The Old Rectory cottage, Glyn Road, Selattyn, oswestry, Shropshire, sy10 7dh

We actually stayed in this cottage (The Bakehouse, next to The Old Rectory) for several weeks, but as it is usually rented on a weekly basis, I will confine my comments to our first impressions.

We arrived as arranged on Saturday afternoon. When the landlady let us into the cottage it was obvious that it hadn't been used for a very long time (even though we had booked this several months before). The cottage smelled extremely musty and was freezing cold. We had arrived in boots and winter coats and really didn't want to take them off. The landlady explained that they had just lit the oil stove and she added £10 to the electricity meter (this is included in the rent). I asked if she had any extra pound coins to last us over the weekend but she said no, she hadn't and indicated that the £10 should 'be plenty'. By Sunday we had used up not only this £10 but every coin we had so we had to turn off all the extra heaters in a vain attempt to warm the cottage up to a bearable level.

All electricity, apart from the lights, is via a coin meter in the kitchen (ie heat, hot water and cooking) so bring a lot of £1 coins. The windows are only single glazed and very ill-fitting as was the front door. It was common to see the drapery move with the draughts and we kept all the curtains permanently closed to try to conserve heat. We were always cold, even with 4 layers of clothing. The landlady did say at one point that it was unusual for them to have the oil stove on and hinted that this was very expensive for them and would rather turn it off but I think she realized that the cottage would not be habitable if they did this.

What really surprised me is that the cottage was in a disgraceful state. The ingrained grim on the knobs and edges of the cooker was appalling (yes, I do have photos) and it took me an hour to clean the worst of it before I would use it for cooking. I also I had to clean all the cooking equipment and all the crockery before use.

There was a layer of dust on the numerous plates and pictures that adorn all the walls. The bathroom had mold in places and the carpet was so dirty that on cleaning it literally changed colour. We needed to empty the vacuum cleaner 3 times the first time we hoovered the carpets (and the overall space is not large). All the surfaces had a sticky feel which took a good cleaning to remove. I can only assume that little or no cleaning had been done in a very long time.

In addition, the towels provided were small, worn and scratchy. I would have blushed to give them to anyone, let alone paying guests, and the bedding was not only miss-matched but not the right size for the bed.

The one thing that seriously worried us was that on a regular basis, the oil stove would belch out clouds of noxious fumes which could only be cleared by opening both the outside door and the upstairs windows. This happened once at night and we both woke up with headaches. We were so worried that we immediately went out and bought a Carbon Monoxide monitor so we could sleep in peace. There was no sign of a safety certificate for the oil burner, I don't know if one needs to be provided but I would ask to see one. On a similar topic, there was an ancient fire extinguisher in the kitchen, again without any indication of whether it would actually work or not.

So there you are. We expected small and quirky like the vast wooden beam half way over the bath tub that severely limits showering, and low beams that are a head hazard for anyone over 5 foot 8, but we were not prepared for the dirt, the old towels and bedding and the possibly dangerous furnace.

Actually, after several conversations with the landlady, I believe she is well meaning, but appears to have little idea of the standards required for letting acommadation to paying guests. With a thorough clean, updated towels/bedding and removal of a lot of un-necessary furniture, it may make a passable holiday let when heating is not an issue. However in it’s current state I would not recommend it. We heard quite by accident that they are starting a B&B in the Rectory itself this year. I just hope that the heating is adequate, and the bedding and towels are in a much better condition to the ones we were provided with for the cottage.

Just to finish, Selattyn is a sweet little village about 10 min drive from Oswestry. It has a pub (with real beer but no food), a lovely old church but no shops, so transport is essential.