Southernwood - Garden Lodge 14

Great location - 20 minute walk to/from the train station, and a comfortable studio apartment. Well equipped with everything you’d need for two people.

It wasn’t particularly clean (stained toilet, hair on the floor) and some of the items didn’t work correctly (one of the windows wouldn’t open, shower door kept getting stuck).

Clean, comfortable and in a great location, ideal for walking into Didcot itself and the train station.

It was like being in studio flat. A good sized room, with separate shower room . The location being inside a town was unexpected as all we could see from the first floor window were trees and it was very quiet. I lived near Park Road for 35 years and went up and down every day. I remember the two bungalows being bought and joined together and the front car park being built, but I had no idea this little lodge camp was at the back. An innovative idea well before clamping pods became a revolution. The lodges are made from good quality log cabins and well maintained, although noise is a slight issue. A team of 3 in a golf buggy doing the cleaning and they seem very efficient. Having a key lock means that it doesn't matter what time you turn up you can get into the Lodge. You have your own special key lock number. The room has a television and free wi-fi. I don't need to go south very often, but I would definitely indeed consider staying here again.

THIS IS BEING VERY PICKY. I could cope with two plates, bowles, cups and cutlery etc. But the only cooking utensils were a spatula and a tin opener. The kitchenette area was very small, needed a light and if you had washing up on the draining board absolutely no where to prepare anything. At the very least you need a bread knife and a chopping board. A salt and pepper would also be helpful. The hot plates are now very old and take a long time to heat up and with the timer you tend to forget that they get turned off automatically. The bar with two stools does not work particularly well in my opinion. Again with the items they leave on the top (much appreciated) it was very difficult to have room to even make a sandwich. I believe a small table and two chairs would be far better. The shower (a little tired) needs a towel rail for the hand towel. The only place to put it is through the shower cubicle handle, plus somewhere to put a bar of soap in the shower. Leaving the bath towels on the hooks inside the room was okay. The important part is the beds and the mattresses were not particularly good. Squidgy, but with a hardish top. Newer firmer mattresses are needed. Similarly I understand that having poly/cotton bedding is easy to wash, but the feel when sleeping is again not particularly good and even cheap cotton bedding would be a bonus. Being on the first floor we had a set of outside stairs to go up and beneath was a concrete path with quite a lot of rubbish. 5 minutes would have cleared it up, just an attention to detail. I repeat that this is all very picky and I think it is helpful for the owners to have this feedback. On the whole I was happy with the accommodation.

Clean, spacious, well equipped, very quiet accommodation in spite of being close to the road. Hot water in the shower and working heating in the room. Efficient housekeeping - a nice touch that heating had been switched on before arrival. Easy to follow instructions from host.

It should be mentioned somewhere in the accommodation description that it is on the first floor and only accessible via quite steep external stairs (this info was only provided with the check-in instructions). The bathroom/shower could have benefited from a couple of shelves.

Nice small apartment. With all you need for one night.

Bit of noise from other guests coming and going..