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Procedure to Find & Book a Cottage
Check out the search options
in the main menu
Here is a display of the third option
in the menu which enables you to search for a cottage in the
vicinity of a town or village when you want to look at a list of
cottages and you know which county the village is located in. As you
can see we have listed all counties in England and split them into
two, those starting with A to K and those starting with L to Y. Note
how you move to the right to narrow down your selection. Selected
text is displayed in red - here Derbyshire is selected.
All displays of cottages also contain
options at the top of each page where you can change the numbers in
your party to between 1 and 30 people, the proximity radius to the
location from 10 miles out to 50 miles and the stay start date and
stay duration to different settings. The display will refresh when
you change the criteria.
Customers do sometimes find
difficulty finding a cottage particularly during time of heavy
bookings when they have left it late and cottages4you have a help
line or alternatively we offer help by email. If you would like help
to make your booking
click here for phone numbers to speak directly with
cottages4you or
email us.
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Weekly bookings and limitations for booking short stays:
During public holidays and school
holidays there are limitations on how early you can book a short
stay.
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Bookings may be made for a
duration of 2, 3, 4, 7, or 14 days (some cottage owners may
choose not to offer the full range). Stays for 2, 3, and 4
nights are regarded as short stays. Stays of up to one month
may be available for some cottages please
phone cottages4you direct for more information.
Most weekly
bookings run from Saturday to Saturday, unless the property
indicates otherwise. Where accepted, 2 night breaks start on
a Friday or Saturday, 3 night breaks on a Friday and 4 night
midweek breaks start on a Monday.
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Bookings for short stays
that fall during a public holiday may only be made within 28
days of the public holiday. Bookings for 7 or 14 days where the
stay dates include a public holiday may be made at any time.
Click here
for a list of public holiday dates in England, Wales and
Northern Island.
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Also:
Short break bookings for peak times of Cottage occupancy cannot be
made until 28 days prior to the Start Date of your stay. June,
July, August, and early September are classed as peak times. The schools go
back at different times depending on the area. That is why its such a long
peak time. |
Click here
for cancellation charges
Finding
your cottage using our main Cottage Search Page accessible from the
menu |
With more than 13,000 cottages having a huge range of attributes it is a
challenge to enable visitors to our website to quickly find the cottage
they are looking for. As many of our visitors know the location that
they are looking for we have developed our own database of the main
towns throughout England, Scotland, and Wales so that you can go
directly to a town and display cottages within a radius of 25 miles (as
the crow flies) of that town. You can then adjust the radius out to 50
miles or down to 10 miles to narrow down the results. Cottages closest
to the town are displayed first.
With a stock of cottages this large new cottages are being added
frequently and some cottages removed from time to time. For this reason
you may find a cottage that was listed previously may not now be
available.
If you are having difficulty finding that special cottage check out
our free
help service |
Search Options 1, 2 & 3 on our cottage search page enable you to
quickly find your cottage by specific location in England, Scotland
or Wales: |
Option 1. Using our local search engine - Enter the name
of the town and click search
Option 2. Select County then select the town name from
the page that opens - we have also provided a clickable map of
counties
Option 3.
Search from our indexed pages of towns in England, Scotland, or
Wales
Note: |
We have set up two pages for each of the listings of towns -
one page will open a list of cottages for 2 people and the
other a list of cottages for 4 people
You can move between the pages for two people or four people
by clicking the link at the top of each page - alternatively
when you reach the display of cottages you can change these
settings displayed at the top of the list then click the
button "Search"
Proximity radius settings are from 10 miles and up to 50
miles, Party Size ranges from 1 person to 30 people,
and Duration can be for 2, 3, 4, 7, or 14 days. You will
find that each cottage will have a specific week-day for the
start of each stay duration. Cottages may not offer the full
range of Stay Duration options. |
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Search Options 4 & 5 are the search options across the complete
database by Country and Region when you click "Full Database".
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These search options include cottages villas and apartments
in Ireland, Portugal, Italy, France and Spain in addition to
the United Kingdom. | |
This type of search which brings back cottages within an area or
Region includes a much greater number of cottages in the results
displayed and provides you with the opportunity to look for a
cottage of the type you want over a greater area than the
specific location options above.
4. Quick Search
- brings back all
cottages meeting the criteria you select, Country, Region,
Property Type, and number in party. This type of search will
often bring back 500 properties.
5. The Advanced Search opens
a window wher you enter the specific details of the cottage that
you are looking for: Country, Region, Start Date, Number of
people, swimming pool, pets allowed etc. and only cottages
meeting those criteria are displayed. This type of search brings
back a limited number of properties because they must meet the
criteria you set.
Reference Search - This type of search also enables you to
go directly to a cottage if you know its Property reference Code
and brings back just one property.
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Whilst 99% of our customers proceed straight through the
process of selecting their cottage and completing the
booking, occasionally someone is unsure of the steps
required to complete the booking. If you are unsure follow
the step by step procedure on this page or make use of our
free help service.
If you would like further assistance please call
Cottages4You direct using their UK phone number 0870 192
1206 from within the UK
(Click
here for calling details from outside
the UK.).
Or you can email us by clicking on this link which will open
an email addressed to us:
info@explorethecountry.com
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TOP OF PAGE
1.
Identify the cottage you are interested in and
click 'more details':
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(Note: Prop Ref 17034 - this is the unique identifier of
this cottage)
This page will open containing more information about the
property including a link that opens a map showing the
location of the property. We recommend that you check out
the map location if you are not familiar with the area.
'View more images' will run a video for many properties
showing you the inside and outside of the property.
Note the Start Day: In this illustration it is Saturday
for this Cottage. Start Days will vary for stays of
different duration and may vary from one cottage to the
other.
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2. Click - 'Check price and availability'
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The next step is to see if the cottage is available for the
dates that suit you. Remember that bookings for our cottages
are heavy throughout the year and we recommend that if
possible you book well in advance.
Please Note the Start Day - this is the Start Day
for the Holiday Duration that you have selected.. A small
booking charge may be added when booking some cottages - if
a booking charge is to be added notice of the booking charge
will be displayed in this window.
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This page 'Check Price and availability' is where you
identify if the cottage is available for the dates you
require. Select the Month/Year and the duration of your stay
in the drop down boxes and the display will change to show
you which start dates are available together with the price.
If a cottage is unavailable you will not see the green
coloured date as we see here for October 21. Where there are
no green coloured starting dates this means that the cottage
is booked out. Changing the Month and Holiday Duration may
display alternative dates that are
available.
Book
online or directly with cottages4you by phone:
Once you identify a date that suits you click on 'book this property'
and you go to the secure cottages4you page where you enter your credit card
details. You will receive immediate confirmation by email. Alternatively
you can phone Cottages4You directly using their UK phone
number 0870 192 1206 and you will get immediate support from their head
office in York, Yorkshire, England. You can complete your booking over the
phone. From New Zealand we would phone 0044 1282 846 763.
Once you complete your booking application you will receive
acknowledgement with a temporary internet reference number by return
email then once the Internet Team have processed your booking you will
receive a confirmed booking reference by email.
Their office is open (UK Hours) 9am to 9pm Sunday to Friday, and 9am to
7pm Saturdays for UK cottage holidays and 9am to 7.30pm Monday to
Friday, and 9am to 5.30pm Saturdays and 9am to 6pm Sundays for overseas
cottage holidays. You can check Office hours by clicking the link at the
bottom of the page on our Cottages website.
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