We stayed at this cottage for a week and found it very impractical, particularly the kitchen and bathroom. Limited workspace makes food preparation difficult and all cutlery and crockery is kept in the dining room so you find yourself walking back and forth a lot. There is limited kitchen cupboard space and as most are stocked with house contents, finding room for personal provisions was a problem. The cooking pots are a health hazard and I chose not to use them. I note from other reviews that previous occupants had made the owner aware of the poor condition of the pots but this has not been addressed.
The property could be much cleaner – loads of cobwebs, toilet bowls badly stained, cupboards are dusty, floors need attention. As guests have to pay an additional 60 euro for cleaning, we expected better. The cellar, which houses the vacuum and iron, is very smelly and dirty as is everything in it – not pleasant at all. This place needs an all-over, intensive clean
I think the house décor was intended to be shabby chic, however, the reality is very much just shabby. Painted throughout in shades of grey and beige with all furnishings in similar tones, leads to a rather depressing environment . My son asked if it was formerly a prison house as it was so sparse and dull. There are no blinds in the lounge and as other reviewers have mentioned, one does rather lack privacy and shade from sun. Again, the host seems unconcerned about such views. The sofa in the lounge only seats three comfortably, so we had to use a deckchair as the other available seating is formal.
The bathroom has no blind and you do feel rather exposed without some shielding – we used a towel as a blind to make us feel more comfortable. The bath has a handheld shower attachment and as there is no shower curtain makes for a rather awkward showering experience to ensure the place does not get drenched – particularly for kids. There is also a low beam directly above the bath, so for adults banging your head is inevitable.
There is very limited tourist information available in the house and we were told to go to the Lille Tourist Information. This incidentally has to be the worst TI we have ever visited – Tripadvisor comments would back my view. The cottage does have wi-fi but this does seem temperamental as is the TV reception.
The property is set on a main road so there is significant road noise. Also, there is an airport nearby and the planes can be quite noisy. Although the gardens are lovely, some of the decking next to the patio doors is very loose and we tripped on it several times. The garden furniture is rather shabby and not very uncomfortable..
As with some other reviewers, we found the host to be rather cold. His main interest was in telling us to use the most economical settings for electrical items and turning down fridge settings. Incidentally, we found the fridge does not work well at all – some of our food perished as it does not seem to stay cold. On departure, our host’s main concern was that we did not forget to pay the 60 euro cleaning fee – we were reminded three times in five minutes. Clearly this is solely a money making venture with little thought given to comfort, cleanliness, practicality or tourist information for guests. Having had to agree to the owner's lengthy lists of rules and regulations before the stay, we expected much more from this property. Sadly, we were very disappointed.
On a positive note, the local boulangerie is excellent and the staff were helpful and friendly. Likewise, the staff at the nearby 4 Canton Metro could not have done more to help us providing information about using the services and where to go in Lille.
From experience, there are much better and cheaper property options available with warmer hosts who genuinely care about their guests holiday experience.
All bookings are direct with the owner 