We had a lovely stay at Alex and Jen’s holiday house! Jen and Alex were very quick to respond to any questions/ issues we had. We were granted a very early check-in of 10am and a late checkout of 12pm, which was nice of them!
The house is situated in a quiet street in what seems to be a very safe neighbourhood. There is nothing within walking distance from the house, but IGA and shops are a short 5 mins drive in Mount Martha village.
Upsides:
The kitchen is complete with everything you might need to cook up a storm (all sorts of pots, pans, crockery, tupperware, even carrying bags for grocery shopping and elastic bands for opened food packages). They thought about everything to make you feel as at home as possible, from Nespresso coffee machine, dishwasher and wine glasses to wonderfully scented handwash, shampoo and hair dryer. The bathrooms have overhead showers and overhead heat lamps which are nice extras. There is free wifi, bluetooth speakers inside and outside, Netflix, heating and cooling throughout the house. The latter boasts a nice fire place, jacuzzi, lovely huge garden with rosemary and lemon trees with fresh lemons, outdoor fire pit, BBQ with outdoor dining and seating, man cave with table tennis/ pool/ hockey table and a bar fridge, an outdoor shower, and even a doggy door for your four-legged friend! The laundry is equipped with a washing machine + dryer.
If you are a family with young kids, this is a great place! There is everything you might need for your little ones: cot, high chair, cubby house, trampoline, swing and lots of toys and books! Therefore no need to carry lots from home! The kids’ bedroom have blockout blinds too, which is a plus!
Downsides:
- The floorboard is extremely creaky. We had to super tip toe in the corridors so that we don’t wake up our babies.
- The bathroom is not very kid friendly as the taps in bathtub are impossible to use to wash toddlers without putting adults in awkward bending positions. A shower spray hose in the bathtub or shower would have been much more practical.
- The house needs some maintenance as it is quite old. For example: some of the bedroom doors do not shut properly, blinds in the master bedroom are broken and cannot be shut etc.
- Cubby house was very dusty and messy. We had to vaccuum, tidy up and clean all toys before use. Should have been ready-to-use straight away upon check-in.
- The man cave was very dirty too, with lots of spider webs. It seemed neglected and didn’t look like anyone cleaned it in a long time, as opposed to the house which was very clean, which was disappointing. Again, this was included in the ad and therefore it is expected to be ready-to-use upon arrival.
- The backyard could use some lighting for after sunset. We had to walk with torches to get to and from the jacuzzi because it was pitch black (although this didn’t bother us too much!)
- A tradie came in to fix some things, which was ok. But it was very noisy with the drills while we had 2 sleeping babies in the next room. So naturally, the kids woke up in the middle of naptime. Plus, we couldn’t leave the house while the tradie was there because of all our belongings. So, we cancelled one of our plans. Also, tradie decided that he needs to varnish the outdoor table right when we were using the BBQ and were going to have dinner outside. I just don’t think that that was necessary to fix, and I personally think that things like these need to be organised in between guests stays, not while guests are there.
Overall we would rate it a shy 4 stars.