Category Archives: About Oaktree Cottage

What’s new about Oaktree Cottage

Getting it right!

We have spent the last week in the cottage putting a few finishing touches in place – new carpets in the bedrooms, a new wood-burning stove in the lounge, and some additional pictures and mirrors in the rooms.

We also had appointments with some of the well-known holiday agencies to investigate other marketing options. The feedback was excellent – if we decide to go down that route we would be listed in the ‘top-end’ brochures, and graded as a 4 four-star property, which is as high as a traditional cottage could achieve.

Since we have only been open for business for a couple of weeks, and the bookings are coming in, we’re going to stay independent for now. We feel it maintains a more personal service, and allows us to keep the prices lower by avoiding the commission charged by the agencies.

Still it’s good to get the feedback that we’ve got it right!

Open for Business!

As of this week we are formally taking bookings from early March.

As we have only just opened for bookings we currently have great availability – but if you would like to book a specific week then please make your booking soon as we expect the peak weeks to book quite quickly…

Christmas at Oaktree Cottage

We’ve just spent Christmas in Oaktree Cottage as part of our preparations for letting, and also as a base while meeting up with friends and family over Christmas.  We completely redecorated one of the bedrooms, furnished the entire house, and generally performed a ‘test drive’ on the house.

As expected, we encountered a couple of teething problems – most notably leaky sealant around the bath, and the need to re-line the chimney – the first now fixed, and the second at the top of the ‘to-do’ list, along with new carpets in bedrooms.

We also took some interior photographs of the rooms which are ready to use, so look out for updates soon.

The most encouraging aspects were the comments from friends and family, and more objectively from area managers from a couple of holiday companies – all essentially supporting our view that we have a gorgeous and characterful cottage that will be ideal as a holiday home…  Added to which we had a fantastic time, and really had to tear ourselves away!

Oaktree Cottage is available for booking next year – so get in quick!

On the starting blocks

Well, after a long search for the perfect holiday cottage, we have completed our puchase of Oaktree Cottage.

We wanted to find a traditional brick and flint cottage, but with a layout that was suited to modern living.  The traditional layout of Norfolk cottages in the 17th to early 19th century was “one up and one down” with most of the daily living going on in the downstairs room, and sleeping upstairs.  Consequently, most conversions (and many holiday homes) have compromised layouts where typically either the bathroom, second bedroom (or both) are accessed through the main bedroom.

Fortunately, Oaktree Cottage had been sympathetically extended so that a more practical layout could be achieved, where all rooms are accessed from a hallway.  Being equipped with central heating also means that it is cosy even if you don’t want to light the fire.

We are now in the process of putting in new furniture, and refreshing the decoration to make sure that it is a welcoming home-from-home.