cotswold Way, passes through one of the farm fields - you can do several day hikes right from your doorstep. The farm is on a quiet lane. This is a very peaceful area.

Debbie and Ross are lovely people and take great pride in their farm and vacation rentals. They were a pleasure to deal with. You have all the privacy that you want, but they are close by in case you need help with something. The grounds of the farm are lovely and include a tennis court that "tenants" can use. A nice big parking area is provided.

The Willows Cottages are pretty and well built (they are modern buildings and not renovated historic buildings). There are shared outdoor areas (table and chairs in the courtyard and another out in a large lawn area), but only The Willows 3 has their own patio. There is a laundry room with washer and tumble dryer which is shared by all the vacation rentals except The Stables, which has its own.

We were in The Willows 1 which has 2 bedrooms upstairs with a full bathroom and a half bathroom downstairs. The living room is spacious and bright. The kitchen is well equipped (good pots and pans, good gas stove and oven, no dishwasher, small fridge) and we cooked most of our meals there. From the kitchen we had nice views of the sheep grazing on the hills. The cottage was spotlessly clean. Garbage and recycling was well organized. My only complaint is that the bed is a double (common in England) which I find is just too small for the two of us. The second bedroom had two single beds which we probably should have pushed together to make a larger bed, and we will next time.

We got to look at some of the other cottages. The other Willows cottages are nice - similar to the one we stayed in. We also saw The Stables and it is fabulous. It is a renovated out building between the manor house and the road. It was remodeled more "upscale" than the Willows cottages, with a gourmet kitchen (dishwasher, larger fridge), big bedroom with a Super King (two singles made up together I think) and fabulous bathrooms. It has a nice yard area with outdoor seating.

Broadway is a very good Cotswolds location. The village is beautiful, has several pubs, restaurants and tea rooms, has good shopping (a good deli and a small supermarket) and has very good walking trails (footpaths). Read more on Cotswolder - Towns & Villages - Broadway.

I met the owner, Debbie, through Twitter and she invited us to come and visit while on our trip. We liked their farm so much that we booked a week at the end of our trip. We had a lovely week at the end of July exploring Broadway and the nearby villages and doing some very good walks. I recommend these vacation rental cottages.

We spent a week at the end of May in the Ecoles apartment. The apartment is on the 5th floor (US 6th floor) of a 17th century building, with views out over the rooftops towards Notre Dame with Sacre Coeur in the distance. The views are wonderful. With our binoculars we could see people on the steps of Sacre Coeur.

The main area of the apartment, the living room and kitchen, is light and spacious. There are windows along two sides of this room. The kitchen is very modern and well equipped (there were not enough lids for the pots during our stay, but they will fix this).

The two bedrooms are small and the master has no windows, but its door is across from a large window, so you get natural light. However the bed is in an alcove and is against the wall, so one person has to climb down to the bottom of the bed to get out. The bathroom is very modern with a great tub and shower.

The balcony off the living room is long and narrow. Even though there are a table and chairs on it, I don't see how anyone could be comfortable sitting out there (but then, I am afraid of heights). But with the two sets of French doors open to the balcony, you feel like you are at the top of Paris!

The building is historic but the elevator is modern and worked well (as to be expected, it is small - fits 3 people). Outside the building door is a great cafe. Around the corner and down one block is the Metro. A Monoprix supermarket is across the street and a good selection of small food shops (cheese shop, fruit and vegetable) is a few blocks away at Place Maubert. The excellent Eric Kayser bakery (for bread) is on Rue Monge, off Place Maubert. The Luxembourg Gardens are a few blocks away, as is Notre Dame and the River Seine in the other direction. A great location in the Latin Quarter (in the 5th).

The only problem that we had was the strong fragrances on the sheets. Now if you use Bounce or fabric softener on your sheets at home, you will not notice what we are talking about. We are both sensitive to strong chemical fragrances, so we noticed. The agency offered to rewash the sheets for us, but we did this ourselves.

I recommend this apartment, but for two people it is expensive. It has two bedrooms and a foldout couch, so can sleep up to six.

I have booked an apartment in Paris with this agency for our summer 2009 trip. We have not stayed there yet, but I wanted to comment on how good the agency was to work with through the booking process. They answered my many questions, helped me make my decision and even sent me information on vegetarian restaurants in Paris. Payment was easy - mailed a check to their US office. They have local staff in Paris who will check us into the apartment when we arrive.

We spent a week in "Au Coeur de Nimes" in mid-March 2013. The owner was very good to deal with for booking (via email) and payment (via Paypal). He answered all of my questions.

The apartment is 1 bedroom/1 bathroom, in a nice building in the pedestrian historic center of Nimes. It is nicely furnished, spacious, has a well equipped kitchen and a large rooftop terrace overlooking a beautiful square. It is on the top level of the building (European 3rd floor) with an elevator. The apartment is well priced and comes with a private parking spot in a nearby garage.

The location is very good. Les Halles, the daily food market, is a block away. A Carrefour grocery shop is nearby. And our favorite cafe Bar des Beaux Arts is a few steps from the front door.

We loved Nimes. There is a lot to see and do in the town. You could easily stay here without a car and take trains to nearby towns.

My only complaint is double sized bed, but this is typical in French vacation rental (you do not often find US Queen size beds) and this is just a pet peeve of mine. But the owner is changing to a larger bed this year.

I recommend this vacation rental!

Les Mortiers sits in the middle of farm fields a mile from the village of Parcay Les Pins about 30 minutes by car north of the Loire River. It is midway between Tours and Angers. There is a farm house and outbuildings which have been turned into three vacation rentals. We stayed in Poppas, a 1bed/1bath apartment on one level. The owner's house and their workshop (they make custom silk fishing lines) is across from the building we were in. Each unit has an outside area with table and chairs and looks out to the fields. We looked out to the owner's vegetable garden and the fields beyond. There is a large pool that is treated with natural methods instead of chlorine (very nice).

Poppas has a large living room with a dining table. The kitchen also has a kitchen table, so we used the dining table for the computer and books. The kitchen was well equipped. The bedroom is small but with a good bed (a US double size) with very nice sheets. Good bathroom with a large shower.

Parcay is a small village with a cafe and a bakery (and probably other things that we did not find). The cafes in Parcay and the nearby villages are more about alcohol than coffee - head 30 minutes by car south to the towns along the Loire River for nice cafes.

The hosts are very friendly, with lots of good local advice.

We rented Footstool Cottage from Manor Cottages for two weeks in June 2009. The price was good - 557 GBP per week in high season (about $900). Footstool is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom historic cottage on a quiet lane in Fulbrook, a small village on the main A361 road north of Burford in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds (England). The main road is busy and splits the village, but you do not hear road noise from the cottage. Fulbrook has no shops, two pubs and a Norman church. There are a couple of footpaths you can take for countryside walks. You can walk into Burford - 1/2 mile away (you have to walk along the main road but there is a sidewalk - the agency description says "public footpath to Burford" which I assumed was through the countryside, but they must mean the sidewalk). Burford has all the shops and restaurants you need and is a charming market town.

Footstool is a nice cottage with a few problems. First the good things. The location is good. The cottage has one of the best outdoor spaces we have ever had - a terrace leading to a small lawn surrounded by trees and flower gardens (no views). The garden has high walls and is private. Nice outdoor furniture. We used the outdoor space a lot on those long June nights. For colder weather there is a fireplace and they leave you lots of wood.

Now the problems. The kitchen (which looks like a gourmet kitchen in the photos) is "tired". I could not get the gas stovetop to go below a medium flame (to simmer I had to use 2 heat diffusers on a burner). The fridge makes a loud noise when running. Not much counter space. I think my main problem is that the website photo makes it looks like a gourmet kitchen, but it is not.

The heating system is night storage heaters which are not easy to use (no mention of this in the agency description) and only work well when the weather is consistent (you have to know the night before how to set them for the next day). The information about the heating system in the house book did not explain how it works. When we arrived the heaters were turned off because it had been hot the week before. We had a few cold nights at the start of our stay. We called the house keeper and left a message which was never returned (we should have called the owner but I had assumed the house keeper would call back). We finally figured out how to use the heaters after calling the agency (they called the owner).

The furniture in the cottage is plain and a jumble of styles, but is comfortable. The ceilings are shockingly low in some rooms (but this is to be expected in an older cottage).

We rented this cottage because of the location, which was good, and because the cottage had internet access, which worked well. I would not rent the cottage again because we cook most of our meals at home and the kitchen was not good to work in.

We spent two weeks in a very wet May 2006 in Jasmine Cottage. The cottage is very cute and old, with low ceilings in the living room but higher ceilings in all the other rooms. Kitchen is excellent but there was no washing machine (there are laundries in Whitney and Bourton-on-the-Water). Bedroom spacious and comfortable.

The only problem we had was that the French doors to the outside terrace were broken. We immediatly called the local contact and they knew they were broken (so why didn't they fix them before we arrived?). They had them fixed a few days later but by then the sunny days had ended.

Windrush is a pretty village but has no shops. You have to drive to Burford about 10 minutes away. The closest Waitrose and other large supermarkets are in Whitney, about 20 minutes by car. We had thought there would be good footpaths from the village but there was only one along the river. Very good footpaths a short drive away.

The rental is a bit pricey because it is with Rural Retreats.

We spent May 2000 in Plough Cottage on Well Farm. There are three cottages close together, but each has private outdoor spaces. Plough is 1bed/1bath with beautiful views across the Painswick valley. You can walk on footpaths to Painswick (steep downhill) where there are a few pubs, restaurants and a small shop. It is a short drive to Stroud, with good shopping (Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose).

We enjoyed our stay here. There are several footpaths you can take right from the cottage, or drive to some of the other excellent walking in this area.

The only downsides are that the bed is a double (not a queen) and is upstairs, while the bathroom is downstairs.

Note that the owner now has their own website - Well Farm Cottages.

We had booked two weeks in this cottage in southern Tuscany in the fall of 2000, but only spent two nights because our trip got cut short.

This is a cute independent house on a farm in southern Tuscany outside the small village of Palazzone (no cafes or restaurants in the village back then - do not know what the village is like now). There are other vacation rentals on the property, but they are not close to La Vigna. You can walk up the road to the shared swimming pool. The house is up one flight of stairs and is on one level. Nice sized living room, well equipped kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It is small, but fine for 2 - 3 people.

You are a bit "out there" but are within driving distance of some nice towns - Piazze, San Casciano dei Bagni, Cetona. About an hour to drive to Pienza.

We spent two weeks in Bella Vista in June 2000. This is a lovely independent house on the edge of a small village, Celle sul Rigo, in southern Tuscany.

The house is simply furnished, but very comfortable. Living room, dining room and a small kitchen downstairs. Two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Large yard with a swimming pool and incredible views, from Monte Cetona to Monte Amiata (looking north to central Tuscany). There is a nice terrace with a roof, so you can site outside on sunny days.

Celle sul Rigo is perched on the top of a hill. The town is small with two restaurants, a good deli and two bar/cafes. San Casciano dei Bagni is a 5 minute drive away. You are off the beaten Tuscany tourist track here, but can be in Pienza in under an hour, or head south to Pitigliano and Saturnia. There are lots of nearby hill towns to explore.

This was our first rental with TuscanHouse. They are a great agency, small and personalized, with hand-picked properties. We rented from them several times after this.

We spent a week in Torre San Domenico in September 2002. This is the best vacation rental I have had in Italy, and I have stayed in many. It sleeps six but there were just four of us (two couples).

Location: Cetona is a beautiful town , somewhat off the beaten track, in southern Tuscany. Many Romans have second homes here. There are great shops, restaurants and cafes in the town. It is a 45 minute drive to Pienza. It is great to stay in a town so you can walk out for morning coffee or to the shops.

House: The house is fantastic. It is a historic tower, just a few blocks up from the main square. It is a bit of a steep walk up but you get used to it quickly. The house is on four levels. The kitchen is very good. The furnishings are beautiful. Each bedroom/bathroom is on its own level, so for two couples you had a lot of privacy. The views from the house, or from the terrace which is at the ground floor level, are lovely.

The owners of the house met us when we arrived and helped us drive the car right up to the house to unload. There is no parking there but we parked in the main lot in the center of town. The price per week is very good considering the house sleeps 6.

TuscanHouse is a great agency and very good to deal with. They hand pick beautiful properties, many in southern Tuscany. We have rented from them several times.

The Vivat Trust purchase historic buildings throughout the United Kingdom. These buildings are restored and turned into vacation rentals (holiday cottages) to bring in an income for the trust. I made my booking by phone and paid with a credit card.

Three of us rented The Chantry, a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom house in Bridport, near the coast in Dorset. The house dates from Medieval times - 13th - 14th century. It is magnificent. The house was beautifully renovated and furnished. The stone walls are thick, the ceilings are high, the rooms are a good size, the curtains and furniture are beautiful. You know you are in an historic building but you get modern-day luxury. Everything was comfortable.

We cooked several meals in the kitchen. They left the best welcome basket I have ever seen - with basics for breakfast, snacks and for a quick dinner. There is a nice garden behind the house, with a big outdoor table and chairs. There is off road parking.

There are partial frescos in the dining room (covered in glass) and carved stone work in several rooms. You can see where the "garderobe" (toilet) was in the master bedroom (now just an interesting stone niche). In the top level bathroom there are some steps leading to a small door that brings you out onto the roof! The first and second floors (US second and third) have good views.

Bridport is a lovely town with several restaurants and pubs, and good local shopping. We went to their antique market. There is a Waitrose (my favorite supermarket) on the High Street, just a 10 minute walk from the house. And one mile south brings you to West Bay on the coast. The pebble beach is at the foot of the red Jurassic Coast cliffs. You can walk the South Coast Path from here. 20 minutes drive west to Lyme Regis and 30 minutes east to Dorcester - a great location.

The only downsides are that the house is on the main road in town (but it is not that busy and you don't hear the traffic noise in the house) and the floors and doors are very squeaky, so you can hear other people in your group moving about. Noise traveled between the two bedrooms also. But, I would happily rent this house again just to be able to stay in such an historic building.

We spent May 2000 in Plough Cottage on Well Farm. There are three cottages close together, but each has private outdoor spaces. Plough is 1bed/1bath with beautiful views across the Painswick valley. You can walk on footpaths to Painswick (steep downhill) where there are a few pubs, restaurants and a small shop. It is a short drive to Stroud, with good shopping (Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose). The cottages have Internet access (broadband).

The cottage is on a narrow country lane that can freak out new American drivers (only wide enough for one car, but it is a two-way lane) but you get used to it quickly. The owners live onsite and are on hand for questions and advice.

We enjoyed our stay here. There are several footpaths you can take right from the cottage, or drive to some of the other excellent walking in this area.

The only downsides are that the bed is a double (not a queen) and is upstairs, while the bathroom is downstairs.

The furnishings are all very good quality. You can book by the night or week.

Note that these cottages are also represented by Stately Holiday Cottages and were previously represented by Rural Retreats (2009 and earlier).