Dolphin Stone Lodge, 64 Main Street, Seahouses, Northumberland, NE68 7TN

Seahouses is a lovely, unspoilt, traditional seaside with a nice mix of shops and eating places. The property is within easy walking distance of the harbour etc. However, Dolphin Stone Lodge is a contradiction in terms, there being no evidence of stone or dolphins and lodge is a bit of an exaggeration! It's more an apartment or upmarket youth hostel. The outside of the property is pretty dismal. The bedrooms are a nice size with amazing showers. The towels and linen are lovely and the inside of the property is clean and tidy, apart from the oven which we had to ask to be cleaned. There were soap, shower gel and shampoo dispensers attached to the bathroom walls. A nice touch if they actually contained soap and shower gel. It made absolutely no difference to our holiday, we take our own products but the response when we mentioned this to the cottage company was "It's because of Covid". A strange response bearing in mind the shampoo dispensers were full. The property description indicates that each bedroom has a Smart TV. There is a TV in each bedroom. Unfortunately they are not smart enough to work without the aid of Wifi and there was no Wifi in the property. The property shares a scruffy yard with a very busy laundry. The yard is littered with cigarette stubs and the grates are full of rubbish. Parking is very difficult. The yard is accessed via a VERY narrow, alley. We had to ensure the wing mirrors were pushed in. It's definitely not big enough to park four cars as indicated, two is a squeeze and every day during our stay there was a car belonging to the laundry parked there. On one occasion when we asked if the laundry vehicle could be moved to allow us to get our car out we were told we shouldn't be parked there. Other than a scrappy piece of paper instructing that all bedlinen has to be removed and placed in the laundry bag on departure, there was no information or instructions about the property or equipment/appliances. There was nothing to indicate which bins belonged to the property or what day they would be emptied. No great loss because we couldn't get anywhere near the bins without moving five laundry cages first, which probably explains why there was a large box of empty wine bottles in the yard when we arrived.

There is only one entrance/exit to the property, which is via a not very appealing back door accessed via the aforementioned alley which is very dark when accessing on foot as the security light is positioned over the key box so doesn't come on until you reach the back door. There is no communal lounge to spend any time together other than the conservatory, which has no TV and no blinds. We were fortunate to have very good weather during our stay. Unfortunately, with no blinds, the glare from the sun made it uncomfortable to read in the conservatory and the heat made it feel like sitting in a greenhouse - great for growing tomatoes but not somewhere to relax. Added to that, the seating is not lounge furniture and is not comfortable to sit on for any length of time. Despite being pensioners, We ended up re-visiting our youth and taking snacks to one of the unused bedrooms where all four of us sat on one bed to watch TV! The property overlooks a large public car park which also houses recycling skips where people constantly throw in bottles and glass. The property is more suited to visitors who just want somewhere to sleep, a comfortable bed and a nice shower but for families and friends who want to spend time together catching up and socialising it's not ideal. Maybe sacrificing one of the bedrooms and converting it to a comfortable TV lounge would make it more appealing.