About us
Hi there! We're Marina & Emily, the Elwes Family…
We've lived and travelled to many places across Europe so we appreciate the joy of feeling at home in new places and love to host! Our daughter Emily, who mostly lives from Barcelona, Spain, helps us manage our bookings, so if you're thinking of spending time with us you're likely to be chatting to her.
And yes, you can book directly (psst. it’s cheaper than on booking platforms).
Based in the countryside we love sharing our farm, yurt and home with guests. On an average day you'll catch us looking after our sheep, gardening and fixing things in the farm.
If you have any questions at all please feel free to message us! We love hearing from you and are very flexible to individual needs. Looking forward to meeting you!
Things that we love!
We have a great love of all things creative, holistic and historical. As a family of many varied interests (our professions vary from Archeologist to Shepard and Carpenter) we regularly host groups for wellness retreats, weddings and nature reserve weekends - take your pick!
The Manor house dates back to Medieval times (you can see it’s entry in the Domesday Book pictured above). It was restored to become our family home 15 years ago. One of its quirks is that is features over 9 different staircases (perfect for playing hide and seek)! Its name, Sawcliffe, stands for 'Sail' - Windmill, 'Clif' - Hilltop, meaning it can be quite a windy spot depending on the time of the year!
The farm is home to some rather unusual natural landscapes including a wild rabbit warren which has been listed as a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and also now home to a herd of wild Exmoor ponies.
Today the Manor is also features our 60m2 Yurt (or Yurtl as we like to call it) which we use for family parties, Scottish Dancing and Knott-Tying Ceremonies, a recently renovated two Victorian cottages and a former dove-cot turned non-dominational chapel for ceremonies.
In 2020 our home was featured on popular Channel 5 TV show “Rich House Poor House”, Episode 1 Series 5, ‘To the Manor Born’. It was our pleasure to swap lives with the wonderful Leckenby family.
Where we are:
Contact us:
sawcliffemanorrentals@gmail.com
+34 711020722
Public transport:
Circa. 2 hours train from Zurich
Circa. 2.5 hours car from Munich
Local Airports:
Zurich International Airport
Full Address:
Kirchstrasse 32,
Gaissau,
Austria,
6964