We planned a trip to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and searched for a place that could accommodate 3 couples. We chose the Europa Guest House which combines a two-bedroom unit with a one-bedroom cottage. The house is on a quiet street with a lovely garden, with only a 20-minute walk to the theaters.

The two couples who stayed in the bigger place felt it is better suited to a family, as the lower bedroom with a comfortable kingsize bed also serves as the living room/dining room and is right off the small kitchen and bathroom. The upstairs bedroom has no door, and the couple who slept there weren't very comfortable. Neither bedroom has much privacy, but the downstairs bedroom/living room was a nice place to hangout and eat breakfasts together. The kitchen was well-equipped, especially for one so small.

The other unit was was light, airy and very comfortable with a larger kitchen and good, firm bed. It has a vaulted ceiling which would be good for stargazing if it is a clear night. The bathroom and kitchen are a few steps up, nicely separating the space. The bathroom in this apartment has a shower, but no sink, so the kitchen sink works for both. This kitchen is also well-equipped and better suited for cooking. We all felt, that this was the preferred unit, and my husband and we would stay in it again.

Over all, Europa House is a well-situated, well-suited place to stay while attending the plays. I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because of a couple of things that happened during our stay. One was that the toilet in the two-bedroom house was clogged, and a phone call to Irene was unanswered. We wound up having to go to the hardware store to buy a plunger. When Irene came by much later that evening with a plunger, we had already fixed the problem. While it is unreasonable to expect Irene to be there all the time, It would have been good to have someone on-call to respond sooner.

The other thing that happened is that it was unseasonably cold—in the 40s— and very wet the four days we spent there. We came home after a play to find the units really cold and tried to turn on the heat. It had been shut off, and we had to ask to have it turned on. That in itself wasn’t too bad, but even though the next night was equally cold, the heat had been turned off again. After arriving home cold and wet, we had to once again ask to have it turned back on, and it took us awhile to get warm.

That aside, we greatly enjoyed our stay in Ashland.