“Location within the town is excellent, as is plentiful parking
Location within the overall Edge Hall property is very much less so.”
It is not at all relaxing to have a number of people passing the bedroom window, the kitchen window and what little patio space is available (not the least people actually washing their car right outside the front door). The patio gets sun only for a very limited time so it was particularly galling to come back to find a window cleaner sloshing around on the patio during this period. That is something that should be done on changeover day. Over the weekend, where the main house had guests, there ...
It is not at all relaxing to have a number of people passing the bedroom window, the kitchen window and what little patio space is available (not the least people actually washing their car right outside the front door). The patio gets sun only for a very limited time so it was particularly galling to come back to find a window cleaner sloshing around on the patio during this period. That is something that should be done on changeover day. Over the weekend, where the main house had guests, there were people walking past the patio all the time and they were just the other side of the big hedge on the patio which blocks out the sun for this property.
This is NOT the relaxing scenario we had anticipated and the listing stating " set in the beautiful grounds of the house " gives a particularly misleading impression. The vegetable garden and utility room in the garage both being immediately next to us did not help.
The downstairs bedroom, which is the easiest and has the largest bed and is most likely to be used, smelled quite strongly of dog - yes I know the owners like dogs and up to 2 are welcome but the carpet clearly needs a proper clean. We kept the window open as much as we could given that the main thoroughfare for everyone going to the car park was right outside.
The visitors book (which we notice has been censored by page removal) by and large praises the property for " thinking of everything ". Well, all I can say is they must be more easily pleased than us For example the downstairs en suite has nowhere around the sink to put a toothbrush or even soap and a not very good way of getting the temperature on the shower. Never mind no welcome basket, there wasn't even a bottle of milk in the fridge. How hard is that when you are in a High Street?????Lest you think that is nit-picking it should be noted we hire cottages across England at least five times a year plus we have for some years had August in a property on the outskirts of Hadleigh that DOES have attention to detail (the intention had been to see if this property, by dint of it actually being in town, might be an further improvement. It isn't).
All in all I would call it perfectly adequate for our purposes of visiting people locally but certainly nothing more than that. And I won't be recommending it to relatives up north who were looking to do similar visits to the area.
