My husband and I are interested in leasing a cottage or small house, apt. in one of the villages in England for several months. How would we go about finding rental property? Maybe in the Cotswolds or the Lake area. Suggestions would be appreciated.

There are a very large number of companies that will organise a holiday home for you - some are one-man outfits that specialise in a particular county or small area, some cover the whole country and have 1000's of properties, some specialise in high-end rentals. A simple search on the internet will give you any idea of what is available. One of the largest and most reputable companies is Hoseasons (www.hoseasons.co.uk) - a look at their website will give you an idea of what the rates are like.<BR><BR>Rentals between April and October are usually by the week and run Saturday to Saturday.

the tourist boards in some towns hold a list of local places. For example, Bath tourist board would have a list of local properties to let, which would include the surrounding countryside. The rates would be lower, because you would be dealing directly with the owners.

The National Trust also has properties to rent. Just do a search on "self-catering cottages" or some such combination of words and you will get lots of web sites.

I have been researching for some cottages<BR><BR>Not for several months but here are some sites that I have come across<BR>http://www.winchcombe.co.uk <BR>http://www.cottagenet.co.uk/<BR>http://www.cotswoldcharm.co.uk/stablecottage.htm <BR>http://www.lowerbrookhouse.co.uk<BR>http://www.completely-cotswold.com<BR>http://www.burford-house.co.uk/index.html<BR>http://www.premiercottages.co.uk<BR>http://www.owlpen.com/cottages.htm<BR>http://www.gtunlimited.com/cotswoldsvacationsrentals.html#Return3<BR><BR>http ://www.ukcottages.co.uk/<BR>http://www.churchendcottage.co.uk/<BR><BR>www.english-country-cottages.co.uk<BR>http://www.cotswoldcottage.co.uk/<BR>www.premiercottages.co.uk<BR>http://www.cowslip-cottages.co.uk/<BR><BR><BR>This website has loads of places to stay throughout England<BR>http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk<BR><BR>

For several months, a holiday rental agency IS NOT the way to go. You are looking for a short or long term (depending on how many "several" is) let and a regular estate agent is what you need. Any vacation rental would be much more expensive than a 6 month let of a "regular" cottage.<BR><BR>There are MANY reputable estate agents. Do a web search because most are now on line. Also look at the Oxford Times (the main Oxford newspaper) and look through their properties to let ad section.<BR>

This may prove difficult. Janis is quite right concerning holiday rental companies. They will almost certainly be unavailable for rental period of more than 2 to 3 weeks. Even if they are, it will be prohibitively expensive. <BR><BR>On the other hand, estate agents (real estate agents) tend only to be interested in much longer term lets (six months minimum, normally 1 year plus). It's just not sufficiently profitable for them to deal in shorter periods. This is particularly true outside of London, where there is less mobility in the market.<BR><BR>A much better bet would be to check the small ads in local newspapers in the areas you're interested in (this may of course prove difficult for you if the newspapers concerned are not accessible over the internet). Some (but I'd stress not many) private landlords may be persuaded to let for less than 6 months, but probably not less than 4. There is a glut of rental properties on the market at present, so there is a reasonable chance. <BR><BR>I speak from experience as we had a similar problem last year when we needed a temporary base during a job re-location. After lots of dead ends phoning round estate agents, we eventually ended up in a beautiful 18th century cottage in Surrey for 4 months. We did have to sign an "assured shorthold tenancy agreement" for the 4 months and agree to pay slightly over the odds to compensate the landlord for the short period however.<BR>