On arrival, we were greeted by a lovely, well kept front garden and some llamas in the adjoining field (a nice little feature for families and animal lovers). There is adequate space for a large car.
Once in the cottage, we came across our welcome pack which included almost everything you could need for a stay in the cottage. It included things like milk, bread, biscuits, tea and coffee, juice, eggs and more! It was lovely. The kitchen cupboards and the bathroom were well stocked with essentials as well.
The decor, whilst it may seem old fashioned to some, is welcoming enough and cosy and fits with the age of the place (especially in the kitchen). It gets very toasty and warm on an evening with the heating coming on automatically, and with the added options of an artifical log burner in the living room and extra blankets upstairs.
The rooms are all spacious, the chairs may need to be moved around in the living room for children to play freely but this shouldn't cause an issue; there is plenty of carpeted space in the twin room upstairs which could be used for this purpose. Speaking of play, the selection of children's toys and books is very good and they are all neatly hidden away under the alcove of the stairs. There is a Nintendo Wii that I think is mainly used as a DVD player but the option is there if some accessories and games are brought. There is a fairly good selection of books and DVDs for guest use.
I cannot stress how well equipped the cottage is, as well as all of the above, there were up to date leaflets on things to do, the taxi service, the recent newspaper, recycling bins, a radio, a sort of "bits and bobs" drawer full of little things like matches, string, cables, etc. The sort of things you only seem to need when you don't have them.
We experienced no noise or disturbances during our stay.
It was a shame about the wet weather when we stayed as there was seating and a BBQ outside for guests to use.
I would say the only real issue is maybe the Wifi is quite slow compared to what we're used to at home, but I suppose this is to be expected in a rural area and we had no trouble with using it for the basics; some places don't even provide Wifi.
The location in Upper Denby is a good base for travelling to several other places, such as the famous Holmfirth. The George Inn and it's pies (within walking distance) come highly recommended and the Hide & Hoof restaurant (slightly further) is also good. I don't think this would be suitable for people who do not drive unless you only plan on staying in the cottage as even though things are nearby, the paths and roads are very typical rural countryside and are quite winding and hilly in places.
Would definitely recommend a stay here, suitable for all seasons. Pack some wellies and/or wet gear if you DO plan to go walking anywhere.
I personally didn't have a lot of contact with the owners, but they seemed like a lovely couple, especially with all the goodies left for us in the cottage.