If in doubt – ring! If something goes wrong – ring! We’re always on the end of the phone or ping us a message if you need anything.
getting access
We will send you information before you arrive but the general gist is… park on the double yellows outside the garage with your hazards on. Try not to block Praeds Lane, it is tiny but can be busy because there are parking bays at the back. Walk down Praeds Lane to our blue front door which is where the first key safe is. Get into the property and REPLACE THE KEY IN THE KEY SAFE then take the door on your right into the garage. Watch out for the steps up. On your right is a light switch, push it and it will stay on for a few minutes. Make your way to the front left of the garage and on the wall up high is a grey box with an illuminated round button. Press this and the garage shutter will rise. You can then reverse your car in. If you car is particularly large pick a side to park snugly to and you can exit your car to the other. To close the garage door press the button on the wall again – just make sure there is nothing in the way of the shutter – we have not been so careful at home before and the result wasn’t pretty. There is another key for the inner door which we will tell you how to access if necessary, again REPLACE THE KEY IN THE KEY SAFE.
Once you are upstairs there will be a full set of keys and ‘plipper’ for the garage door for your use. The main key and ‘plipper’ are expensive to replace, we’d appreciate if you took great care with them.
rules
We don’t really like rules, especially when on holiday. The only three things we ask are 1) shoes, dirty feet and wetsuits downstairs, there is a hosepipe out the front door for sluicing off and hooks for hanging things outside, 2) no smoking or vaping in the apartment 3) don’t turn off the plugs that say please don’t turn off – it is a proper palaver to get everything back up and running.
hot water & central heating
The hot water will automatically come on 3 times a day. We have a huge hot water tank in the roof above the bathrooms so you shouldn’t run out. If you do then ping us a text and we’ll boost it remotely. Heating is remotely controlled and if you need it on just let us know! In the colder months it will be on for periods of time anyway.
wifi
We are connected to BT fibre and the router is in the living room next to the sofa. Your device will find ‘The Net Loft’ and the passcode is on the back of the router. Please do not turn the router off because it will stop us being able to sort out your heating and hot water remotely.
televisions
The television in the main room has freeview and also ROKu. It is also set up with Amazon prime – just be careful about downloading anything which is paid for. If you want to just let us know!
The television in the ‘playzone’ also has ROKu and we have a video we can send showing how to operate it. If you don’t want your children to watch this, hide the controller and put it back when you leave.
windows
These all have child safety catches, unhook them for more airflow, please keep an eye on any small people. We find especially on hot days it is worth leaving the window open in the bunk room to get it nice and cool ready for bedtime.
cooking
The hob is induction. The controls can be baffling. Basically unless the pan is on the area of the hob you have chosen to use, it will not turn on. The controls are more like a telly and are ‘touch screen’. Hold your finger on the ‘on’ button, place the pan on the area, press on the ‘button’ for the hob area you want, press somewhere on the ‘scale’ in the centre of the control area, it goes from 1-19 on the heat scale and then press the ‘go button’ which is an arrow pointing left. Control the heat by again pressing on the hob area required and press on the ‘scale’ higher or lower depending on what you want.
The oven is a similar ‘touch screen’ affair. Press the ‘on button’, press the ‘P’ for program and use the arrow to move to P4 which is a catch all fan oven setting and press ‘start’ which is the arrow. To change the temp, press ‘C’, use the arrows to increase or decrease and press ‘C’ again to set. You will see a vertical bar moving up and down in the middle of the panel and when it gets to temperature the bar will be complete.
If in doubt – shout. Also the manuals are in the drawer with the cling film and foil.
cleaning
The dishwasher controls are on the top edge of the opening door. Select the program you want and off you go. Don’t be shy about using it, if you have a full house and are eating in it may need to go on a couple of times a day.
Downstairs under the stairs is a washing machine, feel free to use it if you need to and in the garage is a tumble dryer. Just remember to collect your clothes before you leave!
There should be plenty of cleaning fluids and cloths under the sink. If there is a spillage on the carpet or sofa the Vanish spray is a good place to start.
secret cutlery drawers
Open the drawer the the right of the oven, inside this underneath the worksurface at the top is another drawer which has got the cutlery!
More trickery with the dishwasher, not only does it have the two main pull out drawers for plates and glasses, it also has a shallow drawer right at the top with the cutlery – we often wonder where it has all gone and remember…
food
Because of COVID we have moved our cupboard food to the top shelves – that said, if you need anything please do help yourselves!
refuse
There are recycling bins at Sainsburys, it is a bit tricky to get this sorted at the apartment at the moment. General waste can go into the kitchen bin and then transferred to the green wheely bin in the garage.
Please put the bin out by Saturday lunchtime and it is safe to take it back in by Monday mid morning.
bathrooms
Forgive the bath panel in the main bath room – it is in the process of being replaced. In the little shower room, make sure a bath mat is put down, it is such a powerful shower the water has a habit of jumping out onto the floor!
when you leave
We hope you will have had an amazing break, this is a useful list of what to check when you leave
1) Have you got everything? Check the garage for shoes, washing machine/ tumble dryer for clothes, hooks for coats, outside for wetsuits. Do a head count of kids because ours like hiding in the ‘play zone’
2) Turn off the lights and check the lights are off in the ‘play zone’
3) Put the rubbish in the wheelie bin and put it out by Saturday lunchtime and take it in Monday
4) Rumple up the beds you have used and leave the ones you haven’t
6) Put the dishwasher on
7) Make sure the key set is left on the kitchen table – very important
8) Make sure the individual keysafe keys are in the keysafes
THANK YOU!