The property was broadly as described although with less of the soft furnishings than in the pictures. It is a decent sized house, but slightly let down by the fact that there is nowhere to gather and sit beyond the dining room table. It is nice and the dining room is open plan. There is a room with a TV but no way you can fit all those staying into that room comfortably.
You must adhere to the no noise after 10pm rule. We forgot to do this on the first night and had a text from the property manager which we promptly responded to. However, the property manager then turned up at the house the next morning to remind us even though we had been in communication over the phone. This was fine but it felt like a slight invasion of privacy.
Some things to be aware of:
- It is really limited on some key items. The towels are tiny and I would advise bringing your own.
- We had no bin bags when we arrived. Some were dropped off but not enough and we could not throw all the rubbish away (more on this below).
- There was only one tea towel, so it is impossible to do all the washing up and putting away required over the weekend.
- There are no touches you would expect e.g. shower gel, some milk etc.
There were two broken chairs when we arrived which we were then charged for even though we were not responsible for breaking them, so if there is anything broken or out of place when you arrive you should send pictures to the property manager to avoid being taken advantage of.
It isn't made clear to you that you have to leave the house in the exact state you found it, this is hidden in the small print terms and conditions. We were charged an additional cleaning fee and the pictures they sent as proof were items that were washed up but not put away and extra rubbish we couldn't throw away because not enough bin bags were provided. We were tidying throughout the weekend but with a check out of 10am and those other things like not enough bin bags or tea towels it was impossible to leave it in the exact same way we found it and therefore got charged.
Overall, this is a nice place and good for gatehrins but the hidden extras we were charged for, the fact that this was expensive compared to the market anyway and the lack of acknowledgement of the mitigating circumstances, I would not stay here again.