Overview

We booked the cottage for a weekend break. As a wheelchair user, the accessibility was crucial, including the provision of a ceiling track hoist. It's a well presented property, with step-free access throughout the ground floor and very close to Southwold Pier. There is a ceiling track hoist from a downstairs bedroom with a single, electric profiling bed into the wet room across the hall corridor. We did have a few problems with the functioning of the hoist, and the wet room would have benefited from having a wheeled shower/commode chair, but it was a lovely place to stay.

Transport & Parking

The cottage has parking space for one vehicle by the front entrance, and for another two vehicles at the rear, behind a gate.

Access

There is step-free access throughout the ground floor, which includes two bedrooms - one single, one double with an additional two bunk beds. The single bedroom has an electric profiling/rising/tilting bed with rails and a pressure-relief mattress. There is a ceiling track hoist from the single bedroom to the wet room, which is across the hall corridor. Also on the ground floor is a sitting room with TV and various seating, including a rising/reclining armchair, and a large kitchen/dining room with a large table. From this there is a spiral staircase leading to a further two bedrooms, sitting room with TV, and bathroom upstairs, with a balcony. Outside the back entrance, accessed via sliding patio doors, is an area of ramped wooden decking. There is also a washing machine in an adjacent outbuilding.

Toilets

On the ground floor, accessed from the hall corridor, there is an accessible toilet and wet room, with a ceiling track hoist leading across the corridor to the single bedroom. The toilet has a fixed rail on the left, and a drop-down rail on the right. There is a very small sink, supposedly at wheelchair height, although we found it too small for any practical use. The wet room also contains a drop-down shower table. It does lack a wheeled shower/commode chair, which would have been very useful - there is a small chair that could be placed in the shower, but it is low and has no arm rails. We did encounter some problems with the ceiling track hoist. It tended to stick at various points, and needed some pushing and pulling to get it moving again. There seemed to be a particular issue where the track divided to go either to the shower or the toilet - there are cords that need to be pulled to change the track here, but the hoist always seemed to get stuck at this point when the person was raised in it.

Staff

We did not meet any staff. The rental of the cottage is done through an agency. The checkout time at the end of the stay was 9.00 a.m, which is very early to have to vacate a property, especially for people with disabilities. There seemed to be no flexibility over this.

Photos