Dog Friendly Cottages in Ashford

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Ms Smith - Verified booking

  REVIEW OF THE LOOKERS LEGACY, OXNEY IN STONE, KENT We stayed at The Lookers Legacy for 7 nights in May 2024. This was another in a series of Cottage stays with our adopted rescue dog. Our dog is highly reactive to many situations, so we booked Lookers Legacy as it was quite secluded and out of the way - and it catered for dogs! What a lovely place in a fantastic location and a great base from which to explore the South Kent and East Sussex countryside and beaches. Surrounded by 2 separate vineyards it has views over the Kent countryside. It’s on a small development of converted barns which is accessed by a secure, keypad operated, automatic gate but is a couple of hundred yards from the nearest neighbouring property, down the end of a short, unmade, drive. With a large secure parking space, it’s only a few minutes from the main roads – albeit down some narrow, twisty lanes. The parking is around a hundred yards from the cottage and to transfer your luggage and belongings the owners have provided a large barrow/trolley. It’s easy to manoeuvre but, even as a fit older person, I found it hard work pushing it up the sight slope from the cottage to the car ! For us, having a reactive dog, the biggest downside to the cottage was the fact that there is a public footpath running just a few yards from the cottage and past the open plan lawned area. This is clearly mentioned in the description but we were so seduced by the location and photos of the cottage we missed that bit ! Granted, the path wasn’t particularly busy but it was adjacent to the cottage and used by dog walkers with dogs off the lead - which meant that we had to constantly be on the lookout for approaching people and dogs so that we could take our dog inside. (Also, the off lead dogs would happily wander across the lawn and up to the doors to the lounge. Not ideal for us). The location in the vineyards did however mean that we could take the dog for quiet walks right from our doorstep ! The property itself is good. It has an interesting history and has been carefully thought out and sympathetically designed and put together. It could however have been a great property but for the fact that there were several areas where we felt more attention to detail could have been given. I’ll say now that none of these were show-stoppers and, having spoken to the owners about a couple of them we agreed that we didn’t need them resolved whilst we were there. Some of these may seem minor but, collectively, we felt they made a big difference. The sort of things we’re talking about are: • The description mentioned an underbed storage box, separate towels for the dog and a dog waste bin. None of these were there and the owners weren’t aware of that fact ! (The underbed storage would have been very useful as storage space overall was at a premium). • There was a light coating of dust on some surfaces. • There was a woodburning stove (supplied with a handful of logs) but there was no kindling and, more importantly, no lighter or matches to light it. • There was an issue with the rubber door seals on the small dishwasher – they were loose and pulling the bottom tray out ended up pulling the seal off the door (we had to replace it quite a few times). • There was no breadknife with the cutlery and no clingfilm, cooking foil or spare black bin bags (All of these would be cheap to provide and would be helpful thoughtful). • The cooking knives could do with a sharpen. • With the dishwasher’s small capacity (and the small amount of crockery provided) we had to use it practically everyday. A handful of dishwasher tablets were provided but not enough for our weeks stay. • There were only a couple of plastic (wine) glasses supplied but, with a lovely patio area outside, we felt that more (or a few plastic tumblers) would be very useful. • There were a couple of small rattan tables out on the patio which looked like they should have had glass tops. Both tops were missing which meant that any glasses placed on the tables weren’t very stable. • The crockery seemed a bit mis-matched. Some sets of 4 weren’t complete and there was only one red wine glass. • The only dustpan we could find was with all the equipment for the stove – and was broken. • There was a large, external, wooden shutter for the bedroom window (which directly overlooked the footpath). This was unusable and didn’t seem to have been maintained for some time. As I said, none of these were showstoppers (and may seem trivial and picky) but, having stayed in quite a few cottages, put together they could all create a much better guest experience. On a more positive note there were a lot of things which we felt were really good: • The location was one of the best we’ve come across. • The large bed and the sofa were very comfortable. • The 2 person hot tub was a great touch – especially in helping to wind down after a full day’s exploring. • There was plenty of open hanging space and coat hangers. • The small welcome pack was a nice touch. • The ability to be able to walk the dog around the vineyards was a bonus. Overall, we had a lovely week. The weather, for the most part was kind to us. We managed to get out and visit all the places we’d planned to whilst getting some well needed rest. Would we return ? No is the answer but primarily because we don’t tend to return to places (there’s far too many new ones to explore !)

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• Mr Hodges - Verified booking

  This property has been originally built and equipped to the highest standard, but since then the standard of upkeep has fallen. There is no book to give feedback to the owners if anything has gone awry. Thing will always break, instructions get lost etc. so feedback is essential. It was cold one night (5 degrees ) heating was insufficient, radiator in bedroom lukewarm, radiator in kitchen area would not come on so we decided to light the log fire, we had a basket of logs but no kindling or matches. This property is ideal for a two or three night airbnb, but staying longer presents problems due to a lack of storage, the guest book says there is a box under the bed for additional storage, there isn't, you end up living out of a suitcase, there is nowhere for small items of clothing. If you bring dried food for the week as we did there is no where to put it. It's a great shame as this is a first class property in a wonderful location.

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• Kathryn - Verified booking

  Slightly tired in places ripped furnishings e.

  G. dining seats and one bedroom chair. Kitchen well stocked with utensils and very grateful for washing machine, although a drying rack would have been nice. We ended up using hangers and the hat stand braced over the empty plant pot. Shame about outside furniture, which was very tired. Parasol broken and unusable which was unfortunate in the 39c heat! Owners may want to take note and monitor the bonfire activity of the neighbours; during the period when fire brigade specifically asked people not to light anything and the news reported major fires and loss of property; the charred grass spreading from the bonfire site towards the hay barn outside the property shows how close it came to an incident! While we appreciate this is not owners fault in any way, it was an unsafe and irresponsible act which they should be aware of. Overall, we enjoyed our stay very much.

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• David - Verified booking

  We did enjoy our stay at Jasmine cottage , it was clean and comfortable, nice and warm too , In a beautiful setting .

  We did experience a few issues as follows . 11 dead flys on bedroom floor on arrival . The Wi Fi was not existent , the just about managed to watch one movie on the Fire stick we brought .Our other devices all struggled unable to use them much at all . Tv remote not working batteries had corroded, Ginnie housekeeper quickly sorted this out thank you . Sound bar/box wasn’t working at all and tv sound very tinny such a shame . Shower door came off its runners , handy man was offered but never showed . No first aid box , veg peeler , or bottle opener . Like others we did experience noise travelling from next doors adjoining cottage , which distracted from this remote setting , not a huge issue as our neighbours very respectful .

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• Miss Johnstone - Verified booking

  The cottage is in a lovely part of Kent, but it is well below the standard of a holiday cottage that I would expect. The exterior seemed neglected and apart from the bathroom, the interior dated with dingy lighting and uncomfortable furniture. In particular, the single bed mattress was very old and you could feel the springs. The owners were away on holiday at the time of our stay and said they could not do anything to improve the situation. The bedding and towels were clean. It was so uncomfortable, we cut our holiday short and left early. This may have been a nice place to stay in the past, but sadly, I could not recommend it.

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