Pros: delightful cottage, amazing location by the reserve with far reaching views, good bedding and beds.
Cons: not as clean as we had hoped it would be. Bath and beds fine, but a few mugs at the back of kitchen cupboards were , dining table still had remains of the previous occupants’ crumbs on it, sofas though comfortable had several marks on the covers and looked a bit grubby, and there was dried on tomato sauce on one of the dining chairs and coffee table that the cleaner had also missed. With Covid still about, deep cleans should still really be happening.
Still, with such a lovely cottage we were prepared to overlook this, until the noise started: the direct neighbour (thankfully away for most of our stay) returned from their holiday the day before we left. We had been emailed the cottage info pack a week before our trip, and that’s when the owner mentioned that the neighbour’s teenage son practises drums for Music ‘A’ Level and that they had agreed to minimise disruption to guests by always playing at a set time they felt would be acceptable, and for only 45 mins max.
We had booked our trip a year before, but hadn’t heard about this drumming until we were due to arrive.
We are both key workers (NHS & school) so this was our first proper trip since the pandemic.
We love Rye Harbour (been before) and were so looking forward to finding the perfect cottage we could return time after time, as well as some much needed R&R, so to be told of drumming practise next door made us rather nervous, as we were both exhausted when we came on holiday after what has been a long and tiring year.
We asked if the drumming could be earlier than what the owners had arranged, because we usually cook on holiday and the time they had suggested would have been when we were home.
The day the neighbours returned from their trip, it was raining hard, so we were home packing.
When the drumming started we all (teenage daughter included) nearly jumped out of our skins. This is a little, period fisherman’s cottage and they are not soundproofed by any means.
The noise was horrific, it went through every single room in the cottage and after enduring 15 minutes of it, we decided to go out for a walk in the rain, until it had stopped.
It just isn’t acceptable to have to listen to this at any time during a holiday really, which is a real shame as the cottage and location are beautiful, but frankly who needs this stress when on holiday?