Boris Johnson’s announcement last Saturday evening means that people across the country are unable to come and stay here in the Wye Valley this month, writes Lucy Rabone.

From Thursday November 5, we have been told to stay at home for four weeks.

To find out how holidays let owners in Symonds Yat have been affected by this second lockdown, I contacted Patrick and Debbie May, owners of number 6, Wye Rapids Cottages:

“We’re not surprised by the announcement; we were kind of expecting it really,” said Mr and Mrs May.

“Luckily, since we were allowed to reopen on July 4, our cottage has been very busy, including in September and October. November tends to get quieter, so the lockdown is better now than in the peak seasons!

“We only had one booking for November, as we tend to get a lot of last minute bookings this time of year. This has had to be cancelled,” they added. “The guests had already moved their booking twice, so let’s hope they will be able to enjoy Symonds Yat next year!

“We have two bookings already for Christmas time, so we are hoping these can go ahead for us, as well as the guests. We don’t really know what to expect, but nobody does.”

I also spoke to Clive and Julie Essen, owners of number 4, Wye Rapids Cottages:

“Last lockdown in March was odd, because we couldn’t take any bookings. The ones we already had had to be moved,” said Mr and Mrs Essen.

“When we were eventually able to reopen, we had to keep the cottage Covid-friendly, which was very difficult.

“Our bookings were all just moved by our management company, so bookings for Easter were moved back a whole year,” they added. “This was quite annoying, but needs must at the end of the day - we are in the middle of a pandemic.

“The hardest thing for us is that we can’t come to our cottage, to stay or even to check on it. Thankfully, we have really good neighbours, which puts our minds at rest.”