“We have stayed at the Vestry several times, its a property we enjoy for its huge living space upstairs.”
However it hasn't been updated at all in over five years and is starting to look very tired.
Positives: the upstairs space is great, huge table and plenty of seating.
The shower/ washing machine and toilet in the outhouse is very handy post beach visits.
New stove looked great although we were unable to use it.
Negatives:
The main bathroom shower is STILL difficult to use, I noted from comments in the visitors book that nearly every visitor found it hard to figure out. The owners say that they have tried to fix it but failed.
Suggestion: Simply get a new shower installed.
Kitchen: there is a good range of cabinets but most of them are very full of a rather odd collection of crockery, the house has over 30 mugs and lots of plates (a few too many to be honest) but several were chipped.
Two big cupboards full of slightly random cooking equipments but no good knives, frying pan, grater, rolling pin or pizza trays
There are some glasses but very few wine glasses. The table seats 8, and there are easily enough plates to have ten or more people round, but you'd be reduced to using tumblers for wine. Again a couple of the glasses were chipped.
Suggestion: have a thorough clear out of the cupboards and stock them with equipment/crockery for 8 people. The house sleeps 6, no need for all the extras.
This would give space for food stuff - there is only one cupboard for food - you can of course rearrange the other cupboards but that takes time and really isn't the purpose of being on holiday.
Also despite the instructions in the book, there were numerous packets of half opened food (some out of date) left in the cupboards. This feel very unhygienic.
Suggestion: the cleaner to remove all opened leftover food.
Decor: Very tired, I like the comfy clubhouse feel of the property, so no need for it to be changed but a fresh coat of paint is badly needed in some areas and the curtains/bedding needs changing. (noticed that the duvet covers in the bunkbed room have been the same for around 5/6 years)
In addition several of the blankets in the living room had what I assume were dog hairs on them.
A fresh coat of paint and a change of some of the furnishings, replacing those that are very worn.
The beds in the twin room are not that comfortable, new mattresses and fitted sheets please! (the flat sheets didn't tuck round the mattress properly and got rucked up.)
None of the bins had liners in, we only discovered this when putting some soiled cleaning wipes into the bathroom bin. This is unhygenic and I imagine makes the cleaners life fairly unpleasant.
No hoover, this makes keeping the upstairs clean quite difficult.
Bins: I really appreciate Pembrokeshire council recycling as it recycles more than our home council, however there was a lack of instructions about the updated recycling arrangements. Also when we investigated there was no bin for household waste, and no glass recycling bin.
No logs supplied for stove and no instructions for the heating, we visited in late august during quite a cold week and found it very chilly in the evenings. Post a cold swim we looked forward to the stove, particularly as the description of the property states that logs will be supplied.
As a general point, the picture of the churchyard is misleading, it is NOT the properties garden and if visitors are permitted to use it this needs to be made very clear.
