Bosun’s Retreat is one of 5 self-catering holiday flats in the Old Rectory. Let’s list the good points first, there are not many: The flat is nicely furnished and the view from the patio is lovely. But this already leads to the first of the many bad points:

The description reads “all apartments enjoy sea views”, well….to enjoy the view from Bosun’s Retreat you actually have to step outside onto your patio. That’s fine when the weather is nice. Remember, this is England.

Then there is the smell. You notice it as soon as you open the door. I first suspected that a previous holidayer’s pet has had an accident on the carpet which left this whiff of ammonia in the air. But it turns out that the flat is just very, very damp and the smell is simply caused by the carpets slowly rotting away. On some mornings we had to blow dry our clothes with our hairdryer before putting them on. Nice. I suppose it’s OK in summer when it’s warm and you can leave all the windows wide... more