Georgian Villa in Richmond on the River Swale

This place was just absolutely fantastic. I could tell both from the quality of the photographs and the excellent communication when booking this villa a year in advance that it was going to be good and I wasn't disappointed. Everything about it excelled our expectations and thoroughly enhanced our stay. We booked the villa to prepare for our son's wedding in nearby Bolton Castle and we had his groomsmen, friends and partners join us for the weekend. It provided the perfect backdrop for wedding preparation both in the beauty of the stunning surroundings (house and garden) and the spacious facilities for everyone to get ready in the morning. We were shown around the property by Angela who was so amazingly helpful and kind, urging us to feel at home and enjoy all the facilities the house offered. On the morning of the wedding, my son had such fun getting ready in the drawing room with all his groomsmen and we took some lovely family photos in the gardens before heading off to the wedding venue. The following day, having told all the wedding guests all about the amazing place were staying in, we had a lot of visitors drop by to wish the newlyweds well and take a "turn" around the house. It felt like I was immersed in some sort of Georgian Period costume drama all week. I found the villa had plenty of crockery and cutlery so it was clearly well suited for entertaining. The house has a fascinating and rich history and it was delightful to hear Angela tell us a little bit about the background and chronology of events along with further details of her own renovation journey (and challenges given that it is a listed property). She has clearly poured many years/decades of love, detail and affection into the house and gardens as this can be seen with the beautiful colours, floors, bathrooms, furniture etc. Like living in a stately home. We would have loved to have heard more but sadly our time there went too fast so we will just have to return.

Although Angela did offer to come and chat to us about the history of the house, we unfortunately run out of time with all the wedding preparations so it would have been wonderful to have had a journal or book available to browse through in the house to give us more detail of the history and the Cooke family ancestry.

This is the most beautiful property with extensive grounds, comfortable beds and well equipped kitchen.

Be aware that the living quarters are on the first floor so need to climb stairs frequently.

The location and setting were great. Beautiful grounds right along the river, with a lovely walking trail. Also an easy 15 minute or so walk into the beautiful center of town, with many restaurants, shops, pubs, etc. to choose from. We took day trips to the Herriott Museum and to the town containing many exterior shots from All Creatures Great and Small. Fantastic scenery all around. The house was very large and accommodated all 11 of us very comfortably -- great evening meals followed by games around the great dining/kitchen table.

One of the bedrooms on the ground floor lacks a bathroom, and there is no bathroom on the main living floor (i.e., all are associated otherwise with the ground and top floor bedrooms.

Great host Angela was here to meet us when we arrived and showed us round, Angela was lovely and very helpful with any questions, little added extra was an Easter cake left for us made at a local bakery. Howe villa is a Beautiful home and grounds had everything we needed and more, lots of space and all amenities, the dogs loved the garden & the little woodland walk. All very well kept and great location only a few minutes drive to the centre or a nice 15 minute stroll. Beautiful views from the property overlooking the river swale. We had great family time together going on walks, playing games & hide & seek. Would highly recommend to anyone, we had 2 older people with slight mobility difficulties but they managed just fine slept downstairs with the onsuite bedrooms but joined us all upstairs the rest of the time the steps are shallow so if you can manage steps they are not steep which is good but there’s just the toilet situation which is mentioned in other reviews wasn’t a problem for us as theres 2 bathrooms on the ground floor & 2 on the top floor but just missing one on the middle floor for people with mobility problems other than that no complaints at all.

We enjoyed everything about the property