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Exterior of a stone-built Dorset cottage overlooking a garden overflowing with shrubs and flowers.

News, Information and Ideas for Managing or Booking UK Holiday Cottages

View articles for holiday cottage owners and bookers. Many of these articles are mentioned in The Holiday Homefront, a monthly newsletter for holiday cottage owners that is published for free. 

Other articles help anyone interested in planning a self-catering holiday, from advice on planning and booking different types of property to information on cottages offering discounts. These are published in a Newsletter for people interested in booking holiday cottages and wanting to know more about booking procedures, discounts, and holiday ideas. To receive a copy, click the Newsletter button at the bottom of the page.

Contents vary but will include the following:

  • Tips on getting it right when finding and booking a particular type of holiday cottage - such as one with 'the right kind of pool' pool, or what to expect to be included in the rental price. 
  • Inspiring articles on our 'favourite holiday cottages' for holidays on a theme or particular location, such as holiday cottages for walkers' best luxury beach holiday cottages in Cornwall.
  • When to discuss (and when not to discuss discounts) and some great deals available at the time of writing. 

  • Dog-Friendly Cottages for Holidays With Your Dog

    ‘Dog-friendly’ or ‘Pet-Friendly’ are terms often used in the holiday cottage world to indicate a property that allows pets and people to stay. But, like most labels, different levels of “dog-friendliness” abound. In this blog, we will explore how a holiday cottage owner will cater to your pet’s needs to justify its claim as a true dog-friendly holiday cottage adequately. And we’ll also highlight the practical actions they might take to save you a lot of time, effort, and potentially money!

    In an ideal world, there should be two categories:’ Pets Accepted’ and ‘Pets Welcome’ The former implies that canine guests are merely permitted. The latter implies that the property has ‘pet-friendly facilities to make life easier for both the pets and their owners. That way, guests know what to expect. At My Favourite Holiday Cottages, we urge people to differentiate between the two! But in the real world, they are used

  • THE PERFECT GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS!

    Travelling can be expensive! But it’s the little additional charges that get you. When you turn up to that attraction and payout for tickets, you almost don’t notice it’s happening! But fear not. There are ways of drastically cutting these costs and making that holiday outing a little bit less painful.

    We all know that friend or family member who can’t seem to get enough of the world! And being so adventurous, they don’t care much for your average Christmas gift. So instead, get them something they will appreciate... Experiences.

    National Trust Membership

    The National Trust is arguably the most influential force in preserving the UK’s most precious treasures. They are a non-profit charity, but those fees on the door will still set you back quite a bit! Of course, like most things, there’s a way around this. For Christmas this year, buy a loved one the gift of Membership for free access to hundreds of sites and

  • Dear Owners!

    Well, the short dark days of November are upon us with thoughts of long hot sunny days little more than a memory, hopefully, kept alive by the number of bookings already in your diary for summer 2016. If your availability calendar is still vacant, this month’s Newsletter contains valuable tips on attracting more visitors to your advert.

    Get Better Stats

    No - this isn’t a ‘Get Well Message’ to your old mate Stats - but it is a recommendation to those who’d like to find a way to improve the statistics for their advert on My Favourite Holiday Cottages.

    We regularly analyse the site’s traffic flows and try to understand why some properties do better than others. Aside from the usual factors such as location, our analysis often yields exciting results. We have noticed that owners who have invested in uploading a complete portfolio of 20 high-quality photos enjoy more enquiries and click-throughs to their own cottage’s website. Here’s why...

  • CHRISTMAS BLOG

    On the twelfth day of Christmas, My Favourites gave to me

    Twelve months a year Alleviated Fears Ten search options Nine to nine calling Late Booking Discount Seven days a week Six Santa’s helpers Five Star Reviews Four bedrooms Three en-suites Two parking spots And a cottage for my family and me Welcome to our ho-ho-homely Christmas Cottage blog!

    This week, we’ll look at some lovely lights and yummy bites around Christmas time. And while we’re at it, we can let you know which Christmas Cottages you can stay at to enjoy them.

    MOUSEHOLE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

    Let’s get the snowball rolling with the Mousehole lights in Cornwall! Which is apparently pronounced ‘Mouzle’; that’s not helpful. Maʊzəl? also not helpful if, like me, you don’t happen to know the International Phonetic Alphabet! Look, it’s probably best if you wait until you hear a local say the name before attempting it. Maybe engage them in some chitchat about the town’s

  • Whether you're into scaring children or would rather be the one running, we have the perfect self-catering holiday suggestions for you this Halloween. Here are some of our favourite attractions and holiday cottages where you can stay to experience them!

     

    The West Somerset Railway - Steam and Scream!

    When it comes to entertaining children, nothing quite gets them excited, like large machines, weird animals, and goodie bags. Well, the Steam and Scream spoo-oo-ooky evening promises to keep everyone happy or terrified, whichever emotion floats your haunted boat.

    The night will begin with a train ride from Bishops Lydeard for a trip through the haunted countryside of Somerset till you end up in Stogumber, where you can enjoy an hour in the creepy station gardens until the ghostly train re-appears to take you back. Some of the things to do include fireworks, the Exmoor Zoo Animal Roadshow and, of course, Goodie bags.

    If you want to

  • A Change of Address for My Favourite Holiday Cottages

     

    We have moved!

    As of the 1st of April 2018, My Favourite Holiday Cottages will be operating from a new address:

    Barnfield Cottage

    Bratton Fleming

    Barnstaple

    Devon

    EX31 34RT

     

    Tel: 01598 710631

    E: info@mfhc.co.uk

     

    Rick Bond

    Director

    My Favourite Holiday Cottages Ltd

  • Feature Your Cottage in Our Blog

    As well as moving and re-building websites, we have also appointed a new member to the My Favourites team, young James, who will be taking charge of our Social Media postings. He will be publishing a fortnightly News Blog on the site promoting self-catering holiday destinations to those planning a holiday. Each blog will contain an image and a link to holiday cottages relevant to whatever the topic of the blog is about. This could be you! For an example, see our Blog on British Beach Cafes or our latest one published this week on Finding The Perfect Holiday Cottage. These articles attract a lot of attention as they are often shared by readers via Twitter and Facebook – not least by owners of the properties mentioned, as well as potential bookers. It is well worth being included if you have the chance. These blogs aim to encourage more out-of-season bookings for you and your fellow My Favourite Holiday Cottages subscribers. When we

  • Visit a Winter Carnival For a Weekend Break in Somerset

    The Globe Carnival Club presents the stunning ‘Head Hunters’ Cart at a Somerset Winter Carnival (Thanks for the photo!).

    Are you looking for something spectacular to do for a weekend break in November? How about standing on the pavement one night in a small Somerset town for a few hours? You’ll be in good company – for thousands will do this to witness one of the awesome Somerset Winter Carnivals.

    Never Heard Of A Somerset Winter Carnival?

    Somerset is something of a carnival-mad county - Taking place in November, the big carnivals on the ‘Guy Fawkes’ circuit are:

    Bridgwater

    Highbridge & Burnham-on-Sea

    Weston-super-Mare

    Midsomer Norton

    North Petherton

    Shepton Mallet

    Wells

    Glastonbury

    Choose a carnival and book a Somerset holiday cottage in the locale for a weekend or midweek break. This will allow time for a little daytime

  • How To Find Your Perfect Holiday Cottage

    As a directory site, the team at My Favourite Holiday Cottages spend a lot of time getting to know how you people like to find cottages. It helps us to improve the site to make it easier for you to find your perfect holiday property in the shortest possible time. But, no matter how easy we make it, we can still see people getting it wrong. So, for those of you who find themselves losing the will to live after a long trawl through hundreds of cottages, here are a few tips for tracking down 'that cottage' that will make your holiday the most memorable - for all the right reasons.

    Across all sites that are trying to sell you just about anything from cottages to toothbrushes, people are always put off by choice. Now, wait! Don’t close this page just yet. It's true, and there is a lot of psychology backing up this claim.

    When presented with too many choices, the vast majority of online shoppers will simply give