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Review 1209: Sudeley Castle Cottages, Princess Elizabeth Apartment

www.sudeleycastle.co.uk

Review by Pauline from NM

2bed/1bath apartment on an estate in Winchcombe, Heart of England

Living room of Princess Elizabeth apartment, Sudeley Castle Cottages, photo by Pauline Kenny

When

September 2004, 4 weeks

Review

We rented the Princess Elizabeth apartment in the Sudeley Castle Cottages from a US agent (they no longer represent these cottages). This apartment was not the type of place to stay for a month. I had searched on my own for cottages for weeks and could not find something available for a month (September) and with a phone. I finally turned to an agency to help me find a place.

We did not like our apartment. I have given it a neutral rating because the location was 5 star, but the cottage 1 star (on my personal rating system), so that works out to 3 stars.

The location is perfect. Winchcombe is a wonderful town in the Cotswolds. The cottages are on the edge of the town. You are in a town, but are on the edge, so it is like being in the countryside. The cottages are on the edge of the Sudeley Castle estate, but you do not see the castle from the cottages. You can walk on public footpaths across fields to the castle.

The apartment is in a complex of 14 cottages/apartments. We were in Princess Elizabeth, an apartment in an end row house, with an apartment above and one beside it. There was some noise from the apartment above, but not that much.

It was a three block walk, up a slight hill, to the high street of Winchcombe with many shops, tea rooms, pubs, and restaurants. It is a great town to be based in.

The apartment is on two levels: the ground level has entrance (no place to put wet coats or muddy boots), the dining room overlooking the living room, which is down a few steps, and a separate kitchen past the dining area. Upstairs are two bedrooms (one queen, one with twins) and a full bathroom.

The apartment was somewhat shabby and needed a deep cleaning. There were cobwebs on the windows and thick dust bunnies behind the furniture. I gave it a good vacumn and that helped. When we arrived, there was a big "air freshener" in the living room. We have allergies to the chemicals these things put into a room and usually, when you see an air freshener or scented candles, they are hiding must or mold. After we had cleared the air freshener smell away, we could smell a strong mustly smell in the living room. Fortunately it was not in the bedrooms. Most of the walls in the apartment were stone and the building is very old - that explains the must but does not excuse it. I have stayed in many old cottages, in England and Italy, and I know they do not have to be musty.

The living room furniture was shabby and very uncomfortable. Ugly couches, with stained throw pillows and a throw blanket. The whole apartment, except the kitchen and entrance, had chocolate brown carpet which looked like it needed a good cleaning. The dining table was probably antique and was pretty, but some of the chairs were falling apart (and dangerous to sit on).

The kitchen was somewhat well equipped. Electric stove, oven (with no racks, just a sort of rack on the bottom where you could put something), bar-sized fridge with a 2" high freezer that could not freeze ice cream, microwave, electric kettle, toaster, good enough dishes and cutlery, okay pots and pans. But it was really ugly. Vinyl flooring that is supposed to look like tile, plastic counters that looked like wood, cheap cabinets, big flourescent light overhead. We cooked many meals here, so it was usable. I went in the apartment next door (because they could not figure out how to work their oven and knocked on our door for help because no one was in the office) and their kitchen was prettier - so some of the other apartments are probably nicer.

The beds were comfortable. The bathroom was strange with its brown carpeting, but had a nice big tub. It took 3 flushes to get anything down the toilet (and this was not because it was low-flow - they worked fine for us everywhere else). The sink was designed with a heater and towel rack on the wall beside where you stand, so you could not stand in front of the sink, but had to stand on an angle.

There was an outside area for the apartment, but it was not private. People walk by to get to their cottages. The outside area looks out to a pretty lawn and to the parking lot. The picnic table was one of those ones that are very uncomfortable to sit on - you either sit straddling the thing that holds the bench or sit scrunched up to one side. We did not use the outside area much - but we spent most days walking on the trails for hours, so did not miss the outside time. Still, it would have been nice to have a nice place to sit and have coffee.

We rented this apartment because the agency highly recommended the Sudeley Castle Cottages and this was the only one with a phone line. We arranged to have a phone and a desk in the second bedroom. When we arrived, there was a big, dirty fax machine on an end table, but no phone and no desk. I could not figure out how to get the fax machine to not answer the phone immediately, so we lost several calls our first few days there. We went to the office and asked if it was possible to get a phone (and remove the fax) and a desk and to maybe remove one of the beds so there was room for the desk. We were told by the manager that this was not possible and that we had arranged all this with another person and she no longer worked for them.

I emailed the agency and they got in touch with the manager. Several days later we had a phone and a desk. This was great, but it felt wrong to me that we had to get the agency to pressure the local people to give us what they had agreed to in the first place.

Checkin consists of arriving and finding an envelope with your name on it tacked to the office door. The office was never open the first few days we were there - we did have a phone number, so we could have called someone. It seemed to be open an hour or so most mornings. Sometimes they left open a room beside the office with videos and tourist brochures. Several times people arrived at night in the dark and could not find their cottage. They would knock on our door (because they could see we were home) and we got out our flashlights and helped them.

There is a laundry room, shared by the office and the whole complex. It has one big American washer and dryer. I used it a lot (those trails are muddy!).

For the last two weeks of our stay, there were a lot of workmen about and they were noisy and had their trucks in the driveway during the day and the parking lot at night (so, if you came back late at night, there were no spaces - but there was a nearby field you could park in). One morning we woke up to water pouring down our bedroom window - they were washing the windows - no one had told us this would be happening.

These cottages are rated as 3 star and the Princess Elizabeth is priced at 405 - 530 pounds per week in high season (about $700 - $1000). Personally I feel you can find a better quality cottage for a similar price, but there are not many cottages for rent in Winchcombe. You will find more cottages 10 minutes away in Broadway.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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Review 1209: Sudeley Castle Cottages, Princess Elizabeth Apartment

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