Bell's Cottage looks lovely from outside and has extensive grounds. The location itself would be great for a family holiday. The interior of the house is also potentially very good and the ground floor with its fire and windows make it a bright and cosy place. It was pretty good for a Valentine's break and to celebrate my recent return from China on my university winter break. However, we did encounter some issues there which might trouble potential guests.
Both first floor bathrooms had no privacy. Neither windows in the bathrooms/ toilets were frosted nor did the curtains provided actually cover the view of anybody going to the toilet or having a shower from possible observers outside. The toilet seat is right in the middle of a plain glass window which extends from about one foot off the floor to almost the ceiling. The curtains were also difficult to manipulate and impossible to lower to a level of less than a foot above the window ledge itself. I managed to lower one so there was only a 30 cm gap left but that was the limit to which these curtains would extend. I feared that both rooms and people using shower/ toilet were exposed to people prowling beyond the perimeter of the property or who would be in the garden at the time. Luckily, it was only the wife and I in the premises itself but I would have felt much more uncomfortable if I had been with children or in a mixed group of friends.
The electricity in the house also had problems. The main ceiling lights for the bathrooms, living room, part of the landing and bedrooms did not work from the first morning so one was left to navigate much of the house in the dark. A bedside lamp also stopped working while we were there.
A big problem was the fact that the electrical fittings in the house were based on continental adapters. All electrical fittings in the house were standardised to the two pin continental plug rather than the Irish/ UK 3 pin plug. This would present no problems to those visiting from Germany or France but is abnormal for the Irish/ UK visitor. I managed to find only 1 plug adapter suitable for UK/ Irish electrical devices. Furthermore, the TV provided was a small computer monitor linked largely to German TV. No guidelines were provided on how to operate it.
The main bed was merely two singles pushed together and not accurate according to the original listing. An actual queen/ king size bed should have been provided instead.
Overall, it was a nice place. I have lived and stayed in far worse in the Middle East, China and Asia. However, several improvements as I've already mentioned should be carried out first.