“The cottage was in the most amazing location, only a 10 minute walk into town down a quiet scenic lane with a large garden and a river flowing past.”
The scenery was idyllic and at the end of the lane was a large park and we had such easy access to a range of walks and more challenging hikes. We had all the facilities we required and once you got used to the quirks of the cottage e.g which way to turn the bath taps on, knowing that the hot water tap runs slow at night, where to switch on the towel rail etc it was easy to live with for a week. There were plenty of plug sockets all conveniently placed, the water was piping hot, loads of kitchen equipment although we had to wash a few items on arrival, a private, a dishwasher and washing machine, large sized car park space outside, dog friendly and boot friendly flooring, ultra warm bedding and it was comfortable to stay in for a week for two adults and a dog. There were also a range of games, books and DVDs that we were welcome to use.
A couple of things that could be improved - the chicken wire fencing in the garden was not secure and our beagle investigated next doors garden which was a shame as we then couldn't let him out for an early morning sniff around and this was a main reason for booking the cottage. The steps down into the garden are wobbly and the garden chairs have definitely seen better days so we didn't even sit on them. The bed was super squeaky when you lay down or turned over however we got used to this. The Dyson hoover didn't have a brush attachment and the hose was cracked making it hard to clean with which is probably why the cottage wasn't as clean as it could have been on arrival. The final thing was that it was quite a corporate "welcome" and lacked the personal touch that you receive in other places - we had a cleaning kit left for us whereas our family members received milk, bread, balloons (!), chocolates etc in other cottages which was more memorable and well received.
So an overall score of 8/10 from us. The cottage had almost everything we asked for and we were very sad to leave.