I am very late making this post… whoops. Sorry, again. One of my new year resolutions is to write more. I have, in fact, got a whole notes section on my Notes app dedicated to all the blog posts I want to make throughout the year, and I keep adding to it. Whether or not I’ll get them all written though, that’s another matter.

Anyway, back in September I stayed in an Airbnb in a Haven holiday park. I used to go to this specific park a lot as a kid and wanted to feel nostalgic. I would have just booked through Haven directly, but one issue has now arisen that was not an issue when I was a kid…

Internet

Or should I say, lack there of. Accomodation provided by Haven doesn’t come with wifi. And considering most haven parks are on the coast (the whole premise of them is being a beach getaway ordeal for families) the signal strength is well, lacking. This didn’t bother me as a child- I did, in fact lose a phone at this exact holiday park when I was about 12 (realising that was half my life ago already scares the daylights out of me), but that didn’t even bother me back then.

Now, it’s 2023 (shut up it was 2023 when I wrote the plans for this okay?) and I can’t go 10 minutes without internet, let alone my phone! So I came up with the genius idea of seeing if anyone on Airbnb had bought one of those overpriced lodges that me and my cousins always drooled over as kids, and if they’re renting them out on AirBnb. Spoiler: they were.

Now to call me fussy is a bit of an understatement. I just- I like to get my moneys worth. But doesn’t everyone? This place was expensive though. Not like, ritz level, but still; I worked out how much it would have cost to stay here for the amount of time I had stayed in Australia for earlier on in the year (2 and a half months) and if I was paying the price of this lodge, it would come to well over double of what I paid to stay in an actual home in Australia.

But want to know a secret? I would also rate this little lodge double of what I rated the house in Australia. I have a post about that, I think it was the last post I wrote. Anyway, here is a review of the Airbnb.

The Entrance

Looks like a back door, but this was technically the front door. Which, if anyone read my post from the Australian Airbnb, we know is quite a running theme, but this wasn’t as bad as the latter.

The cleaner was still there when I arrived as I am not one to be tardy, so the place had the smell of bleach throughout. That made me, and my crippling OCD, very happy indeed.

That big white thing to the left of the picture was a heater, and a very powerful one at that. They had them in all the rooms, and, considering I went here mid September when its cold- and more colder for me after basking in the Australian sun for months, they were wonderful.

Next to that was a little thing for your shoes, at first I wondered why the shoes went in a weird little tray, but after some extensive googling, its to catch any sand that may be on them, you know, from the beaches they love to talk too much about on their advertisements. next to that is the bin, which is well… a bin. I don’t know if you can tell from this image, but the placement of the coat hooks both confused and frustrated me. I mean, I guess I am nitpicking now, but when I go somewhere, watch something, buy something, or anything in between, I look at everything. And I love to write about everything, the good, the bad and the boring.

Every time I opened the door to come in or out of the cabin, either the door would get stuck because of my coat, or the door would entirely knock my hat off the hooks. I don’t understand why they didn’t put the hooks right side next to the heater. That way they’re out the way of the door, and your coat may even get warmed up from the heater if you’re here in the colder months.

Far right is the start of the kitchen. Anyone who read my Australian Airbnb review might remember I said “oh we don’t have those big cupboards in England” and well, they had one in this little cabin.

The Kitchen

More kitchen and counter AND cupboard space than my kitchen at home. The irony. But as we know, that seems to be a running theme. The style of this kitchen is slightly outdated compared to the rest of the place, but it was new-ish and very clean. Not going to lie, I didn’t really use the kitchen much as I just ate out everyday.

I never took a picture but there was a lil fridge, obviously. That was the only thing I used, to keep drinks cold. But unlike the Australian airbnb, this was an electric cooker just like I’m used to! That washing machine you see is a rarity for these lodges, but I never used it as I was only there a week and I brought a different outfit for each day.

The Dining Area

I really do have a love-hate relationship with chairs & tables like this. The aesthetic side of me loves the look of them. They’re sleek and modern and really align with my whole minimalistic setup, on the other hand… is a chair really comfortable enough to eat from if you can’t lean back?

I was here alone, so I easily combatted this issue but slightly moving the dining table and benches closer to the wall so I could lean against that. But, I never ate here anyway, I always ate out, but I didn’t a lot of writing sat here as the view out the patio/balcony doors was wonderful. Side note: I really want those styled blinds for my own apartment!

The Living Room

You know a place is clean when you see vacuum lines, haha! I loved these sofas. But, we all know I have a… hate-hate (yeah I didn’t misspell that) relationship with my sofa back home so anything is better than that BUT these were the comfiest sofas ever. just me colour scheme as well, wonderful.

I really liked the pop of yellow with the little table which also doubled up as a tray as it lifts off the legs/stand. No one told that in that ottoman under the tv, THERE. WERE. TOYS! I had a blast playing with the marble run. Yes I am 24.

Never used the tv, I’m not a tv person. Again, I made sure this place had wifi, so YouTube was still my go-to. Trying to tell my mum how much better a laptop is than a tv. She has to pause her show when she gotta pee, I take my show with me!

The doors lead out to the patio. But the big glass area didn’t cause coldness even in the colder weather, and the curtains did a good job at blocking out all light. Weird comment but the carpet was so soft and squishy.

The Bathroom

Not the best picture I could have taken but you get the idea. Really liked that shower, very rare to see walk in showers in England- or at least, it’s not the norm. Or maybe it is, I don’t know. This was all very clean and my aesthetic and had a similar layout to my bathroom back home.

There was a heated towel rail but for the life of me I couldn’t get it to work. A bit nit-picky but there was no shelf in the shower at all and it was the most infuriating thing on the whole trip. The window ledge was narrow and even knocking the blinds slightly would make my shampoo etc to come crashing to the floor.

So, I had to end up putting all my stuff in the floor which wasn’t ideal. There was an all round lack of storage in the bathroom, which sure, some might say that you don’t really need that much storage for a holiday home you only plan on spending a week or two at, which yes, I agree. But considering there is so much storage in every other part of the house, this seemed a bit odd as there was just… nothing.

Bedroom 1

This was the main/master bedroom. I do wonder if the hosts favourite colour is yellow because apart from the random pops of yellow everywhere, there doesn’t seem to be many other colours. Which, is not a bad thing at all. As you all can tell from my entire website, I am not a colourful person at all.

This was the room I slept in, as there were two bedrooms but I wasn’t going to sleep in a single bed. I don’t even think I could sleep in a single bed these days, as I’m laying in my Super-King-Size bed writing these very words. I really would feel like a little sardine in a sardine can.

This room had two heats for some reason, which, nesh* little me will not complain about. (*for those not versed with British dialect, a ‘nesh’ person is just someone who is always cold). All the boring stuff: both the lamps worked, the curtains weren’t the best as they were not blackout ones and I’m a light sleeper very sensitive to the light. So sensitive that I had to completely block out the window in my bedroom skylight at home with black sticky vinyl.

There were a double set of drawers in this room and a wardrobe! (See what I mean by there was a lot of storage everywhere except the bathroom?!) and even my weeks worth of clothes didn’t make a dint in the amount of storage space for clothes etc in this room, even more storage than I have back home.

Bed was 8/10 for comfort, much better than the bricks- sorry, the beds at the Hilton. There’s not much else to say about this room lol but I’ll just add, really liked the doors and the door handles. Seems weird but you know those doors that just close so effortlessly and softlay? They were those doors. Top notch 10/10 doors.

Bedroom 2

I don’t know what it is, every time I do one of those Airbnb tours and I see a mirror, I revert back to my 2012 era and be all ✌🏻, I can’t explain it. But this is the second bedroom, but technically, with the way it’s all laid out, the first bedroom you come to. But, I’m putting it second as I didn’t really use it. Did like the full length mirror though, better than my one back home.

Great little room for kids though, complete with two little sardine tins- I mean, beds. I love how the decor through the entire cabin matches. Something I could only dream of doing in my house. Well, everything is monochrome, so maybe I have achieved my dreams.

The Patio

I couldn’t get it all on one picture, but this was the patio area. Had cute little tables and chairs and an outdoor sofa thing… I feel like those have a certain name but maybe I’m wrong. All still very grey and monochrome, right up my alley! It rained for pretty much every waking (and sleeping!) moment of the week so I didn’t get to sit outside here all that much. Which is a shame.

That bench on the left hand side on the second picture opens up for storage. So, they can do that, but they can’t put some shelves in the bathroom..? Anyway, wonderful little cabin. By far, the nicest airbnb I’ve stayed at.