Louisa Cottage

Fantastic location right by the Harbour and an easy walk across the bridge into Weymouth and to the Beach. The Property was very clean and well presented and a lovely welcome box awaited us. Having a bathroom on each floor next to the bedrooms was a bonus and the property had great facilities, plenty of utensils and kitchenware to allow us as a family of five to eat there and was lovely and warm during a chilly spell. Lovely little courtyard for sunny days but we did not get the chance to use it. Bennets Fish and Chips just 5 minutes away was great and we had a lovely drink the opposite side of the Harbour in The Ship Inn. Able to walk along the harbour and up to Nothe Fort and see both sides of the peninsula. A great base to explore along the Dorset Coast and a lovely drive from there to Charmouth only 50 minutes away with lots of stops along the way to take in the magnificent coastal view.

Although in a fabulous location the property was a little noisy as it is between pubs and a couple of small restaurants and there was quite a bit of noise from passers by late evening. Early morning was quite noisy with refuse collections at the pubs etc and there is construction work started at the end of the road at Brewers Quay. Unfortunately I had seen a review from summer 2022 that said a lot of the venetian/slat blinds did not work well in the property and light was an issue in the bedrooms and I am sad to say this issues does not seem to have been addressed. Most of the blinds upstairs did not work and we had to hand flatten each slat to give us all a chance of some privacy and some light blocking but the bedrooms are very bright on a sunny morning and from a street lamp opposite at night. But as we were up and out early and tired by the end of the day it did not spoil our enjoyment too much just a shame its been noted and not sorted previously. Parking is not available at the property but we found a long stay car park behind Brewers Quay for around 9.20 for over 6 hours parking and only a 5 minute walk away.

The location is fantastic, couldn't have been better for us. The harbour is just a few metres away. Facilities nearby are great. Plenty of pub and restaurant choices, easy access to the harbour facilities, main town just a short walk over the bridge leading to the beach area. There's a lovely fine sand beach with all the usual beach type activities but tastefully done - no gaudy or noisy Blackpool style amusements! The property rental office is just along the road to the cottage. The staff there were lovely - friendly and very helpful. A big thank you to them. The house is comfortable. All amenities that you need, well equipped for a family. Very clean all round. There was a box full of instruction manuals for everything in the house which was great for sorting out the heating. Central heating was efficient and we had to turn it off. It's a traditional old harbour cottage so expect creaky floorboards upstairs. There is a small enclosed courtyard at the back. Iron and ironing board came in handy. The kitchen has plenty of cookware, crockery, cutlery etc. A few tea bags, coffee sachets, sugar and biscuits were left for us. The washing machine was a bonus with a manual in the cupboard for instructions. No tumble dryer but a maiden plus line and pegs are provided Wifi was good and we had no issues with it but we couldn't connect on the top floor. Maybe an extender plug could help with that if you're a technology addict or have teenagers. Living room was cosy and dining table is big enough for a family meal. Very pleasant decor. Master bedroom mattress was extremely firm, with plenty of pillows available. Top floor single bed was comfy. There were enough towels left for us too. Both bathrooms were clean and well maintained. Lovely heated towel radiators dried the towels. We did struggle to get hot water in the first floor shower on the first day but that may have been because both showers were used at the same time.

The venetian blinds were broken and damaged at every window. In the master bedroom, they need to be replaced. The tilt cords are jammed, there are broken slats and they don't keep out light. The main bathroom blind was the same. I had to close both of these by standing on a chair and manually closing the slats. It was so fiddly that we didn't open the blind back up for the whole week! There was also a blind on the stairs window, overlooking the rear courtyard and overlooked by rear properties. This was exactly the same as the others in that the slats didn't tilt - this was more difficult to deal with as it was above the stair treads but dropped down to below the stairs too (It went behind the stairs that have been remodelled to go in front of the window). It was impossible to reach all the slats and so wouldn't close without the tilt mechanism working. It was OK for us as rear properties seemed empty but I would request new blinds in the bedroom before I stayed again. Parking - there is no parking at the property which is clearly stated on the booking site. We were able to pull up outside and unload our bags etc. The parking passes have apparently been withdrawn by the local council (parking in a nearby carpark used to be available with the pass). Now it costs 6 per day to park there. We had no trouble finding car parking in the free spaces on the public roads nearby but we stayed in October and parked up at 5-6pm'ish. There were limited spaces that filled up quickly so in the summer season, this may be an issue. You have to walk up and down a hill to your car. You can drop off any family members with walking problems outside the house though. Neither of these things would stop me booking to stay here again or booking with the same company. This is just information to feedback for anyone that would struggle with these issues.

Very stressful on arrival - firstly , we struggled to get the key out of the safe. The key safe at the front door ideally needs replacing and took even the cleaner who arrived a good 20 mins to release the key Secondly , we discovered that the house had not been cleaned ( used bedding , ful bins , crumbs in the kitchen etc ). We arrived close to 7pm and contacted the central number for Dreams Cottage who warned us that we may not be able to get the house cleaned until the morning . Thus became very stressful . However ,at 7.30 pm an emergency cleaner arrived . She did an excellent job , however we couldn't occupy the house until 11pm when the house was clean again . An extremely stressful first evening .