What do you look for in a holiday cottage?

[WetAugust]

What do you look for when booking a holiday cottage?

Old / new building?

How important is parking directly outside?

How far would you travel to a beach?

Rural or in a town?

Garden or walled courtyard?

Is downstairs bathroom acceptable?

Minimum number of bedrooms?

Stylish interior or would basic be acceptable?

Anything else?

Location for me is everything. I?m thinking of Cornwall (west / north coast) or Pembrokeshire ? probably a bucket and spade holiday if you have children.

It?s not about booking a ?dream cottage? just about separating the must haves from the desirables - the sort of cottage you have booked or would book.

Thank you.

[WetAugust]

I struggle to understand how this one is so successful

[mistlethrush]

Boffin - that would be no problem for us (DS is 8 - but we would have been OK with that since he was about 5 I think)

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

poly lol- definitely not that demanding but just some knives that cut raw carrots and more than 2 saucepans :-)

[cakebar]

Why oh why are so many of the cottages filled with ornament crap? We have just come back from holiday, most aspects of the cottage were good but we were in the cat themed room

Old / new building? - don't mind, have done both.

How important is parking directly outside? - doesn't have to be directly outside but parking needs to be available. We go as an extended family and have had a few places where a couple of families have to go off and find their car in some pay and display somewhere. Not good. Will avoid in future.

How far would you travel to a beach? - nice to be walking distance, if not walking distance then we don't mind within reason.

Rural or in a town? - don't mind.

Garden or walled courtyard? - Would prefer garden but don't really mind, must be enclosed, reasonably private and no water.

Is downstairs bathroom acceptable? - yes

Minimum number of bedrooms? - we want our kids in separate bedrooms and pay more to facilitate this.

Stylish interior or would basic be acceptable? - I don't want to worry about spoiling stuff. I don't want knackered/grannyish stuff.

Must haves are dishwasher, washing machine, tumble drier, freezer. Prefer sky, pub with food in walking distance. Stuff needs to be in good working order - have had 2 cottages now where the doors on rooms don't shut properly.

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

wet it's a 1 bed so aimed at childless couples who probably don't care about washing machines, distance to peppa pig world and stuff like that. They're too busy boozing and shagging (sigh)

[Cremolafoam]

WA what's the actual point if being in Cornwall and looking out at a concrete slab patio
Also adding bath in bedroom to my list of no way!
Once had a place in Tallinn with a toilet in the bedroom. Just plumbed in there beside the bed, like a little sanitary sculpture. Why FGS
I like a bit of privacy on my hols .
Boke

[Pollaidh]

Blackout curtains if possible and a good firm mattress in the main bedroom is essential or we might as well pack up and go home immediately. 2-3 (pref 3) bedrooms for a family of 4. Dishwasher, washing machine/dryer. Nicely but simply decorated, with period features. Stairgates.

I prefer bathroom on same floor as bedrooms if there's only one. A bath and a shower as children need baths and I have problems which mean climbing into a bath is tricky.

Television in sitting room.

Dining table essential, none of this eating on sofas or at kitchen bars. Decent kitchen equipment so you can make proper meals (blender etc).

Wifi.

Supermarket delivery.

Car parking space.

Enclosed garden with no water/pond.

Nice views.

We found nice cottages on the Blue Chip Holidays website, which has a lot of properties in the SW. All are or * with lots of pictures and info. Service was excellent, cottage clean and as described. Due to illness and being used to very good hotels I admit I am extremely difficult to satisfy :-)

[Happiestinwellybobs]

Essentials:
Pet friendly
Contemporary design (lots of dog friendly places have carpets and chintz - bleugh)
Ground floor must be tiled/wood so no doggy smells
No cream sofa
Toddler friendly - stair gate, high chair etc
Enclosed garden
Dishwasher
Washing machine
Large downstairs area

Nice to have:

Bath
Wifi

Pooch must come too, but I would never want to be able to tell a dog had stayed there and always clean before we leave.

[MissAntithetic]

For me its.

Clean
Comfy bed
Nice sheets
Fridge with a freezer compartment if not a freezer.
A washer or laundrette close by incase we run out if stuff
2 bedrooms one double, one twin
A decent shower.
A decent kettle.
Decent cutlery and a tin opener.
Outside area would be lovely not bothered about what type as long as its enclosed.
Parking close by would be needed if not outside.
A selection of stuff that I wouldn't normally do, maybe a couple of books, some board games.
No wifi and limited signal would be fab.
Close by to a pub or eating our places - I do not go on holiday to cook.

But tbh as long as its spotless and comfy I'm happy.

[Piffpaffpoff]

Wet we were away for the 2nd week of Wimbledon this year, the first house had a smallish telly but thankfully we changed over on the Saturday and had a proper sized one for the Men's final!! Phew!

[garlicagain]

Old, or super-modern & stylish.

Must have parking. Awful memories of struggling up long flights of steps and rambling lanes with half a ton of luggage after a long drive.

I want to be able to walk to a beach.

Village or nice part of town. I want shops and a pub.

Any kind of garden, as long as it's sittable-in.

Downstairs bathroom acceptable. Multiple bathrooms better.

I insist on enough bedrooms. Sleeping on sofas isn't a proper holiday.

The interior should be 'stylish' but that can mean bashed-up furniture nearly as old as the house! Must be comfortable, adequate, and not cluttered. I once stayed at a homely old cottage where you had to turn sideways to get between the bits; very irritating!

Must have more, better, appliances and kitchen equipment that we might deem necessary at home. I am NOT spending a holiday up to my elbows in dishwater, whining about laundry or chopping veg with a dinner knife.

Working landline and wifi.

Working heating. One woodburner doesn't heat a house. Electric blankets good, too, or hot water bottles.

Floors you can walk on! You can't have a relaxed beach or hiking holiday if you're constantly fretting about marking the bloody cream carpets.

Towels, nice bedlinen (not nylon!) and spares of them all.

All the above is informed by past frustrations ... best ever was a top-of-the-range ski lodge, which had state-of-the-art everything and underfloor heating. The built-in chef didn't hurt, either Next best was a Welsh cottage: average in every respect, but incredibly well thought out for guests' ease & comfort :)

Have a nice holiday!

[JollyHolidayGiant]

Our one this year had too many ornaments too. They were pretty, but vases are just not compatible with toddlers. No cafetiere, scissors or cheese grater in this year's cottage. And only one roll of toilet roll.

There was also nothing to clean with. Difficult to leave the cottage in a decent condition if there's no antibacterial spray, fairy liquid or dustpan and brush.

[WetAugust]

Yep - the Mousehole one does look to me like a shag pad

[FrameyMcFrame]

open fire
comfy sofa
nice clean kitchen and bathroom
good view
garden/outdoor seating
BBQ

[Piffpaffpoff]

Viva the pet thing is allergies or us. Our house the first week of our summer holiday had clearly had pets in (obvious due to smell + comments in the visitors book) and poor DH and DS were sniffing, sneezing and scratching all week which obviously was not ideal.

[WetAugust]

Piff - luckily I was home to my 42" for Men's Final Day! I would have swum home to see that

[thechildrensparkle]

If it's a two week holiday, a maid visit after a week for a quick whistle through and to leave clean sheets. It's what we get at home and I really don't understand why it isn't standard in a two week let. I don't clean at home; I certainly don't clean on holiday and after a week it needs a whistle through. It gets it if the property changes hands after a week - many must be rank after a fortnight.

[Springcleanish]

3 bedrooms, or two and comfy sofa bed
Washing machine would be lovely
Area to BBQ
Comfy living room furniture - as someone said before, not wicker, conservatory furniture.
Shower
No more than 2 miles to beach and/or countryside
Downstairs bathroom no problem
Parking nearby
Basic but clean is fine
Free Wifi please!

[cece]

I have actually tried searching for a cottage without a TV in the past. I don't go on holiday to watch TV and get fed up when the rest of my family (DH) want to waste half the day flicking through the channels.

[Catrin]

LAst year, me, dd and my dad stayed..www.sunnyvaleholidaypark.com
in one of the little bungalows. Not really my thing, but very dd's!
It was fab. Exactly what it said on the tin - little bungalow, nice bathroom, (cold) bedrooms, little kitchen. For the 3 of us, it was fine. If we could have planned the weather better, that would have helped, re washing etc, but as I drove, had tons of stuff anyway, so not vital. Dd had a fab time.

[MousyMouse]

nice the divide between pets/no pets :)
for us mainly an allergy issue (apart from the hygiene).
yes to proper inside bathroom. have stayed in holiday cottage where the bathroom was outside. outside as in no roof.
and it needs to have a shower, not just a bathtub.

[Beamur]

Price!

[thegraduand]

And forgot, the option to have non-feather bedding, if luxury feather bedding is a feature. Feathers make my eyes itch

The problem is somethings like comfy bed and comfy furniture you will never know until you get there

Mum and dad stayed in a cottage this year completely full of knick nacks, completely over bearing. Mind you its quite nice when there is a pile of leaflets about the local area available to browse and a few used to books to read/ swap

[Catrin]

Apologies, just realised you appear to be asking with a view to buying to let...
in my case, do not care about wifi, washing machine, dishwasher. Would rather pay a reasonable price, not get work email and wash my swimming cossies by hand. Other than breakfast and picnic lunch, do not always eat in for dinner, so dishwasher not an issue, tho do not have one at home so...
Prefer something nearer a beach, but not essential if am in a lovely location/good transport links.

[BoffinMum]

Another question - if a cottage was by a river in an idyllic spot, but there was a fenced off area by the back door for under 8s to play in, would that mean the river would be less of a deterrent for people with young children? (Boat and little kid life jackets available, so some benefit to bring by river).