Company information
Hi I’m Mark
After travelling the world, I decided to settle down in Suffolk twenty years ago and started my own little business with a beautiful old derelict farm complex, which I converted into six lovely little cottages for people to escape from city life and enjoy the wonderfully rural experience that this area amazingly has, despite it’s close proximity to London.
I love what I do and am ‘Hands On’ with welcoming guests to my own six cottages, as well as looking after my Cottage Agency 'The Grove Cottages' that soon developed as other owners
came asking me to take on their cottages and give them the same level of personal customer care, attention, and promotion that we are known and appreciated for.
I don’t want to be a huge company, I’m very happy to have a small agency where personal involvement is always the priority and where I can pick only places which I love and know inside out to join us.
I am always available to answer any questions and above all else I want you to be in a cottage that suits you, so you will become our ambassador.
Please do ask me a question about this cottage and I will give you a very honest answer.
Best Wishes
Mark - The Grove Cottages
Property information
Mill Cottage nestles beside its lovely Mill Pond in a beautiful secluded valley ¼ mile off the road. The valley is a private 70 acre Nature Reserve with an Owl Tower and Badger watching sites.
How peaceful, how idyllic!
This cottage accepts dogs and is VisitEngland 4 Star ‘Gold’ awarded, Cyclists Welcome Awarded and Walkers Welcome awarded.
There is a fenced off 11 acre meadow for dogs to run around in.
The kitchen opens out onto the banks of the Mill Pond where you can have meals or drinks, or just laze in the sun. The cottage benefits from a wet room, and kingsize bedroom and a lovely sitting room/diner with a cosy wood burning stove and lovely views across the Mill Pond.
If you are interested in ground source heat pumps, you can go into the pump room to inspect the eco-heating system, the water wheel even supplies a bit of electricity for the cottage.
Please note that being a very old building there is a beam in the sitting, room at about 5ft – so mind your head
Lying at the end of the lane, Mill Cottage is the perfect place for finding peace and tranquillity.
There is no traffic noise and the low level of light pollution makes star-gazing at night a real treat.
2 well behaved doggies are welcome.
Banned Dogs: Please also note that if you are considering bringing a dog breed which may be thought of as a danger or a concern to others, and definitely any Banned Dogs, then Please check with us first before booking and we will discuss the suitability of our cottage for you and your pet.
There is a 20 Pound charge per pet for up to 7 nights.
Please note that cottage owners cannot accept pets that have not been paid for, so please make sure that you have paid for your pet before arrival.
Deposits and cancellations:
A 20% deposit is payable at the time of booking and the balance due one month before arrival.
If you need to cancel you can receive a full refund up to 30 days before arrival.
Neighbourhood information
The tiny Village of Assington, lies at the end of the cart track to Mill Cottage.
It has a very good farm shop, post office, hairdressers, café, restaurant, florist, and an interiors shop.
The village also has a popular pub The Shoulder of Mutton.
Supermarkets and high street shops are within a 15-minute drive.
Lavenham ‘England’s best preserved Medieval Village’ is just 15 minutes away, and ‘Constable Country’ named after the artist John Constable, is just 15 minutes away in the Stour River valley.
There are many great country pubs, some special like The Crown Inn at Stoke-by-Nayland and some high-quality restaurants like The Swan in Lavenham and Scutchers in Long Melford.
This area is amazingly rural and untouched by city life, with tiny single track lanes leading nowhere or to a pub, footpaths galore and tiny Medieval Villages where time seems to have stood still.
The coast starts just 30 minutes away and our favourite beaches and places on the coast are between 50 – 70 minutes away, places like Pin Mill, Nacton, Levington, Orford, Aldeburgh, Dunwich, Southwold and Mersea Island.
This is an area where you feel a million miles away from city life and can just enjoy being a part of.