Holiday Cottages In Freshwater

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Dave - Verified booking

  We had a lovely week in this great & well equipped house.

  We particularly enjoyed the lovely garden, comfortable lounge, the fabulous kitchen and the cool garden room. Thanks to the owners for the milk, biscuits & starter pack that we found waiting for us on arrival - all very helpful! We visited lots of great places including… The Garlic Farm, Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin and Shanklin Chine, Monkey Haven, Osborne House, West Wight Alpacas (Walk an Alpaca), Alum Bay and Chair Lift, The Needles, Tolland Bay and Yarmouth. All these places are recommended! We also enjoyed great meals at the Red Lion (Steak & Ale pie especially good), delicious fish n chips from Rainbow Chippy (both of these places are within walking distance of Avalon). A few things to be aware of if staying at Avalon. Parking The drive is steep (c 12 degrees uphill towards the house) you will need a reliable handbrake and a smallish car to be able to park on it safely. Our Captur just fitted - it is c 1.8m wide by just over 4.1m long. Anything longer than this would stick out onto the pavement. Larger cars will need to be parked elsewhere. Rubbish and Recycling You may want to check with owners for latest position but here’s our understanding following a conversation with the owner in July 2023. A cleaning company collects rubbish from the black wheelie bin only. Although you may find a green wheelie bin marked ‘recycling’ next to it, please ignore it and use only the black bin for all waste including anything potentially recycleable. To recycle anything such as glass, plastics, tins etc, you will need to find public facilities at supermarkets, car parks etc. Stairs These are quite steep and the treads are quite shallow. If like me, you are over 6ft, you’ll probably need to duck to come down the stairs without hitting your head. These 3 points are here really to help manage your expectations/planning. Avalon is lovely and quiet, well equipped and convenient in its location. Freshwater has a nice feel and there are some very interesting local shops. We would be happy to stay here again ourselves. We can recommend Avalon as a splendid place to stay for your holiday!

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• Judith - Verified booking

  Very disappointed.

  The owners not friendly told me key in the door on arrival by phone and that is where I left it as they did not make any attempt to say hello or goodbye. Their 10+ dogs are a nuisance and kept coming around our cars as we were driving away and left dog faeces all over the lawn in front of holiday cottage/owners cottage. No sea views as advertised. Adverts should state that cottage only suitable for certain height as the beams inside only for 5 feet 2 inches people - my daughter is 5'11'' and kept banging her head badly. The kitchen washing machine is in a disgusting state with rust on the outside and the dispenser tray filthy and obviously never cleaned as it was black with old washing powder or washing liquid. Tap in downstairs bathroom is moving and leaking. Only 2 wastebins in cottage - one large downstairs in kitchen and 1 tiny one in en-suite bathroom. Not possible to empty bins as large disposal area blocked off from using. Only 2 wardrobes for 4 bedrooms. No interior doors close properly and have large gaps at the top and bottom when pushed too. Every morning the stable hands played loud music which could be heard inside the cottage as the stables and owners cottage back directly onto holiday cottage. The hire of this cottage is not cheap and I think the agents are overselling and not taking account of the obvious limitations. It is obvious the owners are only interested in taking the money for the cottage and more interested in their horses and stables.

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• Janet - Verified booking

  The major problem was the steepness of the driveway, and having to reverse in ( owner's suggestion).

  As the cottage is just behind the village centre, the limited space on the road was often occupied by shoppers, and on a couple of occasions, we could not even acces the cottage driveway and had to park away from the cottage in an adjoining side street. We did observe that adjoing properties had near level driveways !. The cottage did have everything we needed, but as the only toilet was upstairs, i would certainly think it was not suitable for those with limited mobility. In addition, upper level access was not easy due to differing stair levelsand bathroom access during the night was not easy . A small nightlight with motion sensor would be a good idea as this would be cheaper to run than leaving the hall light on all night. Plus, it could be switched off during the day. Another suggestion would be a child stair gate at the top of the stairs for sfaety reasons when families with younger children stay. A minor niggle - on reading the comments from other visitors to the cottage, we noticed mention of a Welcome Pack - there was none!.We did have an issue with the bathroom ( minor and not reported ). I would mention that on our return home, i had received an email from the cottage owners, actually mentioning that a) the driveway had been widened, and b) the bathroom fan did not work and was awaiting repair. It would have been helpful if a note had been attached to the bathroom door mentioning this fact.

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• Lin - Verified booking

  The property overall was good and convenient.

  Sadly there were items “missing” from the contents. Hand towels were not provided. Only one Bath towel per person for two weeks. No cafetière for fresh coffee. No dishwasher tablets starter pack or salt for the table to name a few. No black plastic bags as advertised on arrival. The shower wasn’t so clean looking and the bath room had no towels. The furniture was very tired and saggy and I would certainly not recommend this property for anyone with mobility problems. The stairs are rather steep and very little safety in the way of handrails. Not for granny with arthritis! You must keep the gates shut each time you enter and leave the property. The gates are heavy. They have dogs and they must be kept away from the lawn. I have been to Sykes properties where the owner takes pride in offering a cake she made and other items. A bottle of bubbly was a nice gesture at Hill Farm but some of us are not alcohol drinkers. Overall I would recommend but remember this is a 400 year old farmhouse and that’s the quirkiness of staying in an old cottage. You can have a lovely time here but don’t come with great expectations it’s convenient and cosy and that’s okay with us We only saw the owner once or twice and we left without saying goodbye because there was no one one around at that time. Anyway thank you to the owners for their hospitality.

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• Darren - Verified booking

  We have just returned from a 2 week stay at Hill Farm Cottage.

  We booked a UK holiday this year as we've had enough of air travel for a while. Reading the most recent review we arrived a little nervously. However, within minutes all trepidation had disappeared. We were met by the owner having mistakenly driven into their driveway and were helped by him to the correct entrance to the cottage.We spoke with them almost daily during the course of the stay and were grateful of their advice on best beaches, best walks and a dog friendly taxi firm. Fresh flowers, a bottle of fizz and some orange juice were very welcoming touches. The cottage itself is totally charming but it is a 400 year old property and comes with the quirks and original features of that age which we and our guests loved. Despite that, the wife speed and strength was excellent. The only visitor to our garden was our dog and had no issues as its completely separate from the neighbour and riding school provided you close the garden gate. We never experienced more noise than you would expect from booking a cottage within a working riding school. The staff at the school were all respectful and friendly. We had a terrific time. Both our guests and us intend to be returning, soon!

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