What would be in your dream holiday house?

[Pynapple]

DH and I have been lucky enough to inherit a beautiful old house by the sea in Devon that we are about to completely renovate.

We're going to let it as a holiday house before moving there in a few years.

So; what would be in your ideal holiday house? I want to make it as bright, airy and easy to stay in as possible.

We have 3 small children and a dog so it'll be decorated with that in mind. It has 6 bedrooms, and a basement that will have a little snug that we will do as a TV/cinema room, and a little games room with a pool table.

What would you like to see?

I'm thinking Nespresso machine with pods, washer and dryer available, decent high chair etc.

Ideas very welcome!

Separate beach towels
Draining rack
Clothes airer
Dustpan and brush
Sharp knives

Oh I just thought of something else. If you are installing any more sockets, put ones with USB ports in - handier for overseas guests and those who forget their chargers.

I've started a spreadsheet of all these ideas.

Thank you SO much everyone!

Really good solid baking pans, saucepans and good knives

Serving dishes

Best place I stayed in with kids had a separate kids tv room!

Huge well equipped kitchen and a utility room too

Adults had a snugglier room with the open fire and tv

Having lived in a Devon seaside town and had friends and family in the trade, from big 4/5* hotels to Air BnB cottages, I would suggest that you need to check out the competition (and local regulations on holiday lets).

Large properties like yours tend to attract adult groups because it is much cheaper for them to rent a house. Family rooms/apartments/suites in hotels tend to be not much more than a double room, just a few £100 extra per week so there isn't a saving for them. If you want to attract families, you are competing with hotels that have indoor and outdoor pools, entertainment, playrooms, meals provided, a bar etc. Even budget self catering apartments and B and Bs tend to have pools. Larger rental properties often have pools or hot tubs.

I would concentrate on entertainment facilities and outside space to make your property more attractive (and to get the highest price) to families who will be staying in in the evenings eg games, big TV, Netflix or Sky, outdoor sofas and dining area, outdoor lighting, BBQ, maybe even a hot tub or play equipment.

Don't forget that the holiday season is short (particularly the family holiday season that is restricted to school holidays). Although there is a lot of money to be made in a few weeks, once you add up cleaning costs, utilities, council tax etc, you might actually be better off letting the property year round. It would be a lot less hassle and wouldn't require investing in furnishing and equiping the place. There is a shortage of family homes to rent in a lot of touristy towns thanks to second home owners and holiday lets. Some holiday apartments do offer cheap long term winter let rates but that wouldn't really work for a family size home as few families will want a tenancy for just 6 months.

Yes to zip link beds.
Scrap the double beds - minimum king size for a couple to share. If you can’t fit a king size in consider it a bunk bed it single room.

Yes to bbq.
And no to be nespresso for reasons other have said.
And full crockery including eggcups! Doesn’t have to be flash, does have to be plentiful.
Don’t provide non stick pans - guests will use them with metal utensils rendering them useless for the next guests. Get stainless steel as they’re pretty bombproof. If you must get a non stick frying pan replace it regularly - hate having things I don’t want to cook on.

Yes to cleaning products - include a hoover/brush - maybe we’re just messy but the floors get dirty and I hate not having cleaning things.
Provide dishwasher salt and rinse aid as well as at least enough tablets for a day or 2 (not the all in 1 tablets)

Beach towels - otherwise people will take your normal ones to the beach anyway.
Yes to blackout blinds/curtains.

Consider market for dogs. After staying in a dog friendly place I never would again due to dog poo in the garden. I don’t have a dog so I’m not your target market but do have a family so would be otherwise… Think about how you’d market this effectively and get people to clean up after their dogs or how to clean up after them between changeover.

I’m happy to recycle on holiday - make it easy for me to do so!

If providing a few bits in to have something in (tea, coffee, snack) then quality and local produce over quantity. Eg local free range eggs- great. Supermarket non free range - don’t bother.

Oh and you already have said high chair (doesn’t have to be expensive - the ikea one is perfect). Given the size of the property consider having 2 or done kind of booster seat/cushions as well as you could end up with quite a few young children at once.

As many sofa /armchair spaces as beds.
As many dining chairs as beds.

A tea pot, strainer, cosy and big mugs.

Secure bike storage would be amazing.

Wi-Fi.

Yes to the USB charging sockets, or one of those tower ones for multiple devices
A 4 slice toaster and a large kettle for a house that size
Some plastic picnic cups & plates for kids if there is an outside eating area, saves lots of expensive accidents
Some cool fans for hot weather
A couple of convection heaters for those unseasonable cold snaps when it's not worth putting the central heating on but you want to warm a room up. It's horrible being cold on holiday.
Very good instructions on using the central heating.
Art work should be of local scenes (frame your own photo's if you have some good ones).
Some big umbrellas to borrow

A couple of bed guards

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads

A couple of bed guards

Yes! Bed guards are so handy.

My dream place would have mixers, no separate taps it’s a nightmare. Heating which I can switch on myself not a programmed one.
Bath with shower over.
No dog friendly due to allergies.
Useful info about the area.
manuals for each appliance.

Unless you are intending to solely market to families with young children, make sure there is a cupboard to store all the bulky baby stuff (or take it away for lets where you know you're guests won't need it).

I absolutely agree that a place with highchairs, bed guards, stair gates, booster seats etc is fantastic if you have small children. But if you don't, you don't want to be constantly having to work round these space consuming items.

You can't provide everything people have listed so you need to focus on your target market. If that is families then specific things people with kids are likely to need. For instance we have a baby so need a highchair. Bed guards are a nice addition but my kids when that young would have just jumped in with is anyway so a large bed in the master bedroom is a must (at least a king). You don't need to provide loads of pillows although a few extra would be nice.

I would like a decent sized smart TV and WiFi as with young kids I would be back at the house to put them down for naps and wouldn't expect to be out every evening. I'd like a cupboard with cleaning equipment, sponges, cloths and binbags. Games would be nice but you'd have to check periodically they were complete. I'd like enough seating for us and enough plates, cutlery and utensils. Condiments are appreciated as is salt and pepper. A must is info about the local area and where the nearest supermarket, Pharmacy and local attractions are. I think coffee, tea and butter or margarine should be standard. A fancy hamper is nice but not needed. All other items I would bring myself. If there are any rules clearly state them on the ad, in the confirmation email and somewhere in the home.

I wouldn't expect colouring books and the like for my kids or beach stuff. I'd bring it from home.

I wouldn't fill it with stuff. I usually take what I need with me and hate not having space to store it so that there is literally stuff everywhere. Also, please leave enough kitchen cupboards empty to store a weeks food for the number of people you expect to say there. Again, so annoying to go to a lovely house and have no where to put your stuff so it sits in piles on the side/floors cluttering up the place.

Decent size TV in the main social space and maybe consider them in the bedrooms too. Local produce - marmalade, jam, eggs, etc. Pool if there is space outside for one. Working fireplace.

I think you've too many double beds to twin beds ratio.
My DC would share a room but not a bed.
We would be be able to stay with IL's because there wouldn't be enough single beds. Out of the three couples, two couples sleep in single beds!

@Policyschmolicy we're renovating a house in West Cornwall which will have 4 beds 4 baths. Ready this summer!

Great thread and loads of really good ideas,thanks for starting op

a house that is easy to clean
somewhere to dry the coats
somewhere to clean the wellies
somewhere to store the rain coats, wet suits, buckets and spades, beach paraphernalia

@mycatthinksshesatiger that’s very good to know

We use holiday homes a lot...we are looking for:

Really comfortable beds (I would go with zip link beds that can be made up as a king or singles, useful for group bookings/non couples)

Powerful showers, as well as a bath

Good quality bath sheets, bath towels often aren't big enough. Make sure there's enough towels, I've been to places where they've only supplied a single towel per person.

Decent wifi good enough for streaming films etc

A couple of good quality non stick pans. I also like a pretty fully equipped kitchen on holiday as we do eat in some nights, so make sure there are decent knives, peeler, cheese grater etc. Ensure there are enough mugs etc for the entire household when it's at full capacity - have stayed in 6 berth house before that only had four chairs at the dining table for example.

I love it when there's a bookshelf full of books and some board games, you can pick these up from charity shops.

Please make sure there's a plug socket near a mirror for drying hair - this has been an issue in more holiday homes than I care to mention.

When you've got it all set up, stay there for a week yourselves so you can get a feel for it and see if anything is missing from the experience!

Knives. Decent knives and a chopping board that isn't glass.

Friends have holiday rentals and the main problem is that if you kit it out with decent stuff, it gets nicked.

Stayed at a really lovely AirBnB last weekend. The only things missing for me:

• hooks - there was nowhere to put our coats or towels except one hook on back of bathroom door.
• lamps - there were bedside lamps but no way to do more relaxed lighting in the living room - we ended up moving one of the lamps
• blanket - it was cold when we arrived so would have been nice to have a blanket for DD until the place warmed up
• it had a lovely (if short) slipper bath but was totally freestanding so I had nowhere to put my face wash or cuppa. I ended up moving one of the coffee tables into the bathroom so I had a place to rest them.

Good luck, OP. Sounds like a great project!

One of my pet hates on holiday is blackout curtains, we don't have them at home and I hate waking up in the dark, so depressing. So blackout blinds for those that want them and normal curtains for those that don't please.

Do the beds as zip link or similar so rooms can be made up as double or twin. Much more flexible.