5 Blackshore, Southwold

A real home from home.

Just had a very relaxing holiday in No.

5 Blackshore Road. The cottage is very comfortable with great views over the river on one side and the marshes on the other. There is always something to see! It is cosy, warm and spacious and well equipped. Looking forward to visiting again.

A dream property really.

We loved it. Very very generous level of facilities and amenities right down to the tea spoons. Will be back for sure.

We enjoyed a week at 5 Blackshore Cottage ultimately because of the location of the property and the size of the cottage.

The cottage itself is in desperate need of some maintenance. The property has great potential.

Had a really comfortable holiday in No.

5 Blackshore. It was lovely (after a long journey) to arrive to a warm ,cosy and welcoming cottage.The wine,tea,coffee and biscuits were a delight! The cottage is well equipped, lovely and warm with fantastic views. Overall, a fabulous stay.! Thank-you. Only one criticism....the internet was a problem.

It’s a bit tired but we’ve been coming here for so many years we can forgive it!

If the owners were wanting to improve things and only if - the bed in the main bedroom just needs a decent mattress lose all the toppers it’s like a princess and the pea bed! The sofas in the lounge I know are a good 15 years old and could do with replacing … The damp is coming through quite badly and it does smell damp … The shower in the main bathroom doesn’t work at all … There was no outside parasol! Which was a problem as we were blessed with glorious weather and no shade there was one last year? Having said all that we absolutely love the place and would like to re book if you can contact me for a deposit same week next year

This property was in an excellent location and we enjoyed lovely walks from the door.

However, the cottage was uncomfortable and nowhere near the usual standard of a rental like this. The beds were all uncomfortable, the sofas in the sitting room were very lumpy and dirty with throws put over them to cover the many marks and stains. The carpet in the sitting room had many dirty marks as did the rug in the conservatory and the latter in particular was grubby and not a pleasant place to sit. The kitchen was well equipped but two of the cupboard doors had broken hinges and one in particular was hanging loose. The worst part though was a problem with the heating. On our first night the heating came on and was very noisy in the sitting room with sounds of running water and gurgling. This was worse in two of the bedrooms including the only double room. The pipes there are next to the headboard and not boxed in so the sound was loud. I recorded it and took a decibel reading which was between 30-45 depending on the amount of churning so not great to sleep next to. I reported the problem the next day and a plumber was sent around when we were out which was good. However this did not sort out the problem and we realised that the thermostat was probably broken and the water was seriously overheating. We turned the boiler off and rang the next day to be told that there was nothing they could do and they didn't have any other properties to move us to. They rang back later and said we could go home and have a refund but we had builders in our house and had arranged to be away when our own house was going to be unusable. I messaged again and asked to speak to a supervisor as i could see on the website that there were similar priced properties nearby which were available for letting. I was told that there was nothing more they could do and we would just have to sleep in another room. I pointed out that two of the rooms were affected by the heating noise and we had to make the choice between heating and sleeping which wasn't acceptable. The property is meant to be for 6 people and we had paid for it as such even though there was just two of us so being told to move to another room and sleep in single beds si not acceptable. As far as the company was concerned they had followed their protocol and weren't prepared to do anything else to resolve the problem - just bad luck for us. We left early in the end as it was too cold and too uncomfortable. I would not recommend the cottage or the company and have sent in a formal complaint.