Holiday cottage owners - things I would like pls!

[EinsteinaGogo]

Hi everyone,

There have been a few posts from holiday cottage owners recently (which makes sense, due to situation).

I'm browsing holiday cottages / lodges in Suffolk for between Christmas and New Year, and I'm pondering my 'must haves'.

Obviously, everyone has their own 'must haves'. In our case, we only go out for a few hours a day. the rest of the time we spend In the cottage.
so my must haves are:

Excellent wifi
Good sized Smart TV with Netflix at a minimum, ideally Amazon and ability to have other apps
King sized bed

There are so few places that have smart TVs -
I'm actually thinking about bringing one! And so many places only have a double bed. My DH is 6'4". Double beds mean rubbish sleep for us.

Renters: what are your must haves?
And owners - can you get me smart tv and massive bed pls?!

"Leave as you find it" is disgustingly rude.

I always strip beds, empty the bins into a main bin bag, and clean all the dishes we've used.

"Leave as you find it" to me means clean the bath, sinks, toilet, oven, fridge, floors, walls, switches, vacuum etc.

Must have -

Peace & quiet
Hot tub
Enclosed garden for dogs
A view or be in a view (iyswim!)
Good wifi
A least 3 double bedrooms with quality beds & bedding
Local places for excellent dog walks
A bath and a good power shower
A fridge freezer and lots of storage as I take a weeks worth of food & drink in case we don’t fancy eating out or there’s nothing good close by.

I go to the same cottage every year for a dogs holiday

Oooooo. Zipped and linked twins the best idea. It amazes me that all bedrooms have double beds. Pain when you have teenage sons who need their own beds.

Think our little cottage satisfies most of those requirements! From the other side though, please don’t pinch stuff!
To date we have had the following disappear
A brand new carving knife
Assorted cutlery
First Aid kit
USB plug
Book of walks of local area, clearly marked as property of the cottage.
A plug in night light
Radio/cd player

Only been doing it for a year, we live and learn!

I'm a holiday let owner. And this is a useful thread! I will be combing through it for ideas.

Superking bed please - not king which is only 6" bigger than a standard double which means each person only has the same amount of space as a narrow single bed.

We do Friday to Friday lets. A lot of people really like them. We find visitors who arrive on a Friday arrive far less frazzled than a Saturday in the height of August holidays. We're in cornwall and the A30 on a Saturday is murder. People seem to be relieved we do Friday to Friday!

Yes, definitely zip and link flyingarcher.

Bunk beds are OK for quite a limited age range, really, whereas with zip link you can set the room up for families or couples.

Hooks!! I'm pretty flexible about everything mentioned so far but there are often no hooks in the bathroom for my towel and clothes and never hooks by the hot tub if there is one. I don't want to leave the towel on the floor where it gets splashed and dirty. So cheap but always overlooked ime.

Reading this is making me think I'm a right lazy fucker

When we go away there is absolutely no proper cooking done. We might make egg on toast or pesto pasta at a push and have nice meats, cheeses ect for lunches and nibbling but when on holiday dinner is always either out at pubs and restaurant or at the very least a takeaway. Otherwise it just feels like same shit, different setting.

@Squidwitch

Last post I promise! But wtf are they thinking with Friday to Friday let's! Yes, we really want to take an extra days leave so you can spend the weekend at John Lewis spending

Definitely this! I work in a school and DS is still at college so Friday start just doesn’t work for a half term holiday. So often we’ve found what looks like the perfect holiday let only to find it’s a Friday start....

As a reluctant owner I started this thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/uk/3603502-Your-ideal-holiday-house?pg=1 last year, and am happy to say pretty much everything said here applies to my house (was due to accept its first guests at Easter, all now refunded and opening in July). The two double beds are king sized with four of the single beds zip-link ones, to give super-king ones if needed. Seating for at least 12 in the sitting room and around the dining table. I’m hoping I will have covered everything, and all my guests will love it as much as I do.

@confusedbymyheritage

Reading this is making me think I'm a right lazy fucker

When we go away there is absolutely no proper cooking done. We might make egg on toast or pesto pasta at a push and have nice meats, cheeses ect for lunches and nibbling but when on holiday dinner is always either out at pubs and restaurant or at the very least a takeaway. Otherwise it just feels like same shit, different setting.

DS has autism and eating out is often a big problem for him so we always cook a lot on holiday although often just convenience food.

One place we stayed at had an oven so small we couldn’t even put a while supermarket pizza in it! In fact it wasn’t what I’d call an “oven” it was a combi microwave (smaller than my home microwave). It also only had a two burner hob but qualified as “luxury” because there was a garlic press and lemon squeezer! It was a good location and very comfortable but the only place I’d never return to as I’ve seen better kitchens in a caravan.

Sharp knives
No metal beds.
Decent sized mugs.
A proper shower not a tiddley little electric one.
Good quality plainish bedding. I once stayed in a cottage that was poppy themed. It drove us nuts. Every teatowel, picture, cushion had a poppy on it.
Simple decor. The same cottage had 23 ornaments in the sitting room alone. Very irritating. It was a really lovely cottage apart from the tat.

Yes, the Friday to Friday thing is so annoying. Why? I don’t want to take 6 days leave for a weeks holiday.

@TheoneandObi

We do Friday to Friday lets. A lot of people really like them. We find visitors who arrive on a Friday arrive far less frazzled than a Saturday in the height of August holidays. We're in cornwall and the A30 on a Saturday is murder. People seem to be relieved we do Friday to Friday!

I will only book places with a Friday changeover in Cornwall. No way am I doing M5-A30 on a Saturday.

The one we go to provides a hamper with small container of coffee, teabags, sugar etc for when you first land.
Also, there’s a bottle of wine, grape juice, and some local produce like butter & uncut bread.
Pleases me no end

We have a windmill, so bedrooms don’t accommodate king size beds as much as we’d love them to. We’re always really pained to make sure we tell people about the different bed sizes in the description so people can make a choice whether to stay here. We also have fabulous views! It has niche charm, but can’t compete on bed size. We decided a dishwasher was more useful than a washing machine as only room for one. It’s tricky with limited space. We don’t recommend for under 8s as such steep staircases, so tends to be couples rather than family holidays with young children. But reading your comments with interest for tips.

Careful, not pained 😂

The place we booked last year had 1 loo roll, no bin bags, lightbulbs, washing up liquid, hand soap, cleaning products, cloths etc etc. Also, no salt and pepper, foil, cling film. It really, really annoyed me to have to spend over £30 in the little shop, and then cart it all home again.

One thing I really like to find is a decent selection of Tupperwares in the cupboard for beach picnics.

Have at least two bedrooms with king size (minimum) beds - there are so many cottages with 3+ bedrooms where all but one room have twin beds and that’s not great for a family group where everyone’s an adult!

@tectonicplates We don't drive, either, would you be able to give some tips on where to go that is accessible yet still feels like a rural getaway?

Things we really appreciate in a holiday cottage :
Fire
Heated towel rails (it's almost always damp!)
Yes to the zip-apart beds - two teens here as well
No pine furniture
No leather sofas
No WiFi, or as a PP said, toggle-able (hard enough to get teens to participate)
Starter coffee and tea with milk for the first morning

@RoseLavenderBlue yours does sound lovely. If you're anywhere near a train station, please PM the details!

A freezer. We once stayed somewhere in the north york national park that SAID there was a fridge and reezer. We did a big shop with Tesco (or somewhere). No freezer at all.

Bought ice creams and some frozen quick food for sats we didn’t cook that ended up ruined beyond day 1 or 2.

Aside from that big cups, decent sized wine glasses, plenty of crockery and cutlery. I’d say at least two lots of each per possible guest.

A decent shower, with power to actually clean rather than dribble out. If more than one shower, them all to work.

If it says a fenced in garden, make sure there is actually a gate, rather than a gap. And that the fencing is complete and secure.

A hoover and a stand up dustpan and brush thing. Maybe even a steam mop would be nice.

Wifi that works.

@SquirrelFan I would recommend having a closer look at buses, which can be harder to find out about and don't always go so often, but it gives you a wider variety of choice. So we once got a train to somewhere and then a bus to another town a few miles away. This works particularly well in the Lake District and Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent. You do have to check the timetable very carefully. Or even consider a taxi from the station as long as you're okay with then staying in the same town the whole week.

Even things like steam trains can get you to lovely places like Corfe Castle.

Also ferries - you can get a train from London to Portsmouth and then a ferry to the Isle of Wight.