Mr Estall
May 2018
The cottage generally was let down by its "scruffy" appearance, whereby upon arrival to the property our first-impressions were of almost abandonment from outside.. The wrought iron front gate was in a state of disrepair and little more than barely usable (not helpful with a family of 5 with a 2yr old toddler and a dog), the front garden was generally overgrown and unkempt which was very disappointing. The same comments can be made of the rear garden, this was woefully overgrown and the patio area at the top of the garden should be condemned due numerous paving slabs being loose and susceptible to trips and falls which could have considerable consequences! The lower part of the garden immediately as you exited the back door required over two hours worth of manual labour, sweeping and cleaning patio furniture to make it usable.......not exactly what you want to be doing on the first day of your holiday!
Inside the cottage was better and generally as expected and we felt comfortable spending our evenings either around the kitchen table or in the living room, the beds and bathroom linen were fresh and comfortable but the general level of cleanliness in the cottage could have been better, lots of cobwebs and dust on and around all the ornaments and nick-nacks and not enough cleaning equipment to deal with available or a "contact this number XXXXXX" to allow us to either resolve ourselves or get someone in.
There may also be some room for improvement on the description of the local amenities, in particular the the public house that was mentioned being just down the road. The Bell Inn is NOT for families neither should it be suggested as a place to go, it was probably one of the roughest, tattiest and worst public houses I have ever had the misfortune to patronise.
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*******Owner Response*******
Firstly may I thank you for taking the time to give me feedback, as owners we genuinely take onboard what our guests impressions are and where appropriate improve our facilities to ensure comfort of future guests. Now if I can comment on the main points of your feedback. 1) "scruffy appearance, overgrown & unkempt gardens" - We were shocked by these comments however once we had spoken to our gardener we understood fully what had occurred.
Our gardener had broken his arm and had not been around to the cottage in a few weeks, so quite rightly it was overgrown, we sorted this out immediately and going forward put procedures in place for the new gardener to send us pictures of completed works.
We have also bought a stylish brand new 8 seat rattan table and chairs for the patio area.
2) Front gate not shutting - This has been repaired, so too has the side gate which was a bit stiff so a new handle has been put on it.
3)The 3 wobbly paving slabs in the garden have been re cemented in.
4) Our cottage is historic and so full of character, however we take on board the "nick nack" comment and removed many of the "dust collectors".
5) We also had too much crockery which may have looked a bit mis-matched so the excess has been removed so it looks less like a 2nd hand car boot sale stuff and more appealing.
The Bell pub, which does have very friendly publicans and locals, is undergoing renovation & is now tatty and scruffy this has been removed from recommended places.
6) One of the toilets is off of the kitchen however as a grade 2 listed 16th century property we have
to work with the rooms we have. The W/C door is on the left and one step down of the kitchen.
I'm sorry that you could not find my number from the welcome pack as we always advise our customers to contact us day or night if you have any questions or issues. As I would much rather arrange for housekeeping or gardener to come and sort out any issue immediately rather than be unhappy at the end of stay. I have now pasted my Phone number on the top of the welcome pack.
We do love the cottage and really want everyone else to enjoy it too.