Such a cute property! Very cosy - two bedrooms nicely spaced apart with a small but great kitchen and a great (hot and strong!) shower room. The house is right on the main street so super easy access but tucked away enough to be completely quiet at night. We enjoyed our stay and will be back!

The helpful host has provided a charming place to stay that opens the doors to many area attractions.

We had a wonderful time at The Retreat. Pippa is a fabulous host and made us feel most welcome. She encouraged us to share her beautiful garden and was on hand to provide recommendations for places to visit and restaurants. The cottage itself had everything we needed for a short stay and was extremely comfortable. We would love to stay again.

Firstly I must say I've had great customer service from Dorset Hideaways but sadly not from Pippa,the owner of The Retreat. I apologise in advance for the long detailed review.... Prior to booking I'd phoned Dorset Hideaways to query details of the property & to ask about the unusual access via the owners home.I also asked if the courtyard table & chairs shown in the main photo were for our use(told they were)but on arrival I was informed by Pippa that they were for her private use.I saw no reason why she would lie about this but did intend to follow up however after seeing the weather forecast after our first day decided it wasn't worth causing an upset. The first evening we were unable to turn the shower dial and being reluctant to force it my husband went to ask Pippa for advice .Her response was "but I'm watching the tennis!" so he apologised for disturbing her .She came up and had to twist the shower dial with both hands to turn it on .He thanked her & apologised again although we were quite surprised by her attitude. The worst incident was on the following morning...we knew it was going to be the only sunny warm day so had decided to have a lazy brunch in the beautiful terraced garden (at the back)before going out in the afternoon. As there wasn't a table to sit at (as that was in the courtyard!)we opted for food we could eat on our laps. Without any warning at about 10.15 a workman appeared with a power tool saying he needed to plug in an extension lead.We had no idea how he had accessed the property but later found out there were stairs leading to the garden which we were unaware of.He was apologetic but obviously assumed we knew about his arrival.He offered to delay the work until we had finished eating but that's hardly conducive to a relaxed brunch! Pippa then came into the garden and without any explanation re iterated his request of plugging in the extension lead.I remarked that we had been enjoying our peaceful brunch up until that point!Pippa then tried to explain that she only had a 15 minute warning as he had phoned saying he'd had a cancellation and that "he is so hard to get hold of" she had accepted without the courtesy of checking with us first.Good job we had not been having a lie in as the bedroom had to be used for the extension lead!She then said " you are welcome to use my table & chairs in the courtyard"!!?? but we decided to finish eating inside and go out earlier than planned. The workman was far more apologetic than Pippa was and she never implied it was urgent! I later told Pippa that her behaviour was unprofessional in letting the workman arrive unannounced and that she should have let us know .She thanked me for the feedback but couldn't bring herself to accept she could have handled the situation better. Never ever again will we book a property that is an annexe even if we do not have to enter through the owners property. I applaud Phoebe (Dorset Hideaways)who was horrified by my feedback and subsequently offered a partial refund.

The retreat is a very interesting building and beautiful garden with a lovely helpful host. The area has many places of interest to visit and not far from the coast. Ilminster is a bustling little town with good shops and places to eat.