Wren Cottage

Wren Cottage was the whole farm once. Everything else on the estate was built around it, at a respectful distance, over the following century.

It has two bedrooms — a double at the back, quiet, and a twin under the roof with a window at knee height that children find immediately and adults find about a day later. The bathroom is between them and there is only one, which is worth knowing before you book it for four adults.

The kitchen is the reason people come back. It has a six-burner stove, more bench than you need, and a table that seats six comfortably because the family that lived here was larger than the house suggests. If you are the sort of household where the cooking is the evening, this is the cottage.

The fire

The sitting-room fireplace is open, not a wood heater, and it draws properly. We leave a basket of split jarrah and a box of kindling by the hearth and top both up daily. It throws real heat but it is not the heating — there is a reverse-cycle unit for that, tucked above the door where you will not notice it.

The garden

Walled on three sides and older than the house. There is rosemary you should absolutely use, a lemon tree that produces far more than any one household can manage, and a bench in the corner that catches the last light. Take what you want from the garden; that is what it is for.