The Swanage Rail Lookout

17 Customer Reviews

• "A superbly renovated property with fantastic facilities."

  The upper and lower deck areas are great with the bonus of steam trains passing by. Excellent holiday accomodation.

  Hi Martin, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback. Great to hear these positive comments, especially regarding the renovated areas. We hope that you will stay at The Swanage Rail Lookout again in the future. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Martin5.0★Sep 2026

• "Great stay."

  The only complaint is the bedding quilt was too thick for summer months Apart from this it was an excellent stay

  Hi Suzie, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback and it's great to hear that you had a nice stay. Regarding the thickness of the duvets, all of them are 'All Year Round 10.5 Tog' type, which should be suitable for all seasons, however we appreciate that maybe during these extreme heatwaves, even these well designed duvets could unfortunately be felt to be too thick. In order to try and ensure guests sleep comfortably in hotter conditions, as you will have seen, we have provided each bedroom with a fan (bladeless one in the bunkbed room for added child safety reasons), although it is difficult to counteract these 30+ degree temperatures that occur for a few weeks of each year. Thanks again and we hope that you will stay at The Swanage Rail Lookout again in the future. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Suzie5.0★Aug 2026

• "We all enjoyed our stay."

  Clean and airy. The bifold doors were a bonus

  Hi Sue, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback. Great to hear that you all had a good time and we really appreciate these positive comments, especially regarding the brand new bifold doors. We did see that you have booked again for next year and look forward to you coming back to stay then. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Sue5.0★Jul 2026

• "Lovely property with a very nice living space, balcony was ideal and the garden was enjoyed by all."

  Hi Paula, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback. Great to hear these positive comments, especially regarding the brand new living space and balcony areas. We hope that you will stay at The Swanage Rail Lookout again in the future. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Paula5.0★Jul 2026

• "Nice property and location."

  We loved the steam trains passing at the bottom of the garden. Decent garden with plenty of space to sit. Good quality towels to use.

  Hi Pauline, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback. Great to hear these positive comments in terms of the location of the property and the property itself. We are glad that you enjoyed the steam trains as we, our young kids and our dog also do! We hope that you will stay at The Swanage Rail Lookout again in the future. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Pauline5.0★Jun 2026

• "Newly modernised detached property with off road parking, less than a mile's walk to the town centre and beach."

  The house is comfortable, well equipped and well set out and the garden is fully enclosed, great for children and dogs. Highly recommended.

  Hi Rupert, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback and for your recommendation! Great to hear these positive comments in terms of the location of the property and the property itself. We did see that you have booked again for next year and look forward to you coming back to stay then. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Rupert5.0★May 2026

• "Wonderful stay."

  We came down to Swanage for the railway gala and our stay here was excellent. The house has everything you need , is very comfortable and you could not ask for more . The owners are very accommodating and communicate is very good. We went to Monkey world , Bournemouth on the bus via the ferry as well as the railway and Corfe .

  Hi Kate, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback. Great to hear that you had a nice time and that the house had everything that you needed. We hope that you will stay at The Swanage Rail Lookout again in the future. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Kate5.0★May 2026

• "We were very happy with our stay."

  The accommodation and garden suited us well.

  Hi Steve, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback. Great to hear that you had a good time and that the property suited. We hope that you will stay at The Swanage Rail Lookout again in the future. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Steve5.0★Aug 2025

• "We had a great stay."

  The house is very comfortable and well thought out.It is well equipped,with a lovely kitchen.Seeing the steam train go past was a bonus!!

  Hi Jane, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback. Lovely to hear that you had a great stay, reflected by your positive comments, and that you enjoyed seeing the stream train go past! We have to admit that we are disappointed with the scoring breakdown that you have provided given the purely positive comments seen. Please do let us know if you therefore have any suggestions for improvements etc that were the reason for the scores provided? Property Owner

  Reviewed by Jane5.0★Jul 2025

• "Lovely house in a brilliant location for a multi generational holiday together."

  The house was very clean, comfortable and spacious and had everything needed for a great holiday. My son loved celebrating his 16th birthday here and as a committed rail enthusiast, was able to spend plenty of time at the railway station which was a short walk away from the house and if he wasn’t there, he was in the garden watching the trains go by. During our stay we visited the Tank Museum, Corfe Castle. Wareham and Swanage and even had a drive down to Weymouth. We found some lovely pubs with good food locally and would recommend the Quays in Wareham, The Ship in Swanage, The Fox in Corfe and the Halfway Inn by Norden. There are also plenty of lovely tea rooms and cake shops along with a fantastic butchers (The Salt Pig) in Wareham and Swanage who did the best sausages and burgers that we had had in ages! Our only suggestions for improvement would be a potato masher for the kitchen and to provide window keys for the front bedroom. We visited during the heatwave and couldn’t open the large windows in the bay as they were locked shut. We overcame the issue by buying a fan in town so it wasn’t a problem! Thank you for a wonderful stay and for the many happy memories made at the house, it was just what we had hoped for.

  Hi Catherine, thanks for taking the time to provide all of this feedback and it's lovely to hear all of these positive comments and that you and the family had a great time. Thank you also for the suggestions for improvement made. We will add a potato masher to the property by the end of next week and, regarding the bedroom windows and reiterating what we replied in a previous review, please refer to the property advert where it states "Please note that the lower windows to the twin and bunkbed rooms have been sealed and although the handles remain, even when unlocked they cannot be opened for safety reasons." To confirm, the upper windows in both of those rooms (and both the upper and lower windows in the king room) can still be opened to let air in, as we're sure you would have done, and, again referring back to a previous review, by the end of next week fans will be put in both the twin and bunkbed rooms for use if they are felt to be required. Our apologies for these not being available during your stay. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Catherine5.0★Jun 2025

• "It's a very nice property."

  A few adjustments would make it much better. We have holidayed in Swanage over many years and found that small details matter in a holiday property. For example, there is no key to the windows and therefore some cannot be opened. In hot weather, this can make sleeping uncomfortable. There is no clock. There is cupboard space not available to the holiday maker. The small bedroom and the twin room have little in the way of hanging clothes. Two large cupboards are out of bounds. If you are going to rent, I believe that. you have to let go of thinking about your personal space kept solely for when you stay there, and think of the comfort of your guests. A hotel doesn't lock your cupboard. There are no egg cups or egg spoons. There is insufficient washing liquid. No salt and pepper. As mentioned, just a few minor details. On a positive note, lovely garden, modern interior, great shower, plenty of hot water, 15 minutes walk to town.

  Hi Pauline, thanks for taking the time to provide all of this feedback and it's great to hear that you think we have a very nice property in terms of quality and location. We have to admit that we are disappointed with the scoring breakdown that you have provided, given the nature of the points raised and would like to explain why by addressing the suggested adjustments mentioned for yours/others reference. Firstly, bedroom windows, as stated in the property advert "Please note that the lower windows to the twin and bunkbed rooms have been sealed and although the handles remain, even when unlocked they cannot be opened for safety reasons." To confirm, the upper windows in both of those rooms (and both the upper and lower windows in the king room) can still be opened to let air in etc and no keys are needed as those that can be opened are not locked. However, we take your point on board in terms of the temperature that you felt upstairs and, over the next few weeks, we will be providing fans in each of those two bedrooms, for use if they are felt to be required. Similarly, in terms of the lack of clock, we will be putting a couple in the property shortly. Thanks for this feedback as this is not something that we thought of when furnishing the property. Regarding cupboard space, yes we have needed to lock off some of the cupboards in order for us to leave clean bedding/towels etc and stock for the cleaners to use as part of changeovers, however we believe that we have left ample cupboard space for holiday makers, certainly more than we have been provided with when we have stayed elsewhere. However, please do note that as a result of upcoming works to the property later this year, being knocking down the sun room and rebuilding to be the property's living room, the existing living room will be a spare room that can be used for storage, freeing up some of the currently locked cupboards. Regarding hanging of clothes, thanks for that feedback and, although we feel what is currently in place is enough to service the property, in order to ensure this when it comes to our longer bookings, we have decided to, over the next few weeks, buy an additional clothes rail. The two large cupboards you refer to as being out of bounds are used as storage for the cleaners as mentioned above, a necessity of course, albeit we still maintain that we believe storage space provided is suitable as it is, albeit will increase as also mentioned above, again reiterating the upcoming changes to the property's layout and increased storage space available to holiday makers as a result. Thanks for the feedback on the lack of egg cups and apologies for those not being available during your stay, however as we mentioned on a previous review that also kindly mentioned this, we were soon to provide some at the property and now have done so. Sorry we are confused by what you mean by egg spoons, we thought teaspoons, of which there are many at the property, would suffice in this regard however please do advise if we are misunderstanding and we will action further. Regarding insufficient washing up liquid, we have double checked what is provided as part of each booking and that is a 50ml bottle, suitable for at least 3-4 instances of washing up and, given the availability of the dishwasher (with 2 x dishwasher tablets provided by us) also, feel this is ample for a self catering holiday let. Finally, salt and pepper, thanks very much for this feedback as we didn't think of including these when furnishing the property, however we have now actioned. Apologies for these not being available during your stay. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Pauline4.0★Jun 2025

• "A very nice holiday property, clean, well located for local amenities, transport and close to town."

  Nice spacious garden with good garden furniture. Unfortunately the cushion storage bins are not fully waterproof and we had to dry out the cushions as best we could. Could do with some pegs for the washing line. Other (very minor points) could do with egg cups and cleaning material. We did really enjoy our stay at The Swanage Rail Lookout and would thoroughly recommend it. Great place.

  Hi Ian, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback and great to hear that you really enjoyed your stay and would recommend our property. Regarding the cushion storage bins, our apologies for that inconvenience, they should be fully waterproof! We will arrange for them to now be put in the garden shed as this should ensure they stay dry in the future. Good point RE pegs for the washing line and the cleaners will be putting some pegs at the property as part of the next changeover next week, apologies for those not being available during your stay. We will be bringing some egg cups with us as part of our next stay at the property in a few weeks, thanks for commenting on this as again something we didn't think of when furnishing it! Finally, RE cleaning materials and further to the email correspondence that you kindly had with the management company as requested by ourselves, the items mentioned to be missing were shower cleaner (not advised to be left by the management company), bleach (or similar) for the toilets (again not advised to be left by the management company) and finally, kitchen cleaner, of which there should be a bottle of anti-bacterial spray kitchen cleaner located in the cupboard under the sink. Hopefully summarising this will help yourselves/future guests in terms of what is/isn't provided as part of the property cleaning wise. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Ian5.0★Jun 2025

• "This is a well presented modern property, very clean, comfortable, and well equipped."

  The weather on our short break was disappointing so we were unable to make full use of the garden, but it is a good size with plenty of garden furniture, and ideal for train fans as the steam railway runs directly behind. The Station is about a 15/20 min walk from the property. . Were we to visit this area again, we would not hesitate to stay in this property.

  Hi Robert, thanks for taking the time to provide this feedback, lovely to hear your positive comments and that you would stay at the property again albeit it is a shame to hear about the weather during your stay. Glad to hear that you enjoyed the around half a mile stroll to the station also. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Robert5.0★May 2025

• "Minor gripes; It would have been better if the garden furniture had been cleaned of the cobwebs and bird droppings."

  We cleaned two chairs with the spray found in the kitchen after we had bought kitchen roll. Advice to park on the road would be appreciated as trying to reverse off the drive with the drop on the right hand side, very difficult in a larger car. Positives; An extremely well presented holiday property, very comfortable sofas and bed. A lovely secure garden in a great location. Easy walk to the town to the friendly pubs. Lots of places to visit locally, a steam train trip to Corfe Castle highly recommended. Would certainly recommend to family and friends.

  Hi Gerard, thanks for taking the time to provide all of this feedback and it's great to hear that you would recommend our property to family and friends. We have to admit that we are disappointed with the scoring breakdown that you have provided, given the nature of the points raised and would like to explain why by addressing the gripes mentioned for yours/others reference. Firstly, garden furniture. I can only apologise for there being cobwebs , this is surprising given the use of the furniture across previous bookings, however I have fed this back to the cleaners who will ensure that they take a look for this as part of changeovers. Also, apologies for the bird droppings, however this is difficult to address as there is always some time between cleaners attending the property and the next guests arriving, during which birds may well do their business unfortunately! Secondly, again we we can only apologise for the couple of kitchen chairs that you needed to clean. We checked with the cleaners and they are very surprised by this finding and will ensure that this is not required again in the future. Regarding kitchen roll, in line with advice from our management company, it is unusual for these to be provided and instead would be guests responsibility to provide their own. Finally, regarding parking, our management company will now include some advice around reversing into the drive rather than driving in front ways, as part of the travel directions section when booking, as we appreciate that, when the road is busy, reversing out of the drive could be more challenging. Please note that we would still advise guests to utilise the off-road parking, as we ourselves do when staying at the property, albeit there is of course the option to park on the road, for free, if preferred/more convenient. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Gerard4.0★May 2025

• "Very well prepared and presented property with large garden and provided everything we required."

  Well positioned re beach and costcutter and coop shops nearby really handy. Just one negative, says parking for 2 cars, assumed on the drive unless you have a small hatch ok, but suv and above, no chance. Oh and neighbours and visitors had parked across the frontage and drive most days after our day out, so we had to park in front of other local's properties...

  Hi Christopher, thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback and great to hear that the property provided everything you required. Regarding parking, appreciate your comments, however we have a large SUV sized car and a van and we are able to park them directly behind each other down the drive, albeit we do note that those sitting in the passenger side of the vehicles are needing to get in/out at the top of the drive as the width does not allow both doors to open when parked at the bottom of the drive, only the drivers side. I can only apologise for neighbours and their visitors parking across the frontage and drive, this shouldn't happen as everyone is aware to not block the drive (we will put a sign up to reiterate this) and they also usually leave us a space directly outside the house on the road, albeit as these are public spaces this cannot be guaranteed. As a result of these being public spaces, in the instance of no parking space available directly outside the property then there should be ample other spaces along the road to utilise. Just to clarify for yours/others future reference, from November this year we will be creating a further off-road parking space directly in front of the house, thereby allowing for 3 vehicles being parked off-road as well as , if preferred, utilising the on-road spaces available, of which there are usually many in a very close proximity to the property. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Christopher5.0★May 2025

• "Excellent property and superbly situated, we felt a chopping board and an iron were the only things missing of note."

  We also found a couple of unwashed plates on our first nights stay, but other than that everything was well presented.

  Hi Stephen, Thank you very much for your positive comments and we hope that you enjoyed your stay. Regarding the missing items, we have two chopping boards at the property, appearing to have been left in the bottom drawer underneath the oven during your stay. Regardless, we will move them to be in the bottom drawer underneath the hob(s) as makes sense for them to be in with the weighing scales etc. We have today bought an iron and ironing board for the property, thank you for feeding that back and apologies for these not being available during your stay. Finally, we can only apologise for the couple of unwashed plates that you found. We checked with the cleaners and they are very surprised by this finding and will ensure that this does not happen again in the future. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Stephen5.0★Mar 2025

• "Very nice house,"

  Reviewed by Peter5.0★Mar 2025

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