Old Stables Cottage, Loftus

September Project #20 – Old Stables Cottage. ‘Ti’s a very quirky cottage indeed! The cottage is located in the small town of Loftus, which, although itself isn’t particularly scenic, it serves as a brilliant base from which you can explore many of the more well-known towns and villages, such as Whitby, Saltburn by Sea and Robin Hood Bay. All of these have many popular attractions, which will keep anyone aged 2 to 102 entertained! The cottage itself is very quirky indeed – certain aspects of its quirkiness add to its attraction, some definitely detract from it. The cottage seems to be very warm and cosy. Some previous reviewers said that it had felt ‘damp. ‘ This was not our experience. The cottage appeared to be clean, and tidy. All beds were made, and, although others have commented about the bedding needing replacing, we felt that it’s quality was adequate, but the style is a little dated to say the least (although, arguably, the ‘old fashioned’ nature of the bedding matches the ‘old fashioned ‘ building! The Wi-Fi signal here is excellent in the lounge and the bedroom nearest the fireplace, (not so good in the en suite bedroom). But, I guess, due to the thick walls of the building, the Wi-Fi range will be limited! Unfortunately, now I must mention the negative aspects of The Old Stables : As the name suggests, this property is very old, and, because of this, has a layout, which probably would make most ‘elf and safety officials quake in their boots. At the entrance, there is a sunken wire mat in the hallway, but this is actually sunk so low into the slate floor tiles, that there is a really nasty lip, which is a definite trip hazard, the sad thing is that it could be better filled and made safe. There are a couple of steps up to the open plan lounge / kitchen area, the owners have installed a grab rail on one side of the doorway, in anticipation that this may cause some people a degree of difficulty. The two staircases in the property are quite steep. One of them does not even have a proper banister on, but is furnished by a piece of rope, which is strung along the wall, up the stairs. Anyone with any sort of infirmity, visual impairment could come a cropper! Steep stairs, and uneven flooring are compounded by the fact that the lighting in the property is extremely poor in places. The lighting on the staircase off the lounge consists of a nightlight, which needs to be switched on at a plug! Whilst there, we used a bedside lamp, by the doorway, to provide anything close to an acceptable amount of light necessary for a steep, curved staircase!! And now, we move on to the kitchen... The freezer is tiny! It is not adequate, considering the property is for 6 people! There is also a woefully inadequate amount of mugs and glasses to accommodate 6 people! The situation with lack of decent sized mugs was so bad that, prior to my dad coming to the cottage, I suggested that he may want to bring his own mug!! Hardly acceptable!! The lounge, although furnished with old horse tack, pictures and even an old cartwheel on the ceiling, does not have comfortable seating for 6 people!! There are three single armchairs, one 2 seater settee: the other ‘comfy ‘ seat is a wooden chair, with cushion. I would not consider this a comfy option!! Old Stables Cottage has its own charm, and, for some, would be the perfect holiday getaway. For me however, I think it seems a little bit hazardous. The sad thing is that, with a little bit of TLC, it could be brought up to a more acceptable standard!

Firstly, the location of this cottage is good, short distances to Saltburn, Whitby, Robin Hoods Bay etc. There is a very reliable bus service from Loftus to Whitby (much better than trying to find a parking space or indeed using the park and ride) The village / town of Loftus isn’t pretty with few amenities. It’s a typical working (mining and steelworks) area. We stayed at the cottage with my son, daughter in law, granddaughter aged 5 and grandson 15months. There was no ‘guide’ or introduction to the property or area. There was no welcome pack, it’s usual to leave guests at least a bottle of milk and perhaps some biscuits. The cottage is advertised as having parking for one car. This is not correct. On arrival we asked about parking and were told to park at the side of the building on a ramshackle driveway to an equally ramshackle garage which was not part of the property. There is no outside area, I’d wrongly assumed there would be perhaps a small back yard or drying area. The property consists of an open plan ground floor lounge and kitchen/dining room, an entrance hall and a ground floor bathroom. There is a set of stairs at one of the cottage leading to a double bedroom and another set of stairs off the entrance hall leading to the other two bedrooms (one of which has an en-suite). The stairs are not an easy climb. The sofa and chairs in the sitting room are comfy, the dining table only seats 4 (property is advertised to accommodate 6) although there are two folding stools which were very shaky and unusable. The decor is dated - even for a country cottage look, but serviceable. The kitchen area is tired and ill equipped. Crockery is a mishmash, cutlery is very poor quality. There wasn’t a sharp knife, although there was a strange mixture of dishes and pots! The cooker looks very old and it took a long time to cook anything. It felt like the property had been equipped by the owners with items they no longer wanted or used or even charity shop/carboot purchases. There’s no dishwasher or washing machine which wouldn’t normally bother me but having small children with us a washing machine would have been a boon (although remember there’s no drying area) Also there was no high chair - a real problem. The conversion of this property hasn’t been done to a very high standard, most worryingly the electrics (particularly the living room ceiling light and taped up sockets) The electric shower took some working out (in both bathroom and en-suite) - want hot water then turn the dial to cold - both switches had been fitted the wrong way around. The decor (panels not tiles) was to a very poor standard with a gap around the bath. The bathroom sink was wobbly. There were no bins in the bathrooms and only one toilet brush. The bedrooms have skylight windows with no blinds meaning that bedrooms are light and bright at 5am in the morning (not good with young children). The bed personally for me was too soft. Of most concern was safety. There is only one entrance/exit to the property. In the case of fire the exit route would have been unusable and escape from upper windows impossible due to their size. In short it appears that property has taken on the life of a holiday rental, but the conversion has been done cheaply and poorly with little thought.