The Retreat

The location and the cottage itself, a lovely cosy feeling, lots of character, not been updated unsympathetically

The steps were tricky but to be expected in a property of that age. The washing machine was dirty, I wiped out old tissue and black sludge from the seal. The dishwasher filter was dirty, I cleaned it out before using. The shower drain was blocked and dirty, I had to clean that too. When I parked in the driveway in front of the gate marked the Hayloft, I felt that I was blocking this car in. I sent a message on our first night to ask about this, got no reply. No reply to the second message I sent the next evening. I got customer service at booking.com involved and finally got a response which was to phone the owner. Unfortunately I was not free to make a phone call until late that evening and felt it wasn’t right to call a number that late, especially as the number was for emergency use only, as it said in the property. As we were only staying one more night I just continued parking outside in the road on the grass. I didn’t appreciate having to spend so much of a very short stay chasing an answer which should have been forthcoming. I have included photos to show where I parked and to show how I would have been blocked in the car the other side of the hayloft gate