We stayed with Jill at High Houses a year ago, and haven't stopped thinking about our stay ever since. We are longing to find the time to go back. A friend recommended it to us, knowing we could appreciate its quirkiness. 1697 is carved in the stone above the door, and I don't think much has changed since - and Jill encourages this feel with fires lit on chilly evenings, candles ablaze up the stairs as you rise to bed, and an old fashioned personal hospitality that can't be faked.

It sits high on a hill overlooking the Solway Firth in the distance and I swear there was hardly an electric light in view all night. Jill cooked us a delicious evening meal and was equally excellent at breakfast. We loved the fell behind the house and the sense of "Wildfell Hall".

It is a place to appeal to the country-lover, obviously - Chelsea it ain't - thank goodness. And it has such character that like a best friend who you have to forgive some idiosyncracies... more