Terms & Conditions
Our up to date terms and conditions are always on this page. By paying the deposit you are automatically agreeing the the terms and conditions below regardless of whether you have read them.
Payment For Your Stay
All direct bookings are made safely via our website using a credit or debit card. When you make a booking via our online reservation system you will receive an automated booking summary by email to the email address you provided. Please make sure you use a working email address that you check regularly and a mobile number (not landline). Your booking requires a 20% non-refundable deposit to be paid within 7 days of enquiry and the balance is due 8 weeks prior to arrival. If your booking is less than 8 weeks away, you will be required to pay the full balance at the time of booking.
Paying the balance - You will be sent an automated email with a link to pay your balance 8 weeks prior to your stay, so please make sure to use an active email address that you check regularly. If your balance is not paid by the due date, we reserve the right to re-let your accommodation and retain your deposit. Old Holcombe Water Farm only accepts bookings from persons over 18 years of age. We reserve the right, at all times, without statement of reasons, to refuse or cancel a booking.
Your Damages Deposit and Arrival/Departure Requirements
We require a damages deposit of £150 per accommodation. The damage deposit will be charged at the time of paying your balance, or at the time of booking if your arrival date is within 8 weeks. When you leave, providing there are no significant issues, your damage deposit will be refunded within 2 weeks of departure. We do not charge for minor breakages, we hold this in case of serious damage to furniture/equipment/sheets, significant deep cleaning, not checking out when the cleaners are waiting or smoking in the property. We would ask that if you have any accidental breakages you let us know straight away so we can replace the items.
Arrivals - Check in and access to the farm is 4pm onwards. Please try and arrive in daylight, ideally before 8pm, if you think you're going to arrive later please let us know. It gets very dark so we will try to go into your cottage and switch on lights if we are onsite.
Departure - Check Out by 10am. All accommodation must be empty by 10am please. On departure day we require guests to leave the property in a tidy state, put rubbish and recycling out in the dedicated bins, return any furniture if it has been moved, remove any excessive dog hair and clean out the log burner. In the case of a major problems or a very deep clean being required, we reserve the right to invoice your card in addition to drawing your damages deposit.
Cancellations, Refunds and Date Changes
Please ensure that you have adequate travel insurance to cover you in the event that you need to cancel your stay. Even if you are holidaying in the UK, travel insurance is sensible if you cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. If you cancel within 8 weeks of your stay, we will do our best to re-let your accommodation. If we take the same value booking, we will refund you in full, less an administration fee of £50 to cover our time re-marketing. If we have to take a price reduction for a new booking this will be reflected in your refund, along with the administration fee of £50. If the accommodation remains empty, we regret there will be no refund so do please make sure you have travel insurance for any eventualities. If you cancel prior to this date, we will refund any monies paid, less your deposit, or reschedule your stay for another date. In the unlikely event that we need to cancel your stay (to perform unexpected repairs for example) we will refund all money paid to us within 14 days of notifying you. If we cannot provide your holiday due to unforeseen events beyond our control for example: war, terrorism, civil unrest, industrial action, weather eg: flooding, hurricane, snow, a natural disaster, epidemics, pandemics, lockdowns, health risks and similar events (Force Majeure) we will do our best to offer you alternative dates if we have to close ourselves, we will not be liable for refunds. We highly recommend you have appropriate travel insurance cover. If you ask us to move your date or re market a holiday you can't make, our administration fee is £50.
Dog Rules
Up to 2 well behaved dogs are welcome to stay in any one of our cottages. There is a charge of £20 per dog, regardless of length of stay. Please make sure your dogs are healthy, without any fleas, skin conditions (eg mange), are wormed and up to date with vaccinations. We have a lot of animals in and around the farm so it's important your dogs don’t bring any nasties with them! Flea infestations that require pest control will incur a cost to rectify. We recommend you don't bring a female dog if she is in season either! Dogs must be on a lead at all times. Please do not leave your dog on its own in the cottages, even if in a crate (or locked in your car!). Please don't let your dogs lie on our sofas or beds. You must pick up your dog poo, anywhere on the premises, including the paddock. Please place bagged dog waste in the general waste. Dogs can run off a lead in our paddock when sheep or cows are not grazing there, which does happen from time to time. If any dogs appear to be out of control or aggressive, we reserve the right to ask you to leave immediately without compensation. We reserve the right to retain funds from your damage deposit if your dog causes damage or soiling, or if you haven't cleared up after your dog. If we find your dog has been left alone we reserve the right to enter your cottage and your stay will be cancelled immediately without compensation. We no not allow any pets on the site except dogs.
Groups (families or adult groups)
Please contact us directly if you wish to book multiple cottages for a group stay as we manage group stays carefully. We only accept adult only groups if all properties are booked. If you're a group of families or friends, please get in touch before booking. Please note we don't accept Stag or Hen weekends, sorry!
Decorations
If you're celebrating something whilst you're here and bringing your own decorations that is absolutely fine. Please do not use pins anywhere and sellotape on painted surfaces or anywhere that will cause damage. No glitter at all as this will result in an extra cleaning charge, and please, no confetti as it blows into the grass which is not good for the environment or our animals. Please make sure all decorations are removed at the end of your stay. Thank you!
No Candles
From October 2023 we are no longer providing candles and tea lights, this is because there is new Government fire legislation for holiday accommodation, preventing naked flame. Please DO NOT bring candles with you either. This is for your own safety.
Occupancy
Your booking form will specify how many people are booked into the accommodation. If you wish to change the make-up of your group please let us know a couple of weeks before you arrive, we need to know exactly who is staying here. Please do not exceed our maximum occupancy, if you do we reserve the right to cancel your booking without a refund. We do not allow extra guests beyond who you have entered on your booking form or for extra people to turn up during your stay.
· Hillside sleeps 4 adults only, or 2 adults and 2 children under the age of 18 with 1 king bedroom, 1 twin bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 lounge and 1 kitchen.
· South Barn sleeps 4 adults only, or 2 adults and 2 children under the age of 18 with 1 king bedroom, 1 twin bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 lounge and 1 kitchen.
· Linhay sleeps 2 adults only with 1 king bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 lounge and 1 kitchen
We do not allow our accommodation to be used for business purposes (such as film making or photo shoots) without prior approval.
The Farm
You might hear tractors during your stay, you might hear cows, dogs, sheep, owls, foxes, chickens and all sorts of rural sounds. You shouldn't hear any urban noise here though, as we're a good distance away from any towns.
Day Visitors
If you want to have visitors during your stay please let us know, we will need their contact details and car registration number. We don't have masses of room for extra cars during times when we are fully booked (which is often), so please let us know your plans before your stay and we will do our best to accommodate any requests. We ask for visitors to have left the site by 5pm please.
Noise Rules
We are not a suitable venue for noisy gatherings and we ask guests to keep voices to a minimum after 10pm please. We ask for all our guests to be considerate of other people staying here. If other guests report excessive noise from other properties we will come out and ask you to be quiet… and this is really embarrassing for all of us! In exceptional circumstances we reserve the right to ask you to leave if there is repeated noise after a couple of warnings. As you will have breached the terms of your contract there would be no refund.
Smoking and Fires
No smoking or vaping in or around any of our accommodation please. If you wish to smoke please wander away from the accommodation and dispose of your cigarette ends responsibly. Please do not leave any BBQ’s or log burners unattended.
Parking
There is enough parking for one parking space per cottage in our dedicated guest car park. If you will be in a party with more than one car, please get in touch.
CCTV
There is CCTV on guest parking areas, the entrance driveway and our machinery shed.
Supermarket and any other deliveries
We do allow supermarket deliveries and they are very convenient being that we are about 15 mins from the closest shop. We would kindly request that you keep shopping deliveries to once per week. We understand that sometimes essentials are forgotten, however if you need to order something from Amazon for example, please do not have this delivered to the property as this creates excessive traffic. Please use pick-up lockers and shops in the vicinity. At no point is any personal post, banking items such as cards to be delivered to the property. All post is delivered to the main house and any personal post received will result in your stay being terminated immediately without compensation.
Safety and Responsibility on The Farm
Due to the proximity of electric cables and livestock we do not allow kite flying, drones (it's stressful for the animals), Chinese lanterns or fireworks on our farm please. You will be staying on a farm with animals, potentially dangerous farm equipment and several ponds amongst other hazards and it is your responsibility to watch your children and dogs at all times. Please do not enter any fields other than the paddock at the back of the car park, as there can be bulls and cows with their calves present. This is not something you want to be faced with!
Please be aware that some of the guest equipment, including the barbecues and wood burning stoves can be dangerous if misused. There are safety instructions in the accommodation and we're always available during your stay if you need our help. Children must be supervised at all times. Please ensure that any games, balls, other items are taken back to your cottage when not in use so as to respect the space for all of our guests.
All our cottages have smoke/heat/carbon monoxide detectors as well as fire extinguishers and fire blankets. Fire guards and heat proof gloves are provided for use with the log burners. Barbecues are available for use onsite and they are kept in the laundry room. Please exercise caution when using, do not leave unattended and please return cleaned ready for use by the next guests. By booking and staying at Old Holcombe Water Farm you agree to be responsible for yourselves, including your children and animals and take all reasonable precautions against personal injury, injury to others, damage to the facilities and our accommodation. Old Holcombe Water Farm will accept no liability for any of the afore mentioned issues.
Your Belongings
Whilst you're staying in a safe and peaceful area, please never leave valuables unattended including in your accommodation. We accept no liability for theft, loss or damage to your belongings that may arise from your stay. Please make sure you have adequate holiday insurance. We have CCTV on guest parking areas, the entrance driveway and our machinery shed. If you have forgotten things and wish us to return them to you please get in touch. Large items can be collected by a courier, or we can take smaller items to Taunton Post Office, we usually visit once a fortnight. We charge £20 for our time locating lost items, packing and posting.
WiFi
There is WiFi in all cottages, WiFi login details are shared inside all cottages. Please use responsibly.