Surrounded by green fields, Greenlooms Cottage offers a quiet countryside retreat just five miles from the walled City of Chester.

The two rooms at Greenlooms are self-contained with convenient spacious en-suite bathrooms (full pressure shower and wc - no bath) as well as walk-in clothes closets. Single occupancy is £45.

Low windows offer views over green fields and passing wild-life such as owls and foxes. Lie between crisp clean white cotton sheets and enjoy the view.

Guests enjoy privacy and quietness at one end of the property. They have their own front door and their own snug little sitting room.

If you want conversation and company, this is easy to find with Peter and Deborah either in their large kitchen or sitting out in the sun at the front of the house or perhaps elsewhere in the large garden.

Meals are served in the kitchen where hot toast, coffee and dishes baked, poached, grilled or fried are brought straight from the Aga cooking range to your table.

The cottage was once the hedger and ditcher's home on the Duke of Westminster's Eaton Estate. Hezekiah, the last inhabitant, lived here for many years with his sister, Miriam, who kept pigs and geese.

Deborah and Peter have made sensitive extensions, improvements and repairs to both the cottage and the former farm buildings.

The latter create a useful place to keep your two-wheeler safe and dry should you happen to be touring the Cheshire cycle ways.

The origin of the name "Greenlooms" is a bit of a mystery. Connections with weaving seem unlikely. There are theories connected with birds, earth and light.

Martins Lane is one of those old Cheshire country lanes lined with oaks and damsons and which kinks for no apparent reason across the countryside. It is quite hard to find. The Shropshire Union Canal lies a short walk away across the fields.

There are many attractions and places to go nearby as well as within easy range for a day's outing.

The Roman walls of Chester should not be missed. They offer unsurpassed glimpses of the race course, the River Dee with its bandstand concerts and regattas, Cathedral Green with its cricket matches, King Charles I Tower and the city life below.

The Walls are a great way to access the select antique shops, the dramatic flight of locks linking the Shropshire Union Canal to the River Dee and the various gastronomic inns along the way.