What you might need to know
We've tried our hardest to provide a fantastic place for you to holiday. The cottage is as we like it for us to stay and we've hopefully covered the needs of others. The descriptions of the cottage are accurate at the time of writing and we hope give you the fullest idea of what you will be booking.
However, there are some things that are out of our control and other things that some people unreasonably expect. We don't want bad reviews and we don't want anyone upset because they had higher expectations. So below are some of the things we would like to point out.
If you do stay at Wynd Cottage and are not happy, please contact us, we will be sympathetic to genuine complaints. Please see the terms and condition for full details.
To most people the many of points below might be blindingly obvious, but "There's nowt as strange as folk":
Whitby not always a quiet idyll
Whitby is popular with many types of holiday maker and also is home to many locals. Sometimes it is busy with many revellers. Some can become a bit rowdy in the town centre and around the pubs. Cliff Street is one of the routes to and from the town center used by pedestrians, you will hear people at night. Closing the door curtain and kitchen blind attracts less attention so folks walk on by.
Many pubs and clubs have live, or recorded music playing, this can be heard at the cottage. The licencing laws are good at dampening the sounds to a low level and restrict the hours affected. During hot weather doors and windows do get left open the music is more noticeable.
Pubs and restaurants have extractors and coolers that make a noise. The coolers on the club below the cottage can be heard intermittently through the night if you are outside or have the windows open.
Seagulls can be noisy! Whitby is a seaside town with a healthy seagull population. They get up and go about their day earlier than most humans. They may scrabble on the roof or will perch on the chimneys. If the seagull noise is likely to cause you an intolerable problem we suggest you book somewhere further inland.
The seagulls can also be a problem on the harbour front and in town, they have been know to dive bomb for chips and the like. We haven't had a problem at the cottage but please don't feed them or leave food on the terrace.
Wynd Cottage might not be perfect for everyone
Generally speaking, please read the descriptions, look at the photos and judge for yourself. We have tried to anticipate the requirements of all holiday makers we can think off. Inevitably we can't think of everything or every-body and judging by the comments some people leave on the likes of trip advisor, there are some really fussy people out there.
We've have a page about accessibility, please read it if you have any impairments that could cause a problem.
The front door and side passage lead straight on to the road. Pets and children will need to be under control and some adults might need to rememeber there could be traffic coming up.
We do advertise the cottage in the windows facing the road, we find this detracts them from just trying to stare through the windows, but it still happens.
The cottage is old, it isn't laid out, proportioned, constructed or fitted out like a modern house. So some aspects might take some getting used to. The downstairs fire place walls are breathing, bits of grit may accumulate in the hearth, the stone walls and old plaster may also shed a little.
We've included modern appliances and TV's. The basic instruction will be available but we can't give you 24hr technical support although we will advise when we can.
Things do breakdown, if they do and it's problem for you we will do what we can to fix it as soon as we can. This may involve tradesmen requiring access. If we can't fix things promptly please see the terms and conditions for possible redress.
We will strive to maintain a good standard of cleanliness. The cottage should be inspected, cleaned and fresh linen on the beds. We only have a few hours between bookings to get everything right and up to standard, this means we can't do a deep clean every week and we might miss something. If we have a particular problem to sort out, we might still be working when you arrive or will arrange to come back latter.
Allergy suffers, please note we do cater for pets. We can't guarantee all traces of previous occupants and their pets will be 100% cleared. Even a Dyson doesn't pick everything up. Equally if your standards of cleanliness are verging on obsesive you will find dust somewhere.
The bins are emptied by the council on a schedule that doesn't match weekend change-overs. The bins may be full when your arrive. The neighbours bins should be tidy but we can't guarantee how they are left, also the gulls sometimes scavenge through the plastic bags.
Gulls do leave their mark (droppings) and the windows get sea sprayed. We clean the windows regularly but we can't guarantee that they will be sparkling during your stay.
Traffic noise from vehicles on Cliff Street can be heard from inside the cottage. It's a narrow, one way, uphill, 20mph, high sided street and some vehicles have louder exhausts than others.
Access to Mission Hall Yard is via a passage way under the 1st floor bedroom and the bathroom and past the back door. Most users are considerate and reasonably discreet, however we can't guarantee this.
The cottage has double glazing only in the attic rooms. The cottage bedrooms are ventilated with fresh air from a centralised unit, most people will be comfortable sleeping with the windows shut to reduce any noise. The ventilation unit can be heard slightly in the 1st floor bedroom. When the system switches to boost mode to clear humidity it is louder. We do not recommend switching the unit off as you will need to open windows to maintain air quality.