Look at this cottage! Isn’t it dreamy? Today, I’ve been doing some serious daydreaming having just lost myself scrolling through Unique Homestays, a website of extraordinary private homes to rent in inspiring locations around Britain – with eye popping price tags – I personally can only imagine staying in.
Welcome to Madame Butterfly, one of my favourites in the Sussex section of the site. It’s an old game keeper’s cottage hidden along a private lane, with its own lake and surrounded by woodland carpeted in bluebells in spring and snowdrops in winter. It looks like something straight out of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I almost expect Sneezy and Doc to come walking through on their way to work. And the price? Well, at £995 for a short stay, it’s certainly not cheap, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a look, does it?
So beautiful is Madame Butterfly and its surroundings, it’s hard to imagine what it was like when the owner discovered it in the 1990s, having been abandoned for 50 years, without a roof, water supply and proper way of accessing it. Today, it’s been completely restored into this luxurious self-catering hideaway, perfect for so many occasions – a romantic escape, girls’ getaway, family holiday, or for no particular reason at all. That’s if you can afford it, of course.
Inside, it’s all about vintage ethnic charm. I can totally imagine sinking into this sofa with a good book…
Or curling up in front of the fire with a mulled wine…
Or gazing out from this epic country kitchen complete with Aga onto the rose garden while enjoying my morning coffee…
There are three double bedrooms, one with a super king-size bed, one zip-and-link super king-size bed and one king-size bed. One bedroom has an en suite, and the master has a bath in the room itself with a separate WC and shower across the hallway.
At first I thought this was a lounge, but it’s actually a huge bathroom with its own woodburner in it!
Outside, there’s a walled garden with exotic Indian doors and a rose garden with a pagoda, a wooden deck uplit for night-time dining, and a plunge pool. Swoon!
Madam Butterfly´s drive is communal and shared with the neighbours on the estate, there is a residence close by whose dogs and chickens, if you’re lucky you might bump into on your walk around the grounds.
Swoon some more over Madame Butterfly here.
