Beautiful vacation homes with a modern, updated interior and a peaceful countryside location near…read moreinteresting tourist destinations.
We really enjoyed a lovely stay in Towan Cottage for Easter. The proprietress is very friendly and made sure we knew where to find anything we needed. Check in and check out were quick and easy, and there is ample parking. Chycarne Farm Cottages reminded me of the wonderful apartments and houses we used to rent in Southern France and Italy when I was a child.
Let me briefly summarize:
PROS:
- Comfortable, modern cottage with high quality furniture and a fireplace that quickly warms up the room in the cold season. Great atmosphere.
- Quiet, peaceful surroundings in the Cornish countryside. We loved driving down the narrow, winding roads that are embraced by tall, vibrantly green hedges. Dreamy!
- The view! From our cottage we could see the coast and look out towards the Celtic sea. We were very excited about that and hadn't expected that kind of view out here in the countryside. Lovely!
- Proximity to attractions. From here you can easily go to the near-exotic coves of the Lizard area (try Kynance Cove: if it was hotter in Cornwall, you could image yourself being in the tropics), and there are a number of historic estates, vineyards, cider presses, etc. in the area. You can also very quickly get to St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall's answer to France's renowned Mont St. Michel. Take a boat there, or walk across the cobblestone pathway that emerges from the sea at low tide, and see this fabulous castle.
CONS:
- Bring your own towels, none are provided
- There were no basic kitchen things like oil, tea, spices, or even salt. That's a problem for a four day stay. I'm not going to buy all those things just for the weekend, yet I can't even prepare a simple breakfast without them, so that makes the kitchen kind of useless. We ran out of toilet paper on Sunday night too, and no gas station or shops nearby. Maybe those kitchen items will appear later in the season as other guests leave them behind? I must say this is the first time I've ever stayed in a self-catered place that did not provide them.
- Buying cards from a machine for the electricity meter. I just don't get this. Having lived in America for a few years and seeing how even the cheapest places include utilities, towels, etc., this makes no sense. For a mere £2 extra per day you can provide all of these things (and still make a little extra money), and you will get way more customers.
Who wants to learn how to use these devices, and check meters, and buy cards, and pack towels, and purchase oil and salt, when they're supposed to be on vacation?? I just don't get why Europeans have to nickel and dime you on every little thing. Seems like a terrible business policy. Had we not been looking for something last-minute, I, personally, would not normally book places with these kinds of policies. Fortunately the beautiful, modern cottage and welcome proprietress made up for that. And I know many vacationers are used to these policies and don't mind.
- There's WiFi, but we never got it to work on any of our four devices. Since my husband's an I.T. Manager and does things like fixing internet connections for a living, I'm guessing the problem was not on our side. Fortunately we were too busy doing other things to be bothered much, and there was some 3G at the windows.
In short: We really loved our stay at Chycarne Farms. We were so lucky to find such a beautiful, comfortable and welcoming cottage in the gorgeous West Country. We highly recommend Chycarne Farms to others, just as long as they're aware of these little details like towels, salt, electricity cards. This would be a fantastic place to bring children as well. Plenty to do in the countryside, and ample space for them to play outside.
