Reviewed by
Suzanne
14th June 2026
I don't usually leave reviews. To be honest, most cottages we have stayed in have been so good that we have not needed to warn future guests in advance of anything. Sadly, this time I feel we need to. Although there was nothing majorly wrong with the property, there were definitely a few niggles that spoilt our stay.
The good points - fabulouRead mores garden. Great showers. Lots of lovely wildlife. Lovely big bi-fold doors downstairs, if you get the weather to use them! Lovely location in Kent, and handy to visit lots of places.
Niggles - (1) One of my main stipulations when booking a cottage is the real log burner/fire. Although this was available, and stated that the first bag of logs would be provided and would be free, upon our arrival there were no logs left for us. We telephoned the number given for any queries, which stated that all of their agents were busy on other calls, and to leave a message and someone would get back to us. We left a message stating that we had been left no logs, and requested them, as well as requesting extra for our stay, which we knew we would have to pay for. Seven days later, still nobody called us back. Therefore we were unable to use the log burner at all during our stay (even though there is a huge log store at the bottom the garden, with a big sign stating not to use them!). Not only were we disappointed not to be able to use the log burner, but found it most rude not to even receive a return call. (2) As stated in other reviews, the beds are ridiculously high. That may sound trivial, but honestly, the mattress came up to my chest, and my husband had to haul me up onto the bed every night! This is not great for myself, a disabled person with limited mobility (and it doesn't help that I am only 5ft tall)! The bed was the same height in the downstairs bedroom too. (3) Be careful - the front door step and the back door step are quite high - again, difficult for myself and our other guests. Not only that, but the back steps from both the door and the bifold doors were wooden, and quite slippery when wet. (4) The "shed" looked quite nice (with a proper height bed!), however, there is no TV in there, so neither us nor our guests wished to stay in there, even though we could make it onto the bed! Aesthetically, there were a couple of wooden panels on the outside which needed putting back up properly. Not much to moan about really, but it wouldn't take the owners 2 minutes to fix. (5) Beware of the front gate. It is large and heavy. My husband caught his foot underneath it on our last day and bruised his toe black and blue - and then had to drive for 4 hours with it like that. When driving out, many reviews have already mentioned that pulling out onto the road is not for the faint hearted! The property is on a well-used road, and it is very difficult to see what is coming when pulling out. When you park outside the gate, then have to go back and shut it, there is very little gap between your car and the gate. (6) There are 2 ponds in the grounds, and, quite rightly, you are pre-warned about these, and asked to supervise children and dogs. Unfortunately, the ponds were completely green with algae, and my dippy doughnut of a dog went tearing around the garden, could not tell the difference between the green grass and the green pond (there are no fences around them), and suddenly, mid zoomy, found himself in the middle of a pond!! Needless to say, he didn't do this again!. (7) The heating was a bit hit and miss - we either found it too hot or too cold, no matter how we changed the temperatures, and the bathrooms never seemed to get warm, so was pretty nippy getting out of the shower. (8) None of the seating was comfy! Footstools would be a great addition, and one of the sofas had retractable headrests, but one side did not work, and so there was no comfortable support for your back. There is a reclining chair, however, this was not plugged in, and we could not see a plug to do it ourselves. (9) There were a few little niggly bits around the house which could easily have been sorted, like the loose hanging wire behind the mirror in the bathroom. (10) Instructions for appliances were nowhere to be found, and you had to guess your way round them. There was the opportunity to use the washing machine and tumble dryer, but there was no washing powder (none that we found, anyway?!). We spent the first couple of hours of our stay looking for the cutlery drawer! (Here's a tip, the cupboard in the island, opposite the sink, has a secret pull-out drawer - at last! Here is the cutlery!!). (11) Throws are provided for the furniture (just in case you too have a daft dog doing zoomies and ending up in the middle of a pond?!), but the carpets upstairs and in the bedrooms are all cream, so beware if your pups follow you to bed (but don't worry, most of them won't be able to get up on the beds!!). Having said that, it is a lovely property in a lovely area, but a little bit of time and effort from the owners could have made it a much better holiday for us. One last thing - it would appear that the house is up for sale, so we did worry what would happen if potential buyers wanted to look around the property while we (or any future customers) were staying at the property? Even worse, if it was sold before future guests who have already booked their stay got to take their holiday in this property. I could not help but wonder if the little niggles which could easily be fixed, were left, due to the fact that they were selling up anyway?!? Hide