Do you really want fluffy towels and new linens? What are your limits with country holiday lets?

[cottageinthecountry]

I'm about to renovate a cottage for letting out for holidays. It's in a very rural position and can withstand a lot of wear and tear regarding mud and wildlife. I'm letting it out on Airbnb which has been great but I'm quickly getting drawn into the competitive linen game.

It's a great place for children and pets to charge about in the mud and I'm almost certain this will be brought into the house on a regular basis - it's rural position is its charm. But how do I market something so that people don't expect it to be spotless as a spa resort and give me bad ratings and disgruntled reviews?

I would be grateful if you could tell me what you prefer - a bit of mud and insect life or a spotless haven? What are your boundaries?

We're not tall so don't need kingsize beds, but have been to cottages that have jammed them into too-small rooms, I'd rather have the space round the room for a chair for clothes, enough drawers, not to have to squeeze past each other when dressing etc, that's my reasoning.

Yes to plenty of DW tablets, plus a few laundry ones and washing up liquid, new sponge and new cloth for wiping surfaces.

I think it would be more flexible if you can sleep 8 (plus extra cot/kiddy bed) so 2 families can come together. 6 I think restricts your market a bit

Good point about supplies of dishwasher tablets etc., WhoKnows.

It's also great if there's a stash of salt, pepper, oil and perhaps some sugar. However we like to cook, so we always end up buying these things and then leave them behind for the next guests.

Someone mentioned two sets of keys- another great idea if you're catering for groups.

DH works in the rental market and he says that they recommend allowing dogs, it cuts down on your market a lot if you don't allow them. You could look at some of the other ads, some say one well behaved dog by arrangement or restrict the areas that they can go in.

Also, good lighting on the stairs / landing and easy to find, a lot of accidents in cottages are on the first night when people are unsure of their surroundings and they fall down the stairs in the night.

I would think a large percentage of people wanting a rural cottage in the UK would want to take their dog(s).

Thanks everyone, having had holidays here when my little ones were fragile preciouses I still have my safety sensors on. We built a fence so the stream is out of reach, there is a fireguard, we can probably dig out the stairgates. I bought some socket covers the other day and an electrician is going to replace all the old switches and sockets. The new kitchen, bathroom and toilet are all wipe clean and thermostatically controlled. They used to be a hygiene hazard if not a death trap.

Thinking back to when we used to come when they were little - we loved the fact that they could charge about in the garden and make a mess, and come back in with or without mud and everything was easy to clean. I liked the open plan, everything in one large space, the quiet, and before broadband and TV, the family time.

onemorethen I can appreciate your envy, but I have inherited this as a consequence of several tragedies you probably wouldn't envy. It is a bitter sweet project. What I always wanted, but the result of what nobody would ever want.

Yes it has loads of clutter, a shedload in fact and a shed is where it will go and wait until someone deals with it. I will be up again this week to box it up.

We are up here at the moment and OH has said that we can convert one of the adjoining sheds quite easily into another bathroom with toilet. It would make sense so that each family can have their own bathroom. They will all be on the ground floor but that's the way it will have to be.

I think an extending table will be the solution to large groups. In the summer people will eat outside anyway where there is plenty of space and we are having a large patio built.

My initial question regarding fluffy towels was partly because I will find it very hard to make this place 'clean' looking. It is full of slabs of wood, brick and stone, tarnished and aged with time and use. This is beautiful to many, but some people will recoil and think it's dirty. Now that I'm up here I can see how smartening it up could destroy its character. However it has things like doors which were stripped in the 1970s but prior to that had probably been painted. To paint back over or to leave the gnarly knots and hand-made nails? The fact that I probably helped strip the blimmin things way back then doesn't help much either. But they do look grubby, 300 years later.

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I'm sorry for your loss and I hope your project is a successful one. Gnarly knots are ok but need to be cleaned and perhaps waxed to protect them.

The thing is holidaymakers won't share your memories and if they think it's unclean they won't be forgiving. I'm sure you'll find a balance.

One last thing I'd say is that rarely do you actually get two families holidaying together and I think you need to stop fixating on it as a market. Extended families going to rural getaways are much more common. If you tell people it's most suitable for two families they may dismiss it out of hand.

Good luck!

I bought some socket covers the other day and an electrician is going to replace all the old switches and sockets.

It isn't recommended that you use socket covers any more. Children are at a higher risk of fiddling around with them and electrocuting themselves than if the sockets are just left with their integral safety device as protection.

Agree look at fatally flawed

Sorry for your loss cottage, I hadn't realised that you had inherited the house.

Gracie thanks - that's what I meant by 'two families' - extended families and is probably a better description. Being not too far out of London I think there is a fairly big market for the Crouch Enders who live in tiny flats and want to socialise and spread out. They tend to only be weekenders though. As I said, for a family alone it's not the most exciting location. It's quite a flexible space as two of the rooms are really large. Do link your place Gracie, OH family's from Scotland and we are due a visit up there soon.

Just measured up and will do a floorplan - anyone know good software that I can print from? The floorplan may be the selling point as it shows the size of the rooms.

I convinced OH to replace some of the grubbier doors with new but similar ones - I have decided not to appeal to the market expecting perfection and be clear about the stone floor and rickety stairs. I WILL do the towel thing though, and the sheets thing. As long as the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen are spotless it will be acceptable I think for the living and dining areas to be comfortable but hard wearing. I have two matching leather sofas I can use but they are modern/30s style so not the best in terms of style. Once it's emptied out they will probably look OK though.

We will put laminate upstairs for comfort and soundproofing, with thick rugs. One of the upstairs rooms is good for children (light and bright) and I will put 3 singles in there, the other is good for a couple and a toddler and I will put a sofa in there as well. I will put TVs in the bedrooms and not in the main room or it will take over. If people are anything like my family they all tend to watch different things anyway.

Very excited about the new bathroom, although not sure how much money we have to spend.

whatever. you do, make it as sturdy and foolproof as possible.

you could get a guest like my father, very overweight and very clumsy. setting bathroom under water with each shower, certain to brake off a door knob and spill milky tea over the sofa.

Good thing there's no upstairs bathroom, (the new one will be downstairs and wet-room style) no doorknobs (latches) and leather sofas then mousmous! Your father will be more than welcome if he stays downstairs. :)

he's the kind of person who doesn't sit on the bed before lying down, but sort of jumps in feet first under the duvet. (hard to describe).

I'm sure your place will be a lovely retreat and I would be happy to stay there! maybe without my father

There's always the trampoline if he prefers acrobatics :)

You seem to think a family will not rent a cottage by themselves. My dp, 2 kids & myself rent a cottage at least twice a year by ourselves, as do lots of other families that we know.

Are you sure allowing pets will get you lots more bookings?I now ignore any cottages that allow pets, as previously I have rented places that still smelt of dog. Its probably all down to how well the place is cleaned, but I'm not willing to take the risk anymore.
You do need a tv/dvd in the main room. If you rent to a young family, parents may want to watch something when the little ones are in bed. Also its nice to watch a family film, on the days when its really wet and horrible out.
If you clear each room out completely and clean / paint everything, then only put back the essentials (plus the odd picture / throw etc), it should not look grubby.
One cottage I stayed at, had a notebook to list anything that the cottage did not have that would have been useful - I thought that was a great idea.
Im qite happy with leather sofa's, but do like cushions & throw, to make it cosy.

I'd be very dismayed to find no TV in the living room if I was on holiday with young children, I hardly watch it at home but on holiday I want to settle down on a snug sofa in the evening and watch TV. The DCs also want to watch a bit at their usual time after tea and before going to bed, we do that all together not in bedrooms. Also the film on a wet afternoon option is good, or just letting them have it on in the morning while you laze around a bit.

You seem slightly obsessed by Londoners living in tiny flats . Some of us do live in quite spacious accommodation (albeit not in Crouch End). We would rent a house this size for ourselves only, not extended family and not another family as well. There are four of us. If we rented it with another family we would probably kill each other!

When it was just DH and me we always chose to rent 2 bed places. They're more roomy and more likely to have 2 loos, it means you have somewhere to dump the cases etc We also lived in London then.

You seem to be thinking along the lines of a family Christmas where everyone squishes in. Who wants to pay for the experience of being cramped!

We'd rent this as a family of 4 but not two families as well to be honest.

Two families needs 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms (unless children are still in a travel cot), whereas a family of 4 can use 2-3 bedrooms (depending on age/sex of children) plus one bathroom. We've never shared with another family but regularly stay in the same place with my parents (and my two DCs), it has 3 double/twin bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, however 2 bathrooms would be fine. I agree with Gracie that that is your target market, plus single families, not two families. I thought generally costs were for the property, not per person.

WRT my previous comment about TV in the living room, I've scrolled back and seen that you are putting a sofa in the main bedroom. But where would the other adults of an extended family watch TV? You'd want to be all together.

There are 4 bedrooms (two double and two twice that size (can sleep 4 if need be), plus living room, dining room, one family bathroom, one WC with full basin, soon to be a third bathroom, utility room, boot room. I don't think realistically people with two children will want to pay the premium. A 2 or 3 bed would cost half the price or they could rent somewhere by the beach for a similar price. Unless Mrs Schadenfreude has lots of children of course, or snorers, or too much money even. :)

Interesting we now have another no dog person. I would prefer no dogs because it would annoy the farmer and also I understand the issue around babies and hygiene. I wouldn't stay in a dog place with a baby, but others upthread have said I would lose out on bookings. The compromise would be to only allow them in the living room and outdoors with a lead but that would be hard to control.

OK I see your point about the TV, it's just that we very rarely watch TV as a family, seriously. When we have people round we don't watch TV either. When we go on holiday with people we drink or play cards but we don't watch TV together. It's also hard to position a TV when you have 3 sofas and a fireplace, but I guess I could fit one in if it's what people want.

Ah, sorry thought it was the 4th bedroom you were converting to a second bathroom. It does sound like a fabulous property .

I'm not sure about the dog thing. We have stayed in places that allow dogs and never had any problems. My DCs are 8 and 10 and it seems that another friend gets a dog every week at the moment.

The things we look for in a holiday let (always rural)

• secure outdoor storage for bikes
• wifi

Until recently, highchair and travel cot.

Once, in the early days of 2 dc and a small car, we paid extra for highchair and travel cot - about £20 each. On arrival we were told that they live under the main bed. So pretty much available to anyone at no extra cost. We also hired towels. They were thin, threadbare in places and reeked of tobacco smoke. I was not impressed. And the fridge didn't work. We only realised once our week's groceries had gone off. The letting company were not interested. I won't be using them again.

Run I can't understand why people provide such a bad service. I'm the opposite and would bend over backwards to make sure people have a great time. OH thinks I'm soft but it's good to share the love (in a Jamie Oliver sense), surely? If people are paying you hundreds of pounds of hard earned cash and, more importantly, choosing your property for their precious holiday time with their family, maybe a once a year job, it's just downright arrogant not to make it the best it can be for them.

I've not heard of a secure bike storage request before but I think I would offer some space in a shed or provide locks and a shelter. You'd think of something and work out a compromise.