The Flat In The Square

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Homely feel in a nice location with excellent train links to Glasgow.

2nd bedroom could do with a black out blind, but not really a “didn’t like “

Clean and comfortable with perfect central location.

Nothing all was great.

Great location, very accommodating and everything we needed for our stay.

Nothing to fault it was brilliant.

Location was fantastic, so too was the flat itself and the host

Nothing

Communication with Ali was great from the moment I booked. We weren't due to arrive until about 8pm, having had a 7hour drive, but she still came and met us at the flat. She sent us precise instructions to find the resident car parking and helped us get our luggage up to the flat. She had been in earlier in the day and turned the heating on so the flat was lovely and cosy when we arrived. The flat was even more lovely than the photos depicted - bigger than I expected - very spacious and comfortable with plenty of comfortable seating in the lounge, even with the sofa bed pulled out. Ali had thought of everything and there were so many nice touches - she had left milk, butter, coffee pods, shortbread fingers and some croissants- which meant we had everything we needed immediately and could settle down for the evening. There were toiletries in the bathroom, cleaning products in the kitchen, and a magic cupboard with umbrellas, shopping bags, folding chairs, shoe horn etc There were some kitchen store cupboard basics too in case we wanted to cook, plenty of pots and pans, utensils and an array of cups, mugs, glasses etc There were cookery books, and reading books, information about the local area and further afield and things to do, magazines and board games. Ali really had thought of so many little extras which made the flat a perfect home from home. Don't worry though because, even if there was something you needed, the flat was in the main square and surrounded by shops, including a Tesco Express and a Co-op, bakery, butcher and coffee shops. It really was great and the reviews on this site were all accurate and very helpful.

I had read about possible issues with noise from the Post Office Hub next door to the flat. Ali had taken every step possible to help alleviate the problem - acoustic blinds in one bedroom, triple glazing in the other...but it was still very noisy. On the Sunday evening a huge lorry arrived at 1.45am and very loudly unloaded ....pulling up shutters, dragging trolleys across the yard, shouting and revving the engine. Later that morning several post vans arrived early doors to collect the mail and again, shouting, swearing, honking and revving. The noise could be heard in both bedrooms but obviously would have been even louder without the steps Ali had taken to buffer it. The floors were VERY creaky, especially between the bedroom and into the bathroom which made it quite difficult to move around quietly if others in the group were sleeping (I imagine it must also been noisy for the flat below us) Similarly, the fire doors to the bedrooms especially were very noisy/creaky and I wonder if something like WD-40 might help - it seemed to be the 'chain' which was making the noise. These issues weren't deal breakers and I was probably more aware of them than most as I don't sleep well and so was awake most nights/early hours when the post office was particularly noisy and went to bed later so was moving around in the quiet of the night which made everything sound extra noisy 🙈

Lovely location and everything we needed for a short stay in Helensburgh