Combermere Abbey opens its award-winning cottages for one-night escapes

Some of the best breaks are the ones you barely plan. Combermere Abbey, the historic estate tucked away near Burleydam between Nantwich and Whitchurch, has made spontaneous getaways a little easier by opening its award-winning holiday cottages for one-night stays for the very first time.

Previously available on a two-night minimum, the self-catering cottages can now be booked for a single night, with a continental breakfast hamper included. The estate pitches the change at everyone from couples after a last-minute escape to travellers breaking up a long journey, families marking a special occasion and couples coming to view the estate as a wedding venue.

The Courtyard Cottages are a collection of nine dog-friendly properties sleeping between four and ten guests, created from the estate's former stables and coach house. For something more secluded, Stone Lodge is a charming Gothic gatehouse at the estate entrance, set in its own damson orchard with a private entrance, enclosed garden and a large sunny terrace.

The cottages are part of a remarkable restoration story. Sarah Callander Beckett inherited the estate in 1991, and since then Combermere has seen its estate buildings and Walled Gardens restored, the stable block converted into holiday accommodation and, most dramatically, the rescue of the abbey's North Wing.

That wing was once one of a handful of privately owned Grade I listed buildings on the Heritage at Risk Register, and its owner has described it as having been completely derelict. Through an Enabling Development Scheme that took some 20 years to complete, around £2 million was raised for the work, which began in January 2014 when Gothic cladding was stripped away to reveal the original medieval and Tudor timber frame beneath.

Today the estate is equally known as a wedding venue and as a peaceful countryside base for exploring south Cheshire and the Shropshire borders, with local events such as the Bolesworth International show-jumping within easy reach.

With dogs welcome, open countryside on the doorstep and no minimum stay to worry about, an autumn night at Combermere might be the simplest treat of the season.

Find out more and book at combermereabbey.co.uk.