Russet

Generally, everything was ok.

Kitchen was well-equipped and the lounge was comfy and the locals were friendly. There were some maintenance issues, though: 1. The extractor fan in the main bedroom en suite didn't work and actually fell off the wall and landed on me while I was brushing my teeth on the first night. Given the debris in there, there may have been a bird nest at some point. 2. The shower tray drained very, very slowly. Luckily, neither of us have long showers so it wasn't a problem - but the tray still got very full. 3. The curtain poles in the main bedroom didn't fit and the curtains were about 6 feet too long for them, anyway. Black-out blinds or heavier (fitting) curtains would have helped as the mornings were very bright. 4. To try to help assist with the issue above, we thought we'd hang a spare brown blanket that was in a bag in the wardrobe over the window. Unfortunately, that blanket absolutely stank (possibly an earlier guest had used it for a dog?) so that idea quickly went by the wayside. 5. Minor quibble: the front door was not always easy to lock and the barrel just seemed to rotate without catching. We always got there eventually with perseverance, but it sometimes took a few minutes. 6. There appears to be a swarm of bees happily living in the shed given the activity we could see going in and out. If they had been wasps, I'd probably have burned the shed down - but they're definitely bees. Not a problem for us as we were out front watching the house martins feeding NINE hungry nests!

Lovely, well equipped cottage in a small village.

Pub next door wasn't an issue other than house from fans when we sat in the garden. Great location for exploring the fantastic Northumberland coastline.

All went smoothly on our arrival at Russett, although the surprise was that it is right next door to the 'pub', the only negative of this being the low humming noise from the fans at the back which can be heard from the back bedroom and the garden.

The 'pub' itself is quiet and mostly used for dining. Russett was clean and everything worked as it should and was fairly comfortable. The log burner is a lovely touch as the weather was wet and windy but perhaps a few more seating options would be a good idea, particularly when there are 4 adults or more occupying. The only other negative was that there was not enough cutlery, only 3 forks, but apart from that there were enough cooking utensils etc. Lovely kitchen, appliances execellent and a really lovely welcome basket including a bottle of wine and some good quality products which is a lovely touch. The property is ideally located to to get to all the main places on the Northumberland coast, e.g. Bamburgh, Alnwick, Berwick etc which was great. We would definitely recommend Russett, handy 'pub' next door to dine, within easy distance of all landmarks, clean and comfortable generally.