10 Adults
How long did we stay?
4 Nights - Monday to Friday
When did we visit?
17 - 21 November 2014
How much was it?
£1595
Who did we book with?
Luxurious Cottages
What were our initial impressions?
Impressed!! This is one place we've stayed where the property completely lives up to the brochure and website's claims. On arrival it looked just as we expected.
We were greeted by Nick and Barbara, the owners, and had a very comprehensive welcome tour of the house, which covered off everything we needed to know about all the facilities that were available, and there were plenty of them. A huge aga in the kitchen, 3D TV in the lounge, a pool table, Wii and PS3 in the games room and a BBQ and huge hot tub outside.
The welcome pack was the best we've ever seen and included a home made Victoria Sandwich, a tin of home made rock cakes and two loaves of bread, freshly baked that morning. There was then more than sufficient sausages, black pudding, bacon, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes for a full English breakfast for the whole of our party. There was also a huge bowl filled with fruit of all kinds, bottles of red and white wine and champagne. And that's not it, there was also a 4 pint container of milk, some butter, some after dinner mints, coffee, tea and sugar, and some freeze dried coffee in the freezer!!
The house itself was brilliantly laid out, with lots of separate communal areas downstairs, including a large lounge, a snug, the kitchen, a dining conservatory and a games room, so we could all spread out and have our own space if we wanted it. All of the communal rooms had plenty of space so that we could also eat together and relax together in the lounge without being cramped.
All of the bedrooms, even the smallest, was spacious, and 5 of the 7 bedrooms had full en suite facilities, with the last 2 bedrooms sharing a large family bathroom.
The furnishings throughout the house were luxurious and the place was spotlessly clean, with plenty of towels, including separate towels and bathrobes for use in the hot tub area.
The outdoor space was great too. There was a covered BBQ area, which we hoped to use, a large seating area, which we didn't think we would get to use, the covered hot tub and a really well kept private garden.
Our likes over the course of our stay
- The space! All of the communal rooms were plenty big enough to accommodate the 10 of us together, when we wanted to be. We ate together every evening and spent the evenings playing games in the lounge.
- The aga. This was brilliant for cooking for 10 people, especially for breakfast. We just got stuff cooked and then moved it into the warming oven to keep warm, whilst we waited for everything else to be ready.
- The kitchen was really well equipped, with more than enough cutlery, crockery and other utensils to feed 10 people.
- There were two dishwashers, which were a Godsend as one was pretty much always on.
- The hot tub. It was a really great hot tub. It had a lid which was easy to lift and lots of different settings, including fountains and other bits and pieces. It was also really pretty at night as it was all lit up.
- The games room. This got lots of use throughout our stay, with lots of pool being played and lots of Wii bowling activity.
- The house was lovely and warm and cosy, but all of the heating was really easy to regulate, so if you were too warm, it was easy to turn down the temperature in all of the separate rooms.
- The beds were really comfy, with lovely fluffy pillows and duvets.
- The wifi was really reliable, right throughout the house, which was a good job as I've never seen so many iPads, smart phones and laptops!
- The location was great. As we didn't stay long we didn't go far, but visited Sheringham, Cromer and Fellbrig Hall, all within a 5 mile radius. We could also walk to the pub or the beach.
Anything that could have made it better?
- We did have a bit of an incident on our first night. We all sat in the conservatory until 1.30am playing games. Now, with the best will in the world, that isn't going to be a quiet activity, not with our lot. Well, the following morning we had a complaint about the noise from the people staying in the neighboring cottage. Whilst we did laugh about it afterwards, at the time I have to say I was pretty mortified and it did take the edge of our first morning. When I thought more about it I did decide that I was actually quite proud. Imagine, acting like noisy teenagers at our age!! Once we realised that the sound did carry at night, we just moved our evening activities into the lounge and had no further complaints.
Would we recommend this cottage to our friends and family?
Absolutely
Would we stay here again ourselves?
Definitely! I would certainly consider using it again, should we have another big get together. I may also consider trying one of the two other smaller cottages that are on offer.
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