The Grange - Ningwood, Isle of Wight

Hi there everyone

As you will probably know, we are not long back from a fortnight's holiday on the Isle of Wight.

We took the Wightlink Ferry from Lymington on a beautiful warm Autumn afternoon.

We had a fabulous time with plenty of blue skies and sunshine and got out and about a fair bit, so I have lots to tell you about our visit and some of the places that we saw.

I thought I'd start though with a review of The Grange, which was our home for the fortnight.

When did we visit?

16-30 September 2017

How many does it sleep?

6

How much was it?

£1550 plus £400 refundable

security deposit

Who did we book with?

Island Holiday Homes

First Impressions ...

Upon arrival the property looked exactly as described on the website.

It was tucked down a quiet lane, right on the edge of the village and felt lovely and quiet. It was set back from the road, with neighbours on either side, but open countryside to the rear.

Inside, again, was just as described, bright, light and very spacious.

There was an open plan dining and living area, with three big comfy sofas, a nice big TV, an open fire and a nice big dining table. There was also a tiny downstairs loo tucked away under the stairs.

View back to front entrance from bottom of stairs

Open plan lounge area

The views from the back door were lovely, a nice big garden, with plenty of patio space and views to open fields beyond. There were ponies in the field at the bottom of the garden and we had regular visits from a woodpecker during our stay, which was a real treat. Sunsets were pretty impressive too.

Through to the left of the main living area was a big kitchen and through the kitchen was a 'games room' with a desk, sofas and another huge TV, hooked up to a PS3.

Upstairs is accessed via an absolutely stunning oak staircase and galleried landing. My pictures don't really do it justice, but it was beautiful.

Upstairs there are three bedrooms, two double and a twin, all bright, spacious and en suite.

So, first impressions were very good and we were looking forward to spending the next two weeks staying here.

Our likes over the course of our stay ...

• The layout of the property worked really well for us, there was loads of space for us, our guests and all of our stuff
• The whole property was really comfortable, the beds, the sofas, it was dead easy to get nice and cosy
• The location was great, though to be honest, wherever you would stay on the island you wouldn't be too far away from wherever you wanted to visit
• It was lovely and quiet, the road wasn't busy and the neighbours were very friendly
• It was fairly well equipped, the kitchen had everything that we needed
• The wifi was a bit slow, but was always available
• The showers were nice and powerful and there were nice big towels

Anything that could have made it better ...

• We were a bit disappointed with the level of cleanliness of the property. It wasn't by any means filthy dirty, but it could have done with a deep clean. The outside windows were fairly dirty, the drain in the fridge was blocked so the base was full of water and the shower heads needed a really good descale, amongst other things
• There was no welcome pack at all, not even a pint of milk, though there was a kitchen cupboard full of half empty packets of all kinds of things
• Overall there was a strange feel about this property, it was almost as though the owners had upped and left in the night, leaving behind lots of personal possessions, like personal photo albums, toiletries and other bits and pieces

Would we recommend this property to our friends and family?

In spite of the level of cleanliness we found on our stay, the property is stunning and we would definitely recommend it as being a good base for a stay on the island

Would we stay in this cottage again?

Although it did work really well for us, it really is a bit big for just the two of us and if we visited again we would probably prefer to try and find something a bit smaller.