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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Road noise at holiday cottage:(

83 replies

JamSconeCat · 29/01/2022 12:10

Would love an outside opinion. perhaps I just got unlucky with my booking!
So I’m in a gorgeous little cottage, lovely place, people, etc. arrived yesterday evening. I’m generally a late sleeper and tend to work late so don’t rise with the dawn.
Came for peace and quiet, cottage described s such by company and reviews. Not terribly touristy, but does get visitors.

But around 7 this morning the road out front kicked in.
It’s a slight yet long incline, and vehicles have to slow down at a tiny bridge then speed up again. Some cars are fairly silent but most sound like the groaning beast from hell. From what I see nobody is speeding or doing anything wrong, just constant whining noise and excessive slamming as people park up or go.

Using loud white noise app but no joy, the Revving and impact just blast through it. Tried headphones, no joy. Unless I am going mad, it’s like vehicles are a lot louder merely cruising than they used to be, it’s a fairly wall shuddering din.

What I can’t get my head around is I am in the attic bedroom, no windows on the road side! Just one velux facing fields at back. The noise isn’t entering via the window at all, it is literally shuddering through the front wall across the entire house.

Is it U to imagine I won’t get much peace here? Am here for 3 weeks as am doing work in the area but a lot of the time I will be indoors wfh too, so really paid a premium for the peace :(
Is there a way to ‘manage to ignore it?’ When the noise is so aggressive sounding? I’ve had such a bad time at home during covid due to environment noise so am definitely at wits end after paying out for this just to find more disturbance. Was already truly fed up so probably over sensitive too.

OP posts:
IsThePopeCatholic · 29/01/2022 15:16

Poor you, op. I couldn’t be doing with that. I can’t offer any help, I’m afraid. I live in London, in a quiet area, and I always find the countryside noisy.

Esspee · 29/01/2022 15:33

How about going to bed really early so you are wide awake when it kicks off at 7ish.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 29/01/2022 15:59

If it’s Sykes cottages they definitely delete poor/average reviews. They removed mine. It wasn’t a terrible review, but was factual. For example there was a huge leak from the attic to the ground floor down the staircase. The bathroom was unusable for the whole week due to this. We had plumbers in and out. They removed my review.

gogohm · 29/01/2022 16:09

Might be a one off event nearby, see what it's like on Monday before you get too cross, could even be a temporary diversion for road works

Original poster
JamSconeCat · 29/01/2022 16:53

Thanks, it all calmed down around 4pm.
it isnt a village, it is a market town in Shropshire. Didn’t expect silence really, just not this much noise.
It isn’t what I’d call busy, exactly, just that the road has short stay parking and is on a hill. The combination of continuous gear changing, parking and slamming mixed with the vehicles going uphill make it unfortunate. A corner or 2 away it would be fine. Just bad luck I guess :(

Some attractions are only open weekends so perhaps a bit quieter by Monday. We shall see.

Does anyone know, if I purchased insurance, could I cut the stay in half and have the remainder refunded?

OP posts:
daimbarsatemydogsbone · 29/01/2022 19:47

Insurance doesn’t cover you for excessive noise - sorry.

throwawayafteruse · 29/01/2022 20:58

Something about the way you have described the location is reminding me of Castle Combe, gorgeous, bridges, quaint... massive race track.

If you are staying in Castle Combe then there may well be an event on. I am into cars and go to the occasional event throughout the year. I've often thought that the people who live near the race track must hate it on track days.

Sending you wishes for a quieter day tomorrow.

throwawayafteruse · 29/01/2022 21:00

Ahh sorry, didn't see you were in Shropshire.

Original poster
JamSconeCat · 29/01/2022 21:51

Sorry, the location is Ludlow!

OP posts:
LoveFall · 29/01/2022 22:04

We had this once in Norfolk. Lovely place, but I swear it was like sleeping on the road, it was so close.

Earplugs helped a bit.

I now check that every time. It was unexpected that time as where I live you would almost never have a building so close to the road. I actually found it a bit frightening.

Original poster
JamSconeCat · 29/01/2022 22:26

Must admit the cars are going up a steep hill, then they have to slow down, then start again. Can hardly blame them, it’s just one of those pitfalls of modern life I guess.
Shame as such a lovely place - apart from supermarkets, they’re a bit dire and depressed.
Lovely local foods though.

OP posts:
MsAgnesDiPesto · 29/01/2022 22:40

@JamSconeCat

Sorry, the location is Ludlow!
Oh, for goodness sake, Ludlow is a town! You would never expect rural peace in a place as large and as much of a hub as that! If you can get there without a car, and it has supermarkets etc, it’s a good bet that it’s not going to be a quiet village. I’m not sure what you expected.
echt · 29/01/2022 22:47

Had something similar in Whitstable, staying on a guesthouse near the beach and restaurants:refrigeration units blasting all night. Horrendous.

Years later, in Lorne on the Great Ocean Road, DH wanted to stay in a beachside place, for ocean access. Right behind cafes and restaurants. I reminded him about Whitstable, so we booked a lovely eco-cabin ten very steep minutes' walk up the hill, in near-bush. Utterly silent. Bliss.

Thinking about the roadside cottages, that's the way they would have been built back in the day, right on the road, for convenience, in pre-car days. It's very much the same in Australia. I've noticed this in those re-locate to the country programmes. Small regional town, idyllic renovated miners' shack and you can hear traffic all day. If you want quiet, go to the 'burbs, you can hear a pin drop at night where I live.

Original poster
JamSconeCat · 29/01/2022 22:49

Now now, calm it Kermit Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
JamSconeCat · 29/01/2022 22:52

@echt

Had something similar in Whitstable, staying on a guesthouse near the beach and restaurants:refrigeration units blasting all night. Horrendous.

Years later, in Lorne on the Great Ocean Road, DH wanted to stay in a beachside place, for ocean access. Right behind cafes and restaurants. I reminded him about Whitstable, so we booked a lovely eco-cabin ten very steep minutes' walk up the hill, in near-bush. Utterly silent. Bliss.

Thinking about the roadside cottages, that's the way they would have been built back in the day, right on the road, for convenience, in pre-car days. It's very much the same in Australia. I've noticed this in those re-locate to the country programmes. Small regional town, idyllic renovated miners' shack and you can hear traffic all day. If you want quiet, go to the 'burbs, you can hear a pin drop at night where I live.

Yeh, I used to live in a tourist town in the Lake District, motorcycles chugging uphill all day every day. It happens. These were such tiny streets and lanes, always stuffed with cars and exasperated drivers. It’s tricky isn’t it, adapting older spaces to modern ways.

I did not expect silence, didn’t even want it, but god this road is a blast! You live and learn!

OP posts:
christmaslights4 · 29/01/2022 23:04

not ideal but maybe some overhead headphones will do the trick?

Parques · 29/01/2022 23:08

I think I've stayed in that cottage in Ludlow! JamSconeCat

Original poster
JamSconeCat · 30/01/2022 00:35

@Parques

I think I've stayed in that cottage in Ludlow! JamSconeCat
Did you go mad? 😂
OP posts:
FreedomFaith · 30/01/2022 00:42

This is sadly why I use Google maps to check locations. People are assholes and lie.

If they said that it's a quiet location, ask for a refund definitely. And get some earplugs, maybe change your sleeping schedule so you wake up with the traffic rather than being interrupted in the middle of sleeping.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 30/01/2022 00:54

Silicon ear plugs work for me

MsAdoraBelleDearheartVonLipwig · 30/01/2022 01:04

We turned up at a cottage once to find that the council were relaying the road that week. At night, to cause minimum disruption. Not to us. Massive tarmac-laying lorries reversing up and down the road with the most horrendous BEEP BEEP BEEP all night long about thirty feet from our cottage. I had to go out the next day and buy earplugs.

mjf981 · 30/01/2022 01:20

2 bottles of wine before bedtime should do it Grin

Tarne · 30/01/2022 01:47

Not only do you need to check Google maps, but you also need to check if there are working farms, roadworks or diversions planned, cockerels on site or nearby, tall trees with rooks' nests; machinery; industrial or farming or tourist or market/ retail traffic or simply other families or children or festivals, music, teenagers or a pub close by ..
Grin
Honestly it's best to ask the owners direct and not rely on reviews next time!

echt · 30/01/2022 05:20

@Tarne

Not only do you need to check Google maps, but you also need to check if there are working farms, roadworks or diversions planned, cockerels on site or nearby, tall trees with rooks' nests; machinery; industrial or farming or tourist or market/ retail traffic or simply other families or children or festivals, music, teenagers or a pub close by .. Grin Honestly it's best to ask the owners direct and not rely on reviews next time!
But if the owners censor unfavourable reviews, why would they tell the truth?

OP: Is this cottage really quiet as you say in your publicity?

Owners: No, it's often noisy with traffic

Not going to happen.

3luckystars · 30/01/2022 05:37

I’m awake right now because of noise, so I empathise with you.

Mine is a buzzing electrical noise that started a few weeks ago and nobody else could hear it. It is all towards the front of the house and sounds like a didgeridoo to me. Now my daughters can hear it faintly too. My husband finally heard it for a minute last night when my daughter made him stand beside the window. So at least it’s not in my head. I’m going to have to contact someone to find out what it is and where the noise is coming from (does such a job exist?)

I’m sorry for your troubles. I read another thread recently where a woman moved house and everything was so noisy, she was told she would get used to the noise and anxiety about the move were making it worse. Maybe they were right but I don’t think you can switch noise or anxiety off just like that.

I would move. All the very best.