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Lucy D
London, United Kingdom

Magical but with some caveats

4.0 of 5 bubblesReviewed 2 Jan 2017
We really loved this place but I can see why some of the posters below did not. We stayed in the Cottage for two nights with our children aged 9 & 7.

Firstly, the positives: the location is wonderful. You really feel like you're in a remote Australian location even though you're just a five minute drive from Byron Bay centre. There are huge water dragons, brush turkeys and other wildlife freely wandering around the garden and surrounds. The garden leads down to the water and we loved sitting on the wooden deck over the water, it felt so calm and peaceful. What's more, the cottage is a 2 minute stroll to beautiful and surprisingly empty Belongil beach. There is a quirky restaurant called the Treehouse one minute away.

The size of the Cottage is great for a family as well, a big kitchen and sitting room area, two big bedrooms and the balconies were just lovely. The kids appreciated the satellite TVs too! The kitchen (including a dishwasher) is well stocked including condiments and sauces, which was helpful. The Wifi was free and surprisingly fast.

We met the owner who, contrary to other posters, seemed very lovely and was kind enough to lend us a beach towel each. Check in and out was very straightforward despite her not being there at those times.

The not so positives: Firstly, I'd say security. I'm sure it's a very safe area but when you have all your travel documents & cash with you as well as a suitcase full of Christmas presents you'd really like to know the back door is secured by more than a simple sliding catch. A safe is necessary in such a property.

Proximity to other guests. This Cottage is attached to another (the Wing I believe) and you have to walk passed to go in and out, right passed both their bedroom windows. We were a jet lagged family and were waking at 5am and however quiet we were trying to be I'm sure they heard us which made us feel awkward.

Finally, while this was actually very lovely given the location, be aware there are no dark curtains in the bedrooms and so the room got very light very early and the kookaburras made sure we were all truly wide awake by 5.39, jet lag or no!

Overall, we had a lovely time here and would return.
Date of stay: December 2016
Trip type: Travelled with family
5.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
4.0 of 5 bubblesService
4.0 of 5 bubblesSleep Quality
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11 - 16 of 86 reviews
Reviewed 24 December 2016 via mobile

We stayed in the Garden Wing for 2 nights in mid December.

From the minute we arrived neither of us took to the place. The bathroom looked like all the insects in the garden had come in and had a party on the bathroom floor and in the bath. Dirty.

The only locks for the place are on the door flyscreens and anyone with a half decent sized screwdriver would pop them open in a second. Whilst I have no reason to believe it's anything other than a safe area, when you're on holiday you like to know your valuables are at least behind a secure door when you go out (there's no safe in the room either).

We were visited in our room by a couple or burly cockroaches on the first night and a noisy gecko on the second night. The latter eventually let himself out through an apparent gap high in the roof - probably the same way he came in.

An email sent to the owners on our second day complaining about the roaches and mess in the bathroom has yet to be responded to, which is not unexpected given some other reviews on here.

Finally, I should point out that the Garden Wing is really just a few rooms off the main cottage. If there are people in the cottage (as there were) then you get to hear everything.

Not somewhere I'd ever go back to.

Date of stay: December 2016
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
5  Thank C7511EHgarys
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 14 November 2016 via mobile

Loved our stay, the cottage was perfect for our group of four, excellent customer service with extras such as beach towels, late check out etc. Great location and reasonably priced, will definitely stay again if in Byron

Date of stay: November 2016
Trip type: Travelled with friends
Thank mihiarangi
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 27 October 2016 via mobile

I was very disappointed on arrival to discover the room I believed to have booked was in fact not what was advertised in the photos.

Though the room I was given was completely fine, if I knew that's what I was booking then I wouldn't have stayed there. I booked accommodation 6 months ago and we were looking forward to a quite secluded room on the river. Instead we received the room at the front where we heard every single passers-by.

We queried the mix up on arrival and we were told that they were aware the wrong photos were on the advertising... And 'sorry'.

As I had already been charged for the accommodation there was nothing more I could do.

Very disappointing experience.

Date of stay: October 2016
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
3  Thank travelbugdana
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 24 October 2016 via mobile

This place is beautiful, comfortable, quite, a minute walk from Beach access and close to 2 really good food / bar options. There are no faults to this place. Hot shower, wonderful bath (see image below), clean, and a good comfy bed.

My personal issues were the following and this is why this place is tricky:
1. When you book this place from an online 3rd party (ex. Hotels.com/Booking.com etc..) you are unaware of the fact that this is a large house that is separated into 4 parts (I think it's 4). You are also unaware that you are NOT getting the 'tree-house' looking thing that overlooks the lake. This is the featured image on those 3rd party sites. If you want this particular room, you should know that there's just one, and that you need to book it on the property's actual website.
2. If you book the 'Garden Cottage Wing' (or some similar name to this, which is what we ended up with), you should know that most likely a family is staying next door at the larger portion of the house and that you will get woken up by a baby crying at 5-6am EVERYDAY. Or children for that matter.
3. There are TURKEYS (or some large Chicken looking animal) EVERYWHERE - I honestly don't know why there are Turkey birds around this place, it is bizarre. One actually tried to steal my garbage bag which I left for 2 seconds outside the door to take it on my way out.
4. Lots of Mosquitos - not sure why the property isn't spraying the area professionally so bring lots of bug spray with you.
5. It is about a 10 minute car ride into actual town, so if you don't have a car, this is not a good section of Byron Bay to stay in. Unless you can rent bicycles somewhere.
6. The beach at this neighborhood is not really 100% a surfers beach. If your a short board surfer better stay near Tallows beach (which is the other side of the town and we wished we knew that beforehand but we had a car so it was easy for us).

Date of stay: September 2016
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
1  Thank Rbena004
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 14 October 2016 via mobile

We really didn't enjoy our stay here. The customer service was the main let down. We called to ask if it was possible to have an early check in on the day we were checking in and the lady on the phone scoffed and said there was no possible way that could happen and implied that even coming to drop our bags off would not be a hassle. Once we arrived there is no reception desk or anyone to greet you so we found our own way to our room, that is attached to another room (with no sound barriers). The rooms are very dated and not private at all. We checked out and drove back to Sydney and I realised I had left a few items in our room, so I called to ask if the cleaner had seen them. The same lady that scoffed at me a few days earlier answered the phone and told me that 2 out of the 3 items had been thrown out and she was keeping the other one in her shed "because it looked expensive". She wasn't helpful in trying to return the items to me and with the same scoff as before she suggested that I send a pre paid registered bag to her and then she would send the items back to me. Its definitely my worst experience with any holiday accomodation.

Date of stay: September 2016
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
1  Thank Andrea K
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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