Holiday cottage - What would make you feel welcome?

[DianaPrince]

We are moving to a house with a holiday cottage attached. Rural area two miles from beautiful coastline and two miles from nearest station. We have three young children and have our own ideas about what we need from a self catering cottage which is welcoming to a family. (DH would require an open fire - but there isn't one!) What is your list of requirements that would make a cottage really special for your holiday? From basics to luxury treats - we want to make it a real home from home for the whole family and obviously want people to recommend it and want to come back. What would do it for your family? Thanks for your thoughts.

Sorry, cmot - didn't read your post properly. Geese for grass? Really? I knew they ate a bit, but didn't know they'd do a mowing job.

Oh yes, they nibble it really short, and will eat all sorts. My Dads cousin has them to keep the grass and weeds down in his christmas tree plantation

Agree with much of what has been said already.

I would also appreciate a decent size fridge with a small freezer compartment (ie, not just an ice-box)

Also a bath with a shower, rather than just a cubicle, and also a non-slip bath mat.

Oh one final wee thing I forgot is that a blender or mini processor is invaluable if you have a weaning baby. We went somewhere when ds1 was about 8 months old and discovered we couldn't puree any of his food. We managed to borrow a blender from the owner, but it would have been useful.

Thanks for nice comments OP, mistlethrush and eggsinthesky. We love our place - off there on Friday and can't wait! Diana - I'm quite envious of you living next to your rental, we have a fab housekeeper but I would love to do the welcome stuff and flowers etc myself. I'm really enjoying being part of other people's holidays, iyswim, and although the bookings do take some work and organising, I'm getting the hang of it now (only had the house since last August). There was a thread I started about booking forms on here, which was very useful and I got lots of good tips from other MNers. I will try and find it.

OP if you spin round do you turn into WonderWoman?

Arf @ Kathy - I was wondering why DianaPrince sounded familiar!

The booking form thread is here

Message withdrawn

Oh, and really decent reading lights, in bed and lounge. The number of cottages I've stayed in where you have to huddle beneath an ill-placed, 30 watt bulb just to see your page...

Just thought of another thing, although this might just be a strange thing that the Centerparcs bungalows are missing. A proper oven. Not just a couple of hot plates and a microwave. I had preprepared a lasagne only to find that there was no oven to heat it up in. Very annoying.

If you are getting livestock, please get quiet ones and remember that we townies will not be impressed at a donkey braying loudly at 7am on a Sunday morning.

On your website, I like it when the photos are large, or you can click on them to make them larger. I want to be able to see the details without squinting.

I would want to see it made very clear what was included and what wasn't - nothing worse than going away expecting a cottage to have teatowels, bathtowels etc and then finding none there!

I also expect there to be a tin opener, corkscrew, bottle opener, decent knives and utensils - nothing worse than trying to cook a meal with one wooden spoon and a spatula.

Other desirables:

A welcome pack with enough to make tea, coffee, breakfast, so we don't have to rush out at the crack of dawn/the minute we arrive.

Lots of books - I often take books away with me then leave them there.

Washing machine - I might be on holiday but occasionally will need or want to wash stuff.

Somewhere nice to sit out - not crappy bend-when-you-sit-on-them plastic flimsy chairs and wobbles-when-you-put-a-drink-on-it plastic flimsy tables.

As much children's stuff as possible eg cot, highchair, booster seat, plastic step in the loo, children's cutlery and crockery. The less I have to take the better.

Someone else has mentioned it already but I think a key thing is to live in your cottage for a few days as though you are a guest. Then you will clearly find out what needs sorting.

I am less desperate for welcome packs and much more interested in a friendly welcome in person. The last couple of places I have stayed, we have only met the owners on the last morning of the week, when they came to order us about as though we were naughty teenagers remind us to tidy up before we went.

A Guest Book is a nice idea especially if you get people to add what they did locally that they particularly recommend to others.

Alpacas would be fab obviously!

I like finding lots of magazines and books and DVDs to browse through in cottages

I am also a huge fan of enclosed gardens - lots of ads for cottages don't say if they have enclosed gardens or not, and if you have dogs or toddlers, it is really handy to be able to let them out to wander at will - especially the dogs first thing in the morning.

One cottage we stayed in had the relevant ordnance survey map on the wall, above the pile of leaflets about what to do in the area - it was a great help when planning what to do.

If you are near a beach, let people know on the advert if it is open to dogs all year, or just winter. This saves people like me calling you to find out.

Someone further up the thread said "allow dogs".

I think it depends what type of guests you want as whilst some people have dogs and like to take them on holiday others like me would look for a cottage that does not allow dogs or other pets. (have just looked up the thread and see that I'm not alone!)

My mother once rented somewhere that had a very doggy smell about it and it did not give a good first impression.

I would feel welcome somewhere that was clean and tastefully furnished with mod cons in the kitchen (dishwasher/washing machine)

Kathyis6incheshigh - yep - I always fight for my rights in satin tights. Well spotted - was thinking I might be a little old! Surely she is due a cinema revival - Catherine Zeta Jones looks right but she might be a bit old too - she could be training a new one - like the old fella in Zorro.

DP ~ I have a holiday cottage (I haven't paid to advertise so won't post link ) so have read your thread greedily for things I might have forgotten . Good luck in your new venture.

Have read this thread with interest as we have a holiday cottage in south west ireland that we let out - we also use it ourselves so it is very well equiped for cooking and full of books and toys and dvds.
I have often wondered about supplies - we leave dishwasher powder, herbs spices oils tea coffee and have an esspresso/cappuchino maker as I could not survive without it! and it is cleaned after each stay!
Its advertised on mumsnet too
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/small_business_ads/706799-Family-friendly-house-in-South-West-Ireland-with-sea- views

Your place looks lovely, renaldo. Do you find you get quite a few enquiries through that site?

I've replied on that thread, renaldo - it might be what we are looking for next year - especially if MIL were to want to come too.

Soap, loo roll and towel in each toilet / bathroom.

Comfy, non-squeaky beds.

And if the house is big enough to sleep more than one family, then saucepans etc that are big enough to cater for that many people. We regularly go away with other families - 6 adults + kids - and have resorted to taking our own big pans.

The best thing to do is to stay in the cottage as a guest yourself, or have some friends who you can trust to be objective.

Decent set of knives-we've learnt over the years (and we've holiday cottaged for 15 yrs, so we're quite well seasoned cottagers) to take a knife sharpener with us, or at least provide a REALLY good sharpener.

Allow dogs, most places we've stayed at charge anything up to £20 pr wk EXTRA for a dog-ouch!!

Loads of piccys in the brochure/website.

A welcome tray with local produce is nice, one cottage in Coniston (lakes) we stayed at provided bottle of wine, but nothing else, I prefer the welcome tray-tea, coffee, home cooked cake etc....

Recipe folder.

The cottage we stay at every year in keswick leaves a note with a 1-10 scale, how clean was the cottage type of questions, any additional comments.

Visitors book, and maybe a book for recommendations of local places to eat/drink, that both you, previous owner of the property & prev holidayers have eaten. This is another recommendation for yourself- eat at the local places so you can personally say you've been and would/wouldn't recommend.

My parents have a B&B and have done the above. (not the recipe folder obviously!!)

Cling film/foil.

Decent size pans, roasting dishes etc...

HTH.

I'm going to add black out blinds on the window to my list and an alarm clock so I can see what time it is when I wake up in the night.

The other thing I would like now is a link on the website to local places where I can pamper myself as I've decided I would like to slink off for an hour or two on my own which I never do when at home.

Yes, black-out blinds! The number of cottages we've stayed in where we've had to buy binbags and masking tape...

Also, want to reiterate what was said about lamps. I don't want to sit and read my book with some dim overhead bulb.

PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW DOGS or I won't come and rent your cottage. So there.