Roa Island House

We had a great time and the house and garden are spacious. We enjoyed the sauna, hot tub and local leisure centre, and visited the Lake District, nearby beaches and Blackpool. Still, the place wasn’t as clean as I’d hoped. It was dusty, with cobwebs on the high ceilings, in corners and on garden furniture, dead flies on the windowsills and lots of spiders. One garden bench had a broken slat, and there was dirty underwear left in a bedroom. We ended up leaving it cleaner than we found it. There were plenty of towels but hardly any toilet roll, so we had to go to the supermarket for more. Some kitchen appliances weren’t clean enough to use, and there was no tea, coffee, sugar or washing powder or pods, so we had to buy those too. Three kettles weren’t needed, but the two toasters and two microwaves were handy for our big group. I’d have liked an air fryer and rice cooker as well. The sofa bed listed for one of the bedrooms wasn’t there. Two single beds zipped together didn’t sit level, and the mattresses were too soft for us. The pillows were flat, and one bed had a broken slat that creaked whenever someone turned over. None of the ensuite bathrooms, apart from the downstairs one, had locks, and the doors kept swinging open. The doors around the house are very heavy and need proper stops. A single bed blocked one wardrobe and couldn’t be moved elsewhere. The cupboard of board games was blocked by the sofa, and when we moved it we found the cupboard practically empty. Apart from the outdoor table games for kids, there wasn’t much entertainment, and the few games and puzzles need replacing. The back garden wall is lower than the other boundary walls, and the rear fence is low too. People waiting for boat rides at the pier can see into the garden and could jump over, so it doesn’t feel secure. Children playing outside could also jump out. The lighting throughout was dim, especially in the kitchen. There were too many mismatched ornaments and wall hangings, and some mirrors were too high or too small for their spaces. These things could be fixed fairly easily, but there were a lot of them.