Reviewed by
Angela
14th June 2024
REVIEW OF THE LOOKERS LEGACY, OXNEY IN STONE, KENT
We stayed at The Lookers Legacy for 7 nights in May 2024. This was another in a series of Cottage stays with our adopted rescue dog. Our dog is highly reactive to many situations, so we booked Lookers Legacy as it was quite secluded and out of the way - and it catered for dogs!
What a lovely placRead moree in a fantastic location and a great base from which to explore the South Kent and East Sussex countryside and beaches.
Surrounded by 2 separate vineyards it has views over the Kent countryside.
Its on a small development of converted barns which is accessed by a secure, keypad operated, automatic gate but is a couple of hundred yards from the nearest neighbouring property, down the end of a short, unmade, drive. With a large secure parking space, its only a few minutes from the main roads albeit down some narrow, twisty lanes.
The parking is around a hundred yards from the cottage and to transfer your luggage and belongings the owners have provided a large barrow/trolley. Its easy to manoeuvre but, even as a fit older person, I found it hard work pushing it up the sight slope from the cottage to the car !
For us, having a reactive dog, the biggest downside to the cottage was the fact that there is a public footpath running just a few yards from the cottage and past the open plan lawned area. This is clearly mentioned in the description but we were so seduced by the location and photos of the cottage we missed that bit ! Granted, the path wasnt particularly busy but it was adjacent to the cottage and used by dog walkers with dogs off the lead - which meant that we had to constantly be on the lookout for approaching people and dogs so that we could take our dog inside. (Also, the off lead dogs would happily wander across the lawn and up to the doors to the lounge. Not ideal for us).
The location in the vineyards did however mean that we could take the dog for quiet walks right from our doorstep !
The property itself is good. It has an interesting history and has been carefully thought out and sympathetically designed and put together. It could however have been a great property but for the fact that there were several areas where we felt more attention to detail could have been given.
Ill say now that none of these were show-stoppers and, having spoken to the owners about a couple of them we agreed that we didnt need them resolved whilst we were there. Some of these may seem minor but, collectively, we felt they made a big difference.
The sort of things were talking about are:
The description mentioned an underbed storage box, separate towels for the dog and a dog waste bin. None of these were there and the owners werent aware of that fact ! (The underbed storage would have been very useful as storage space overall was at a premium).
There was a light coating of dust on some surfaces.
There was a woodburning stove (supplied with a handful of logs) but there was no kindling and, more importantly, no lighter or matches to light it.
There was an issue with the rubber door seals on the small dishwasher they were loose and pulling the bottom tray out ended up pulling the seal off the door (we had to replace it quite a few times).
There was no breadknife with the cutlery and no clingfilm, cooking foil or spare black bin bags (All of these would be cheap to provide and would be helpful thoughtful).
The cooking knives could do with a sharpen.
With the dishwashers small capacity (and the small amount of crockery provided) we had to use it practically everyday. A handful of dishwasher tablets were provided but not enough for our weeks stay.
There were only a couple of plastic (wine) glasses supplied but, with a lovely patio area outside, we felt that more (or a few plastic tumblers) would be very useful.
There were a couple of small rattan tables out on the patio which looked like they should have had glass tops. Both tops were missing which meant that any glasses placed on the tables werent very stable.
The crockery seemed a bit mis-matched. Some sets of 4 werent complete and there was only one red wine glass.
The only dustpan we could find was with all the equipment for the stove and was broken.
There was a large, external, wooden shutter for the bedroom window (which directly overlooked the footpath). This was unusable and didnt seem to have been maintained for some time.
As I said, none of these were showstoppers (and may seem trivial and picky) but, having stayed in quite a few cottages, put together they could all create a much better guest experience.
On a more positive note there were a lot of things which we felt were really good:
The location was one of the best weve come across.
The large bed and the sofa were very comfortable.
The 2 person hot tub was a great touch especially in helping to wind down after a full days
exploring.
There was plenty of open hanging space and coat hangers.
The small welcome pack was a nice touch.
The ability to be able to walk the dog around the vineyards was a bonus.
Overall, we had a lovely week. The weather, for the most part was kind to us. We managed to get out and visit all the places wed planned to whilst getting some well needed rest.
Would we return ? No is the answer but primarily because we dont tend to return to places (theres far too many new ones to explore !)
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