Holiday Cottages In Cheshire

Cheshire has around 280 self-catering cottages on selfcatering.co.uk, from townhouses inside the walls of Chester to farm conversions out on the plain and the canals. The county pairs a flat, green dairy heartland with the wooded hills along its eastern edge, and more than 140 of those cottages take dogs while over 70 have a hot tub.

Best areas and towns in Cheshire

Most of Cheshire's cottages are spread across the rural plain and its market towns, with the largest single group in and around the city of Chester in the west. A second cluster sits along the eastern hills towards the Peak District, and a string of villages follows the canals that thread the county.

• Chester: the walled Roman city on the River Dee, with its Rows, racecourse and famous zoo
• Hoole: a leafy suburb on the eastern edge of Chester
• Nantwich: a handsome former salt town of timber-framed buildings in the south
• Tarporley and Bunbury: estate villages in the central farmland near Beeston
• Tarvin, Kelsall and Mouldsworth: villages along the sandstone ridge east of Chester, by Delamere Forest
• Knutsford: a smart Georgian town that inspired Mrs Gaskell's Cranford, beside Tatton Park
• Macclesfield and Bollington: former silk towns under the western moors of the Peak District
• Sandbach: a market town in the east known for its Saxon crosses

Smaller bases such as Wrenbury, Tilston and Oakmere put you out among the canals, the sandstone ridge and Delamere Forest for a quieter rural week.

Cheshire countryside and the eastern hills

Cheshire is mostly a broad, low plain of dairy pasture, hedgerows and red-sandstone villages, threaded by the Shropshire Union and Trent and Mersey canals that once carried its salt and silk. Down the central spine runs a wooded sandstone ridge, walked end to end by the Sandstone Trail and crowned by the ruins of Beeston Castle, with Delamere Forest spreading nearby. Along the eastern edge the land lifts sharply into the moors of the Peak District above the old silk town of Macclesfield, and the great estate of Tatton Park near Knutsford and the historic cotton mill at Quarry Bank near Wilmslow sit on the plain below. It is gentle, green walking country rather than dramatic upland, easy to combine with a town or a canal-side base.

Things to do in Cheshire

The walled city of Chester is the headline, with two thousand years of history in its Roman walls, the galleried Rows and a fine Norman cathedral at Chester Cathedral. Just outside the city, Chester Zoo is one of the largest and most visited zoos in Britain, and the Blue Planet Aquarium at Ellesmere Port takes you under the sharks. Families have plenty of choice, from The Ice Cream Farm near Chester to Gulliver's World Theme Park at Warrington. For grand houses and gardens, Tatton Park near Knutsford and the National Trust mill at Quarry Bank near Wilmslow fill a day, while the Sandstone Trail and Delamere Forest are the pick of the county's walking.

When to visit Cheshire

Late spring and summer bring the best of the gardens, the country parks and the canal towpaths, and Chester is busiest through the school holidays and on racecourse days. Early autumn is a fine time for walking the Sandstone Trail and Delamere Forest as the woods turn, with quieter towns and better cottage value. Winter suits a warm cottage with a hot tub and a day in Chester's covered Rows and museums. As an inland county there is no real off-season for sightseeing, and the city and its attractions stay open all year.

Dog-friendly and hot-tub cottages in Cheshire

More than 100 of the cottages in Cheshire take dogs, and more than 70 have a hot tub. Browse the cottages that welcome dogs or cottages with a hot tub to narrow your search.

Getting to Cheshire

Cheshire sits in the north-west of England, between the Welsh border and the Peak District. The M6 runs north to south through the east of the county, with the M56 striking west towards Chester and the M53 down the Wirral. Chester is well served by rail, with direct trains from London Euston in around two hours and frequent local services from Liverpool, Manchester and across to north Wales. The nearest large airports are Manchester and Liverpool John Lennon, both within easy reach.

Useful links

• Visit Cheshire
• Cheshire West and Chester Council
• Cheshire East Council

Cheshire is a county in the north-west of England, bordered by Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire and the Peak District to the east, Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south, and Wales and the River Dee to the west. It is a broad, low-lying county, long known for its rich dairy farming and the cheese that carries its name.

Most of Cheshire is a gently rolling plain of pasture, hedgerows and red-sandstone villages, drained by the rivers Dee, Weaver and Mersey. A distinctive ridge of sandstone runs down the middle of the county, carrying the Sandstone Trail past the hilltop ruins of Beeston Castle, while Delamere Forest spreads across the higher ground nearby. Along the eastern boundary the land climbs abruptly into the gritstone moors and edges of the Peak District, above the former silk town of Macclesfield. A network of canals, the Shropshire Union and the Trent and Mersey among them, still threads the lowland, a legacy of the salt and silk trades that once drove the local economy.

Chester, the county town, began as a major Roman fortress on the Dee and keeps the most complete circuit of city walls in Britain, along with its medieval galleried Rows and a Norman cathedral. Other historic towns include Nantwich, Knutsford, Sandbach and Macclesfield, each shaped by salt, silk or the cotton trade. Today Cheshire mixes prosperous commuter country with working farmland and a strong line in visitor attractions, from its city and zoo to the great estates and gardens of the plain.