Mr Nicholls
June 2019
We had a successful holiday, and enjoyed the cottage very much.. We have left positive comments in the visitors book. Coincidentally, we also own an old cottage on Gower, South Wales, which is used for holiday lettings, so we appreciate the idiosyncrasies of these buildings.
If we had a criticism it would be that the restricted height in the living room is not really made clear. The description says
"Due to age of the property, please be aware of low ceilings and doorways in the original parts of the cottage."
I am six feet two inches tall, and had to bend every time I went into the living room, to avoid banging my head on the beams. Several door openings are also very low, as is the staircase which has very restricted headroom indeed. We understand that these characteristics cannot be altered, but felt that they not adequately described by the above description.
It is also difficult to get the key out of the key box, which has been located in the outside front store, which is about 4 feet high.
You have to get right into the store, before you can get to the key box. There is no light to read the key code. So this has to be done crouching on hands and knees.
I am 72 years old and perhaps not as flexible as I used to be, so getting the keys out, and putting them back, proved quite a challenge!
This problem can be solved easily!
We also thought that the garden could do with clearance and maintenance.
The description says
"outside you have a pretty cottage garden, where you can sit back with a coffee and plan your day of adventures."
It was hard to enjoy as a space because it is very overgrown, and the overhanging vegetation also made the interior of the building darker than it needs to be.
We appreciate that it is a very old cottage with small windows, and that is part of its charm, but being very overgrown made it seem just a bit neglected.
In windy weather it was quite ghostly and eerie!
It is hard to see the building from the road because of the overgrown vegetation, difficult to walk down the front garden path because of overhanging branches, etc.
The requirement to reverse the car down the narrow overgrown unlit side alley to the parking place would be too much for some.
It is true that there is;
"Off-road parking for one car" as stated, but it is not clear that to access this you must reverse 30 metres or so up a narrow single track, with stone "hedges" on both sides. There is no turning space and no room for error.
After dark this was particularly difficult to do, but it was not easy in daylight, requiring the manoeuvre to start by turning backwards against oncoming traffic, into a narrow opening off a main road!
Creation of a parking space in the front of the cottage, off the road, would be a great benefit, and not difficult or expensive to achieve.