South East Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Andrea - Verified booking

  On booking the property no warning no visitors allowed on the property.

  found out after paying the non refundable fee. booked for 10 nights for 6 adults. when i was able to speak to the owner I made it clear as i booked the property for my family visiting from cyprus I would be visiting. I also informed her that they would be arriving very late early morning and I would be waiting for them the owner assured me that was no problem. Originally I was expecting 7 of them I would wait for them to take one of them to my house. 6 arrived plus my son who helped them to find their way from the airport. He had his own car and left shortly to go to his own house. They arrived later than expected due to bad weather at about 2am that is 6 adults with 12 suitcases. Next day a text from the owner complaining that the quests next door were awaken and complained. Also a rude reminder that only 6 quest sleep on the property. I assumed that they have cameras on the driveway and saw me leaving on my own. I answered to her texts when i spoke to her she said it was the noise when they arrived not any noise when in the property. 6 adults, 12 suitcases gravel driveway and the 2 properties very close together. The property on first glance is very beautiful and very clean. The log burner one of the reasons I booked it, some wood ready to use when I asked for more I was told I could buy it locally I foolishly assumed that was included to the price. Despite our best efforts not all radiators were working the main one in the lounge they came and repaired it when I told them but in my opinion that should have been checked before my family's arrival. Very low water pressure in both bathrooms shower in the ensuite in need of repair as shower head is floppy. I had informed the owner that my family would not be in the property for 2 nights on return we found out she had come into the house and turned down the heading my family returned again to a cold house. Some extra wood would have been nice for the savings she made as no use of power and water. No instructions were left in the property. My family all adults very respectful of the property. They left no rubbish, tidy up did not strip the beds. I will not be booking again this property,

  Read more less >

• Andrew - Verified booking

  Beautiful place.

  The accommodation was well decorated and comfortable in most, but not all, respects. There were some strange and unexpected omissions. Cutlery and crockery and cooking equipment were of poor quality or lacking e.g. mugs were stained and unable to be cleaned (dishwasher and scourer didn't clean them), poor quality cutlery, no frying pan even though there were utensils to go with them, pyrex lids but no dishes to go with them! There were no long drinking glasses, so we had to buy some. The information folder there was of tatty student quality with very brief and rather inadequate information inside. Good quality TV, but didn't work much at all for the first day or so. Once retuned it was excellent and some scant reference to it in the folder indicated that it was problematic, but we shouldn't be expected to have to waste our holiday time working this out. The folder also contained comments from another previous tenant which echoed all the points I am making. One hook in the bathroom and no shelves or towel rails at all - very strange. Luckily we are not obese, because if you were, you wouldn't fit in the shower. Indeed you wouldn't get through the shower doors Lastly, we realised from the pictures that the bedroom was small, but was it really necessary to provide a protruding bed base with such sharp wooden corners in such a confined space? I noticed it straight away, but in the dark and when tired, my shins were obviously not going to! I could almost guarantee anyone staying there would suffer the same fate. Such small things really and easily rectified. Such a grand and beautiful place and we're glad we went, but the accommodation almost had an air of that'll do for the peasants!

  Read more less >

• Diana - Verified booking

  A darling little cottage for 1 or 2 plus a small/medium pet, like ours (Jack Russell), which is attached to The Coach House so you are overlooked but this didn't bother us at all.

  On entry, you walk straight into the galley dining & kitchen which provide everything you need for your stay including washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets, ( even laundry pods! ) dishcloths, tea towels and oven mit. A nice touch was the bottle of prosseco, pint of milk, tea, coffee, sugar and biscuits, salt & pepper. There is a fire extinguisher. In the lounge , we are on the large size and found, the 2 seater comfortable. The wifi and freesat worked fine ( had to switch off and reset router once which is usual for us at home so not a bother). There is also a small selection of books and dvds. Toilet/shower room was clean and even I could squeeze into the shower so it is a good size and water was lovely. The provision of soap and toilet paper was a bonus. All linen and towels are hotel grade; White and soft. The bed is a double with a soft, bouncy mattress. Lush! You can squeeze past to get to the single wardrobe which was large enough for our clothes. There are only 3 drawers in the dresser but again this was enough for our smalls. We could hear our neighbours only when they went up or down stairs, otherwise it is very well soundproofed. There is a folder containing all the information you need (eg alternate bin collected on Tuesday and returned on Wednesday and they recycle). It was very clean, albeit a cobweb, but it is in the country so we weren't bothered by this. On leaving we were happy to strip the bedding and put into the laundry bag with used towels and ensure everything we used was washed and put away. We spent 4nights here and enjoyed walking the grounds of the house and gardens. We truly felt we were on holiday!

  Read more less >

• Victoria - Verified booking

  Cottage is in a beautiful setting and it was lovely to walk around the grounds of Appuldurcombe house.

  The cottage is cosy and very comfortable. Bedroom nice and served its purpose. Bed was very comfortable. However, here are my negative points.. The shower is too small and anyone who is a bit weighty will struggle to get in. In fact, I only just did get in through the small opening of the door! I have to say also that the shower tray was stained all round the bottom and the water hole had hair in it. Me being a person who likes things clean , I pulled the hair out before my granddaughter had her shower and to my disgust out came dirt and slime. I had to clean the shower with bleach before it was used. The shower room floor was dirty and on closing the door I found dirt, dead small spiders and hair. The cleaning needs to be looked at as it’s not What one wants when they go on a holiday. The kitchen had no frying pan ( I took my own as I read another recent review saying there was no frying pan) 2 glasses has chips on them and there were no large glasses. Cutlery was of bad standard and stained. The kettle had water in it and was full of scale pieces. I cleaned it out before I could use it. All in all we loved the cottage but the owner needs to have a word with the cleaner as it was a bit of a let down. I clean every day and it’s not something I want to do on holiday. I would defiantly stay in the retreat again but would complain if the cleaning wasn’t up to standard in the bathroom like the rest of the cottage was . Beautiful place in a peaceful setting.

  Read more less >

• Suzanne - Verified booking

  Overall it was a lovely holiday cottage, it was just the right size for me and my daughter and in a beautiful location.

  My only gripes are the following: 1) Please have the owners install an electric towel rail. The welcome manual advises no clothes to be hung over the electric heaters and suggests you hang towels over the bannister to dry. After 2 days of wet towels, wet shoes there was a definite dampness in the cottage. We were lucky with the weather so hung wet towels on our camping chairs at the front of the property but had this been typical British weather, we would’ve struggled. 2) the front door wouldn’t stay open by itself so with trying to let air circulate, we had to use the broom then eventually a rock that was used to keep the bin lids shut to keep the door open. There is poor ventilation in the cottage so Please ask the owner to fix a hook to the wall so the door can be latched on to. 3) And finally, a cheese grater. This may not sound an essential holiday need but keeping with essential kitchen utensils, it would’ve been very useful, we had to use the potato peeler instead so all was not lost.

  Read more less >