Holiday home The living areas in this property consist of a kitchen/diner with range cooker, oven, hob, microwave and fridge/freezer, a dining room for fifteen, a sitting room with TV, a study, a games room with TV and pool table and an entrance hallway with woodburning stove. The bedrooms consist of three doubles with hand basins, a double, a ground-floor double, a double with a single and a twin serviced by two bathrooms, a ground-floor shower room and a first-floor cloakroom. Outside there is ample off-road parking and a wrap-around terrace with furniture, a lawn and shared access to the tennis courts and outdoor swimming pool, there is also a lake. Within 0.4 miles there is a shop and 0.3 a pub. Two well-behaved dogs are welcome, but sorry, no smoking. WiFi, fuel, power, starter for woodburning stove, bed linen and towels are all included in the price. Deer Leap House is a wonderful setting for a family gathering in Dorset. Note: There are steps throughout the property, please take care. Note: There is a wrap around landing with railing, please supervise children at all times. Note: This property has a lake, children must be supervised at all times.
Accomodation Details Seven bedrooms: 3 x double with basin, 1 x double, 1 x ground-floor double, 1 x twin, 1 x family room with double with single, . Bathroom with bath, walk-in shower, basin, heated towel rail and WC. Bathroom with bath, basin and WC. Ground-floor shower room with walk-in shower, double hand basin and WC. First-floor cloakroom with basin and WC. Kitchen/diner. Dining room. Sitting room. Study. Games room with TV. Entrance hallway with woodburning stove
Area Moreton is a quiet village located 8 miles east of Dorchester, the County town, and is well-known for its connection to T.E.Lawrence, the famous soldier, author, and pioneering archaeologist better known as Lawrence of Arabia. He bought a house in the town now owned by the National Trust and is now named Cloud's Hill. He met and fell in love with Louisa Frampton while he was a resident here, and you can read some of their correspondence at the Moreton Tea Rooms. Only 8 miles away in the county town of Dorchester can you visit Thomas Hardy's former home and cottage, as well as many other shops, restaurants, and services. The Bovington Tank Museum is only a short distance away (about 6 miles), and is well worth the trip if you're interested in military history.
Region Explore the fossils and stunning beaches of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, visit historic Sherborne and Shaftesbury, or enjoy the footpaths, country lanes and thatched-roof pubs Dorset offers.
Amenities Central heating and woodburning stove. Range cooker with oven and hob, microwave and fridge/freezer. Washing machine. Dishwasher. 2 x TV, WiFi and pool table. Fuel, power and starter for woodburning stove inc. in rent. Bed linen and towels inc. in rent. Cot and high chair available on request.Ample off-road parking to the front of the property. Wrap around terrace with furniture, communal grounds including heated outdoor swimming pool (open from the beginning of 1st of June - 1st October), tennis court (with basketball net) (rackets can be provided), table tennis and unfenced lake.. Two well-behaved dogs welcome. Sorry no smoking. Shop 0.4 miles and pub 0.3 miles. Note: There are steps throughout the property, please take care. Note: There is a wrap around landing with railing, please supervise children at all times. Note: This property has a lake, children must be supervised at all times. Note: Check in at 4pm, check-out by 10am. Property grounds are shared with Deer Leap Cottage 1060768. Note: This property can be booked with Ref 1060768 sleeping 21 guests in total.
Friends hired Deer Leap House for a full week – Friday to Friday – in order to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary with family over the weekend and with friends from Sunday onwards.
This impressive looking house situated in superb, quiet grounds, complete with deer and large lily ponds, is a short walking distance from a railway station and welcoming pub. Within the grounds are a heated pool, tennis courts and a building housing pool toys and a table tennis table.
Internally the entrance hall is amazing and all rooms except the kitchen are spacious with appropriate amounts of furniture. However, as a rental property there are several aspects that let this beautiful building down. Overall it looks tired and dated and the owners need to give it a thorough deep clean and purchase better quality bed linen. Much of it is very old and bad pilling was evident.
In our bedroom the cushions were stained, the towel rail at the sink kept falling off the wall and the curtains (velour-like and very dated) were falling from the rail in places. The nearest shower room was unclean. Especially around the taps. The shower controls, head and base need a good dose of Viakal or replacing. There was no shower mat.
If you’re thinking of renting Deer Leap House and filling it to capacity, you would be well advised to take some essentials that are missing. Only nine mugs available - in a house that sleeps 15?! There was insufficient cutlery and cereal bowls (unless you want plastic ones).
The Aga ovens look as though they haven’t been cleaned in decades (same as the regular oven jammed in the corner).
There was only one small bath towel per person. If you showered in the morning, you had no towel to use for the pool. Take beach towels and tennis balls if you’re energetic enough.
Sufficient to say, despite the good features, our friends were very disappointed overall, and we all left before the Friday.
It wouldn’t take a lot to lift this property to the high standards it deserves. Owners take note.
Sandra C
August 2023
We loved this charming house and the space it afforded for our family of 9. The grounds are delightful and it was a real pleasure to see the deer in the mornings and early evenings.
The property is quite old so there are a few little niggles with the plumbing but nothing that was insurmountable. The Aga was a learning curve for us but we soon enjoyed leaving things to cook whilst we relaxed. We had no trouble with the electrics. The pool was enjoyed by the whole family and, yes , it needed a bit of a clean at the bottom at the deep end but as we are nearing the end of the summer season I presume it is because of constant use.
We found the house clean, well equipped and suited to all of our needs. A lot of thought has been put into furnishing the house as a home.
The house is perfectly situated amongst the beauty of Dorset.
We would come again.
Explore459668
May 2023
To put it briefly during our 7 day stay we had to have a man to look at the Aga which was giving off very bad fumes which gave out a horrible smell all over the house. A plumber to look at 2 of the showers and the hot water and the jacuzzi bath, all of which he couldn’t fix. An electrician was called to fit the most basic cooker you’ve ever seen, which took 4 hours with hours of drilling through the wall to do the wiring. A man came to look at the pool because the water went cold after 2 days & it never got warm enough for us to use it again. There was a mouse in the sitting room. The bedding was cheap and horrible. Sykes Cottages were unhelpful when I complained & said it was between me and the owner, they didn’t print my review which was polite but honest! We were 6 adults and 2 toddlers & a baby, we all had to use 1 tiny shower.
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