We saw this holiday cottage on the Kent holiday cottages website and booked a holiday in June, looking forward to the delights of the hot tub and the full Sky TV package as we don’t tend to go out much of an evening. It looked comfortable and well located and it certainly was the latter.
When we arrived our first shock was that unlike the pictures it was not isolated on a country lane “on the owner’s estate” as described and pictured but actually on a short drive and located directly opposite the owners property and their own car was kept at the top of the drive so the hot tub, being unscreened, offered no privacy at all. Needless to say we did not use it as it just felt too uncomfortable. The house itself looked lovely and to be fair the kitchen was very well equipped. That is about all the positives though – my mother would have said the house was all “fur coat and no knickers” as it was very stylish but not practical or comfortable, perhaps the owners should try staying there for a week themselves. The stylish bathroom upstairs had no bathmats, nowhere to put toiletries and the bath was so small that even I could not lie in it and I am only 5 foot! The bedroom was spacious and the bed was comfortable but there were three windows – one was a skylight with no blind so it woke you around 3.45 am ( I noticed quite a few people had complained about this in the visitors book but clearly the owners were uninterested as nothing was done about it) Mind you the neighbours dog woke us each morning at 5.30am barking so it did not make much difference. The other two windows had blinds so if the windows were left open, essential as it was very hot up in the bedroom, then they flapped and clacked all night but it was too bright if they were left open. There was no door on the bedroom as it was open stair access and there were no doors on the living room or kitchen so every single noise echoed throughout the house a real disadvantage if one partner got up in the night as mine tends to do!
The first evening the Sky TV would not work but the owner was away and we thought it was just us – the next day they returned and confirmed they did not have a sky subscription despite it being advertised as a full sky package with films and sport. We later took this up with the holiday company who confirmed the owner had ordered a new sky box and package but was unwilling to give any compensation despite it not being as advertised.
There was also a shower cap fitted over the fire detector as it had been placed too close to the cooker – I would have thought this would be illegal?
Location was good – we visited lots of lovely places as can be seen in my other article about Kent in general.
So if you want a stylish but uncomfortable week you know where to go!
