Terms & Conditions

Effective 10^th September 2024. If your booking was confirmed prior to this and want to see the previous terms please contact sales@hoppickers.co.uk

1.    THE CONTRACT for a short-term holiday rental will be between the Hop Pickers Rural Retreats Owners (referred to as “us” or “we”) and the person making the booking and all members of the holiday party (referred to as “you” or “your”) in the following booking conditions. UK law will govern the Contract. The contract of hire is not effective until we have processed the deposit. The contract will be subject to these booking conditions, and must be complied with. The party leader must be at least 18 years of age at the time of booking and the booking form must list names, ages, postcodes and contact details of all guests.

2.    PAYMENT: Bookings are CONFIRMED on receipt of the deposit of £150. The deposit must be paid within 3 days of booking being placed. The balance of the rental will be due for payment TWO CALENDAR MONTHS prior to the holiday commencement date and we reserve the right to cancel a holiday where payment has not been received 2 calendar months before the commencement date. If the booking is made within 2 calendar months of the holiday start date the full rental will be required. If the booking is made within 14 days of the arrival date, full payment must be received within 24 hours of placing the booking. No entry to properties will be allowed without payment, in full, being cleared beforehand. Once you have a confirmed booking, (for clarity when you have paid the deposit), you are responsible for the full rental cost even if you subsequently cancel.

3.    CANCELLATION: Cancellations must be immediately notified to us by phone and confirmed in writing by recorded delivery. If we are able to re-let your booking we will refund you the final letting price (which may be less than you paid) less an administration fee. If we are unable to re-let there will be no refund under any circumstances and you will still be responsible for the full rental cost.

4.    CANCELLATION INSURANCE: Cancellation Insurance is not compulsory but we strongly recommend such insurance to protect against the cancellation penalty. Booking Protect is available when booking on the online system.

5.    CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND THE CONTROL OF THE OWNER (FORCE MAJEURE): If for any reason we have to cancel your booking in advance due to circumstances beyond our control for example fire, flood, exceptional weather conditions, epidemics, destruction/damage to the property (“force majeure“) you will be refunded the full amount of the booking. If we have to terminate your holiday early for the above reasons you will be refunded part of the booking fee based on the time remaining of the booking. No additional compensation, expenses or costs will be payable.

6.     PERIOD OF HIRE: You should not arrive before 4pm on the commencement date, and you must leave by 10am on the day of departure. Failure to do so will result in you being charged a further day’s rental. You must not use the property except for the purpose of a holiday during the holiday period, and not for any other purpose or longer period. The agreement to stay in the property for the holiday period, does not create the relationship of Landlord and Tenant between the parties. You shall not be entitled to a new tenancy, or to any assured short hold or assured tenancy or any statutory protection under the Housing Act 1988 or other statutory security of tenure now or at the end of the Holiday Period.

7.     THIRD-PARTY SUPPLIERS

7.1  If you want to use the services of a third-party supplier whilst staying at Hop Pickers Rural Retreats you must ask and receive written permission to do so. This may be for a chef, beauty treatments, bouncy castle hire, magicians, entertainment, swimming instructors, child miders etc.

7.2  Hop Pickers Rural Retreats would need to see the third-party supplier’s public liability insurance, and any other related/required certification. Hop Pickers Rural Retreats will then seek approval from our insurers to allow the third-party activity to take place. 

7.3  If all insurances and certification are satisfactory to us and our insurers, permission to invite these suppliers will not be unreasonably withheld.

7.4  Hop Pickers Rural Retreats does not accept liability for the activities of these third-party suppliers. If you bring a third-party supplier to Hop Pickers Rural Retreats without consent, we reserve the right to ask them to leave. 

8.     NUMBER OF PERSONS USING THE PROPERTY: Under no circumstances may more than the maximum number of persons stated on the Hop Pickers Rural Retreats website occupy the property. We reserve the right to refuse admittance if this condition is not observed. Any persons other than members of your party must not use the facilities at Hop Pickers without prior consent. If you wish to invite additional visitors to visit you during your stay, please ask prior to their arrival. We will try to accommodate this but we must comply with the maximum site occupancy limits, our insurance cover and consider other guests on site.

9.     SUPERVISION: There must be at least one capable and responsible adult over the age of 18 in each hired property. You are responsible for the full active supervision of all members of your party under the age of 18 at all times. This is particularly important around the swimming pool, in the games room, the tennis court and surrounding fields which have unfenced ponds, wildlife and livestock. There are specific rules for the use of the swimming pool which are on display at the pool and in information guides in each property. A disclaimer must be signed prior to any use of the pool. Parties not supervising their children responsibly may be asked to put appropriate arrangements in place or leave the facility.

10.  ELECTRIC VEHICLES POLICY

About this policy

10.1                This policy sets out how Electric Vehicles (EV) should be recharged while at the Property and the responsibilities of EV owners in respect of safe charging.  

10.2                Any reference to “Site” in this policy is a reference to the entire property including any garden, grounds, outbuildings, garages or communal spaces.

10.3                This policy forms part of our contract with you. A breach of this policy will constitute a breach of the contract between us.

Who does this policy apply to?

10.4    This policy applies to all members of the Booking Party and any additional guests of the booking party.

What is an Electric Vehicle?

10.5                For the purpose of this policy an EV is any vehicle that uses electric motors, either fully or partially, to drive its wheels. It will derive some or all its power from rechargeable batteries which requires connection to the electricity grid (plug-in). This includes fully chargeable and plug-in hybrid cars, motorbikes, buggies, scooters, mopeds, bicycles, utility vehicles and tracked vehicles.   

10.6                Domestic charges are not permitted on site.

10.7                Most EVs are supplied with a domestic charger, commonly known as a ‘granny charger’ or a ‘trickle charger’. These cables recharge the EV using a domestic power source via a 3-pin wall socket.

10.8                Domestic chargers are not suitable for use on site and will create a fire hazard. The use of domestic chargers is strictly forbidden.

10.9                We retain the right to carry out reasonable inspection, on a without notice basis, to ensure that granny chargers are not in use on site.

10.10            You are solely liable for any damage or loss suffered by us as a result of your unauthorised use of domestic chargers.

10.11            The storage of any e-bike or scooter must not be stored in or within 5 metres of any building on site.

10.12            Dedicated charging points. We do not currently have a dedicated charging point. There are multiple dedicated charging points (DCP’s) locally. The nearest BP Pulse Charging Point is located on Grovewood Rd, Malvern. WR14 1GD. Typically a 16-20 minute drive from Hop Pickers Rural Retreats.

11     LIABILITY: Hop Pickers Rural Retreats, its employees and representatives shall not be liable to you or your party for loss or damage to property howsoever arising. You must take all necessary steps to safeguard yourselves and your property.

12     CARE OF THE PROPERTY: You are responsible for the property and are expected to take all reasonable care of its furniture, pictures, fittings and effects, in or on the property. You must leave them in the same state of repair, and in the same clean and tidy condition at the end of the rental period as at the beginning. You must not use the properties for any dangerous, offensive, noxious, noisy, immoral activities or carry on there any act that may be a nuisance or annoyance to the owner or other neighbouring properties. Smoking, vaping and candles are not allowed in any of the properties. If smoking is detected in any of the buildings, then a charge will be levied. Any damages will have to be paid in full within seven days of notification. We recommend you have insurance in place to cover this.

13     DAMAGES & BREAKAGES: You are legally bound to reimburse us for replacement, repair or extra cleaning costs on demand. If damage occurs to the property as a result of the actions of Guests during the stay, where the extent of that damage is so severe that we must cancel and/or refund subsequent bookings, we may bring a claim against you for any loss arising as a result, including the cost of refunding other guests affected by cancelled bookings and any administrative fees incurred in respect of the same. If you lose a key to the property you will be responsible for the cost of replacement.

14     WIFI: Wi-Fi is provided for the guest’s reasonable use. The guest agrees to reasonable and lawful usage of this service.

15      RIGHT OF ENTRY: We shall be allowed the right of entry to the property at all reasonable times for purposes of inspection or to carry out any necessary repairs or maintenance.

16     COMPLAINTS: Every effort has been made to ensure that you have an enjoyable stay. However, if you have any problem or cause for complaint, it is essential that you contact us immediately to give us the chance to resolve it. We value your custom and want you to return.

17     DATA PRIVACY STATEMENT & COOKIE POLICY: We treat any data collected during the course of making bookings or dealing with enquiries in strict confidence. Your data will never be sold. As members of Premier Cottages (a marketing collective of the best four and five star cottages in the UK) we have agreed to supply to Premier Cottages Ltd the names, postal and email addresses of all guests booking with us during the previous year, in order that these guests may be sent a Premier Cottages brochure and sent promotional emails from time to time. We also provide them with the email addresses of guest enquiries. By accepting these terms and conditions you are indicating your consent to receiving these communications unless you let us know otherwise, which you can do at the point of booking by ticking the Marketing Notes box at the bottom of the booking form. If at any time you would like your details removed from this list all you need do is to click the unsubscribe link on any of the emails or contact us on sales@hoppickers.co.uk and we will arrange for you to be removed from the database.

18      PETS: We only allow dogs, and only when have they been booked in and paid for. (£25 per dog, per stay/per cottage entered). Two dogs are allowed in the The Barn and The Cabin and one in the Hideaway. In order to maintain our Four Star Gold Cottages for everyone to enjoy, it is necessary that guests bringing dog(s) agree to these conditions.

19      SMOKING: Smoking is prohibited inside all buildings and within a 5m distance of any building. A smoking policy is provided in the information guides in each property and this must be adhered to.

WHAT’S NOT ALLOWED AT HOP PICKERS RURAL RETREATS

1/ Domestic Electric Vehicle charging is prohibited at Hop Pickers Rural Retreats.

2/ Under no circumstances are you to bring electrical appliances to Hop Pickers Rural Retreats, other than laptops and phone chargers, without explicit written permission. This includes air conditioning units. Guest appliances have not been PAT tested and could invalidate our insurance. We will levy a charge if we find they have been operating without consent.

3/ Fireworks, Chinese Lanterns, firepits and portable BBQ’s are explicitly forbidden at Hop Pickers Rural Retreats. The surrounding rural area is a tinder box in summer and we have livestock on site and there is livestock on many of the fields surrounding Hop Pickers Rural Retreats.

4/ Whilst reasonable numbers of visiting guests are allowed, additional overnight guests are not. The cottage occupancy limits are clear on the website. This could invalidate our insurance.

5/ Guests who invite visitors who have dogs, must check with us first. Any visiting dogs must abide by our Doggy Code.

6/ Guests who invite visitors to come and join them during the day are not entitled to use the swimming pool unless explicit permission has been granted. A couple of guests is normally acceptable.

7/ If you have booked more than one cottage, please don’t move items either internal or external from one cottage to another. If you would like to move something, a BBQ for example, we can arrange safely moving these and then re-installing them.

8/ Drones are not allowed to be flown at Hop Pickers Rural Retreats. Other guests may be present, and we wish to protect their privacy.

Additional Terms and Condition for guests bringing their dog(s).

·       On arrival please keep your dog(s) on the lead while you unpack and get your bearings. It’ll take a few minutes and get to know the site and where the walks are.

·       We have three friendly dogs plus free range chickens and horses. Please keep your dogs under control, they must not chase any livestock or wildlife.

·       Dogs are not allowed in the bedrooms. We understand that many dogs are allowed on the sofa and we provide blankets in the dog welcome pack to cover sofas. We can provide stair gates in the cottages which will help control where the dog(s) can wander in the cottages. We will have to levy an extra cleaning charge if they have been on the beds or on the uncovered sofas and damaged sheets will have to be paid for.

·       Your dog(s) must not be left alone with free run of the property. We can provide on request dog crates. Dogs must not be left in the property when you go out. We can provide contacts for dog sitters if required for a day trip without the dog. We provide a guide of dog friendly pubs and restaurants and places to visit so that your dog can be with you as much as possible.

·       We regret that dogs that bark continuously are not allowed

·       When you bring a muddy dog back from a walk, please clean them off using the outside tap and then towel them off. We have a ‘Mud Daddy’ portable dog wash which can be used with warm water on request. Please on no account use the white towels provided for human use.

·       Poo patrol! When you take your dogs for a walk, please pick up after your dog(s) including in our fields, as these are open to all guests. Please dispose of poops in the outside poo-bin, whatever the weather..

·       If you have a puppy please take extra care. They will chew the furniture or soft furnishings here in our 4 star cottages! Maintaining our grading is key to our business and we can’t always repair things, if it must be replaced, we will have to charge you. We do provide cages whenever dogs are booked in, these must be requested in advance.

·       The Countryside Code must be followed so please keep your dog(s) under close control at all times for their own safety as well as the comfort of others.

·       Please give the cottage a basic clean, and remove as much of the dog hair as possible; if properties require serious additional cleaning we will have to charge a £50 fee to cover the cost.

·       Please also make sure you close any gates behind you.