Colchester Sunny Apartment with Pool and EV Car Point

the only thing that was really positive was the pool, it looked good and was clean.

We've been to enough hotels, BnB's, studios cottages etc in the same price range, from nice to great, but this was at best okay-ish and by far the worst during this trip. It started with arrival, advertised was the availability on the driveway, but there was a car (the owners?) parked about in the middle of it. It's good we have a small car, I could squeeze in aside it. Then the garden /patio, there was a lot of weed between the tiles and the deckchair at the pool was destroyed. the bedroom / Livingroom was okay at first glance, but the couch was so sagged you hardly could sit on it together and when we opened the bed to go to sleep, the under sheet was full of stains. So we slept on top of the (clean) duvet, just under de bedspread. By the way, the mattress is pretty soft (not a complaint, just as it is) The kitchen was fine and well enough equipped, even with a dishwasher. (we did miss a dishcloth, but that's just minor detail) The bathroom however was another thing: peeling off paint and large patches of rust on the radiator, the sink stopper was almost just as bad (see the pictures) and the shower doors weren't much better, limescale, rust and some mold, so we didn't shower, I just took a dip in the pool in the morning. In my opinion, if you rent out a room, studio, cottage, etc on Booking, AirBNB and such one should take pride in maintaining it en keeping it pristine and that was not the case here.

Bright and pleasant interior. Easy check in/out. Friendly helpful owners, who showed up with a needle and thread when I needed to repair my trousers, and even helped me with trying to rescue a bee from the pool. The garden veiw is very pleasant.

The garden is not actually private. Every evening a dog appeared, barked at me, and used the garden to do dog things. If you like dogs, or have dogs, it's an ideal place to stay. If like me you intensely dislike pretty much everything about dogs, this is not the place for you. The garden facilities could do with cleaning. There were three unexpected items in cupboards, draws, and on the floor, presumably left by other visitors. One of them absolutely should not have been there.

The place has a nice swimming pool. I told the owner in advance that we would use the sofa bed and she left an extra bedsheet for us.

The property was unfortunately very dirty. There was lots of hair under the sofa, bedsheet and the bedroom. The bedsheet was also so old that there’s fluff everywhere and it’s quite unpleasant to sleep in. The sofa bed had lots of old stains so we didn’t feel comfortable at all to sleep on it. No toiletries like shower gel and shampoo were provided. It’s fine if that’s the case but would be good to be informed in advance! Had to go to the petrol station to get basic staff like these late at night which was not convenient at all. Overall it was a very disappointing experience. We could have stay in a hotel like Holidayinn nearby with a slightly lower price. Would suggest the owners to take more care of the property.

Great

Nothing

Compact and just what we needed for a base to visit family. Parking available and a secure garden to let the dogs out for those nighttime toilet trips

The location was perfect for us and so much of the property, including the garden, was very good. Cleverly thought out use of space with some lovely decor touches.

The main problem was the bed. So soft as to provide no support. We managed the 2 nights we'd booked but had we been booked for longer, we'd have checked out early in order to protect our backs.

Clean and tidy. Had everything we needed for our short stay, plus it was dog friendly.

Bed was a little soft for my taste, but that is just personal preference.

Stella’s place was perfect for a really chilled weekend with my 8 year old grandson, who thoroughly enjoyed using the pool.  The chalet was brilliant with everything you needed with shops and Colchester a 10 min drive away.  Stella even posted our pool shoes on to us that we left behind, which was really kind.  We would definitely return.