“Positives; great location for all amenities.”
Beautifully decorated throughout with lovely furniture and all mod cons, good use of space, hot tub was a bonus, parking permit and complimentary dishwasher tablets/cloths/washing up liquid etc appreciated Negatives: the property is not suitable for infants/small children/elderly due to steepness of steps with no guards/gates available for safety. The kitchen extracter was so loud and using the grill set off all the smoke alarms! On arrival, there were noticeable lipstick marks on some of the glasses in the cupboard and some of the pans were not clean enough to use- we put them in the dishwasher with the items we had used, but ultimately ran out of dishwasher tablets cleaning items from the kitchen we hadn't used- had to question the cleanliness and preparation of the cottage for our stay. There were no instructions or provisions to use the log burner which was disappointing if we had wished to use that. There were no contact details for the owners in the instructions or email information sent to inform of any issues. There were no provision/instructions for recycling items and the recycling box in the shed was piled high with empty alcohol bottles (seems to be quite a lot so maybe from more than 1 previous guest- again felt no preparation had been made for our stay), we had no where to put our recycling. The timetable for council refuse/recycling in the info book was from 2020. There were gaps around the front door so it let cold air and had to be locked to make sure it was closed fully, but even then was debatable if it really was fully closed as there were cold drafts coming in from it. In the entrance there was a notice regarding covid regulations and to put all used towels/bedding in the bags provided upon departure- there were no bags provided. There were hairs and fluff in the bed, under the duvet of the 1st bedroom (entrance floor) so we had to question if it had been cleaned before we arrived. The towel rail in the bathroom (entrance level) became so hot it burned my partners arms due to the limited space in it to move around- obviously a specific risk to small children/infants. The extracter switch was also faulty as it didn't always turn off. The bathroom of the 2nd floor was stunning, however, there was mould around the walk in shower cubicle, and when the shower was turned on water not only came down from the shower head but also sprayed out of the pipe! All over the shower area and out onto the bathroom floor, so we had to use some of the towels mopping the excess water up. On closer inspection, there was a crack in the pipe so we couldn't use that shower at all. The claw bath was gorgeous, but only produced luke warm water from the taps- we had to fill it using the shower head which did have hot water. No bath mat provided for the bath, so again unsuitable for infants/small children. The 2nd floor bedroom was lovely, but the noise from the road outside could be heard and disrupted sleep. The heating system was strange with regards to the different floors- the entrance floor was comfortable, as was the kitchen as long as the oven/grill wasn't on. The 2nd floor was stifling hot and turning the radiators down didn't help. Opening the window didn't cool it down and just let all the street noise in. The attic room (not that we used that) was freezing. There was parking advertised for the property, but it was only suitable for a small car and as some of the local residents parked a white van and taxi directly opposite the space we couldn't swing our car in if we wanted to. Luckily the parking permit allowed on street parking. The back gate didn't bolt/lock as the fixings were not level. The info in the manual gave a code, but not sure what that was for as it was open anyway. We also received an unexpected visit from the council asking for the owner (which we didn't have details for) and when we explained we had rented the property for the week, they then wanted details on who we had booked through etc. They left a letter which we had to leave for the owner in the entrance. Overall, we enjoyed the stay as the location was good and the property did have all the mod cons, however we feel there needs to be improvements for infant/small children to safely stay here. We also understand this was a last minute/same day booking as our original booking for a log cabin was cancelled (as we were setting off) due to storm arwen, but we still expected a good level of cleanliness and contact info (especially due to the cracked shower pipe/heating/water issues and council visit) for a rental property.