The cottage has lots of potential to be a very desirable place to vacation. However, I would say this place needed a good deep clean and some TLC by the owner.
Some basic attention like replacing or fixing broken items is highly needed. For example, including crank handles for windows so they can be operable (i.e. to sleep with a cool breeze at night), outlets don’t work in the upstairs bedroom (i.e. charging your electronics), freezer downstairs was not functioning and needed to be replaced, plexiglass on the gazebo was weathered and has holes, new couch is needed as the current one is unstable, BBQ lid did not have pins in it to enable it to stay open on its own - had to hold it open and not let go otherwise the lid would swing around and fall off which was very dangerous, stones on the path way were loose and coming off which was hazardous.
Cleanliness and hygiene wasn’t very good. Coming from a family that has allergies, our allergies flared up. Our allergies were so bad that we ended up leaving a day early to go home and sleep in our own beds for some relief. There were clumps of dust under and around the beds, crumbs, wrappers and even mouse droppings in and around the couch and rooms. In one of the rooms, I found over 50+ mouse droppings. We knew there were mice issues when two mouse traps were set on the windowsill for use. One morning we found mouse droppings on the kitchen counter, so we set the traps and even caught a mouse while here.
I will say the locations is lovely and it does have a TON of toys for young kids- this was so nice for our toddler and preschooler. The sand area and shallow area were great for the kids and the water was warm. The gardens are very overgrown and the grounds around the cottage are not maintained.
There is also a very dangerous narrow & steep spiral staircase that’s not mentioned or shown in the listing. It’s dangerous for adults and a death trap for kids. There should be a gate put up on it for safely reason if this is a child friendly cottage. We did not use the narrow spiral staircase to go between the floors but rather used the exterior entrances.
I’d also say for those wanting to stay here, know to bring your own toilet paper, paper towel, dish clothes and water jug (for drinkable water) on top of bringing your own sheets and towels.
We were expecting the condition of the cottage to be in better state and cleanliness. Also, the photos are from 2013 and needs to be updated as it’s not the same.
