Sandpiper Cottage Guest Guide

Arriving and leaving. The cottage is ready for you from 4.00 pm on the day of arrival. Please leave by 10.00 am on the day of departure so that the cleaners can prepare for the next guests. The key is kept in a small safe beside the front door, and the code will be emailed to you three days before you arrive. If you expect to arrive after 9.00 pm, please let us know so that we can leave a light on. Parking is available for two cars beside the cottage, but please do not park in the lane. Heating. The cottage has electric heaters in the bedrooms and a wood-burning stove in the sitting room. The first basket of logs is free. Further baskets can be bought from the box in the shed for 5 pounds each; please leave the money in the tin. The heaters are controlled by the dials beside each door and should be turned off when a room is empty. Please do not burn anything other than the logs provided, and make sure the stove door is closed when you go out. Rubbish. The general waste bin is collected on Tuesday mornings and the recycling box on alternate Wednesdays. A list of what can be recycled is pinned inside the kitchen cupboard door. If you leave on a day when the bins are not collected, please put your rubbish in the large green bin at the end of the lane. The village and the coast. The nearest shop is in Langstone, two miles away, and sells groceries until 8.00 pm every day except Sunday, when it closes at 4.00 pm. The Anchor, a pub in the village, serves meals until 9.00 pm. A bus runs to the market town every two hours, but there is no service on Sundays. The beach is a ten-minute walk down the footpath. Please check the tide tables on the kitchen noticeboard before walking along the shore, because the lower path floods at high tide. Dogs. One well-behaved dog is welcome, for a charge of 20 pounds. Dogs must not be left alone in the cottage and are not allowed upstairs or on the furniture. Please clean up after your dog both in the garden and on the footpath. A note from the owner. I have owned Sandpiper Cottage for fifteen years, and the most frequent request I receive is for a television. I have always refused, because I think a holiday is one of the last chances people have to put down their screens. There is a shelf of books, a box of games and a good view, and most guests tell me that is plenty. I also believe that the quietest months of the year show the coast at its best, and I always offer a reduced price for stays between November and March.