Self-catering · Malmesbury
The Stables at The Rookery
Two self-catering cottages for couples on the edge of Malmesbury: the Stables, in a listed stone stable, and the Coach House, where dogs stay free.
Dog-friendly
Cottages for couples on the edge of town, an easy walk from the centre, and the Coach House takes dogs free.
- Good: Up to two dogs free in the Coach House
- Good: Use of the main house's walled garden
- Good: Home-made cake on arrival
- Worth knowing: The Stables cottages are dog-free
- Worth knowing: Bedrooms in the Stables are upstairs; steps to the walled garden
About
The Stables at The Rookery are two holiday cottages on Burton Hill, on the southern edge of Malmesbury, under a mile from the abbey by road. The owners describe the town as an easy walk, and the walk round Malmesbury and the River Avon passes close by.
The Stables, a stone building the owners describe as Grade II listed, is a cottage for two adults, with an open-plan living and dining room and kitchen and a bathroom with a roll-top bath and shower downstairs, and a king-size bedroom upstairs. A glazed door opens on to a private patio, and guests can use the main house's walled garden, with apple trees and a well, reached by steps. This cottage is dog-free.
The Coach House, newly renovated, has a downstairs king-size bedroom with double doors on to its own private garden, a roll-top bath, a galleried sitting area upstairs, and dining space and crockery for four, so couples renting both cottages can eat together. Its kitchen has a dishwasher, washer-dryer, microwave, electric oven and gas hob. On Airbnb each cottage is listed for two guests, with free parking on the premises; the Coach House adds a sofa bed in the sitting room and self check-in with a lockbox. Up to two well-behaved dogs stay in the Coach House at no extra charge. Both cottages are suitable for non-crawling babies, with baby equipment on request, and guests are welcomed with a tray and a home-made cake. A deposit of a quarter of the price secures a booking, with the balance due 30 days before arrival; the owners publish no check-in times or minimum stay, so ask when you book. Westonbirt Arboretum is about 7 miles away by road.
The details
- Rooms
- 2
- Features
- Garden or terrace · Dogs in rooms
- History
- Stone stable building, Grade II listed in the owners' words
Photos
The welcome tray 
A bedroom 
The Stables bedroom 
The Stables sitting room
Location
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Kings Arms, Malmesbury 0.7 km away
- Athelstan Museum 0.8 km away
- The Abbey Café, Malmesbury 0.9 km away
- The Old Bell 0.9 km away
Sights nearby
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River Avon at Malmesbury
Sight · River · Malmesbury
The two branches of the Bristol Avon that almost ring Malmesbury's hilltop and meet below it, with riverside meads, old mill sites, Daniel's Well and a level path round the town. Free, on public paths and town council parks.
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Market Cross, Malmesbury
Sight · Historic building · Malmesbury
Malmesbury's octagonal stone market cross of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, a vaulted shelter with pinnacles, flying buttresses and a lantern of saints, built, John Leland wrote, to keep poor market folk dry. Grade I; free.
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St Paul's Bell Tower, Malmesbury
Sight · Historic building · Malmesbury
The tower and spire of St Paul's, Malmesbury's medieval parish church, left standing alone on the edge of the abbey churchyard after the church fell. It has clocks below its spire and still holds a ring of eight bells, long rung for the abbey. Grade I.
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Malmesbury Abbey
Sight · Church · Malmesbury
The surviving nave of Malmesbury's great Norman abbey church, built mostly about 1160 to 1180 and the parish church since 1541, with a south porch of carved Romanesque Apostles and King Athelstan's empty tomb. Grade I; free, open daily.