Mill House

24 Customer Reviews

• "Beautiful looking charming cottage, in a very nice location."

  As we arrived the crazy Karen from next door came rushing out us screeching about the parking, we'd barely slowed down let alone parked, she continued coming back as we were making a 3 point turn. The property was freezing cold, for winter bookings someone need to turn the heating on at least 12 hours in advance. Some rooms hadn't had towels left out, there were no bath mats or hand towels in bathrooms. During the first night the bed in Bluebell Room collapsed so we slept on the floor on the mattress, we fixed this ourselves on Saturday. The kitchen was grubby, we laid the table for breakfast and found plates had been put away dirty, not just specks several plates were like they just been taken off the able and stuck back in the stack, all the pots and pans had a greasy film. The property could be stunning with a little more care and attention, luckily for us it was about the company of our friends, we rent large properties several times a year, normally our December rentals have made an effort with some Christmas decoration, nothing at Mill House. As I have said its a nice location, the Chalk & Cheese pub is lovely and the landlord was brilliant, we would totally recommend. The house needs just a little more thought with regards to making guests more welcome, obviously there's not much that can be done about the aggressive neighbour, luckily we were able to laugh her off, all we ask for is clean, well equipped and warm.

  Reviewed by Sharron2.2★Dec 2024

• "Beautiful old property – everything was very clean and in good order."

  Some of the mattresses could perhaps be upgraded but we loved staying in this special house. The village was great – highly picturesque in parts but also with useful amenities.

  Reviewed by Anna4.1★Aug 2024

• "Whilst the Mill House was a lovely building, with plenty of character and a beautiful setting, I can't help but feel that for the price we paid, there could have been more done in preparation for our visit."

  Little things add up. Overgrown rear patio, covered in cigarette butts, and a left behind bag of dog poo. Non of the TV remotes in the super-king bedroom worked. Several lightbulbs missing or blown, Some exploded beer bottles in the freezer, rusty pans where they had been put away wet. Dirty plates and pans from lack of cleaning. I don't mind that there was mould on the window frames - that goes with an old building, but the little things, as I said, do add up. The biggest problem, by far, was that we were unable to run a bath in either of the bathrooms on the first floor, as there was no hot water, even though the ground floor water was hot. The shower in the ground floor, likewise, had no hot water. The only reliable hot water was in the electric shower on the first floor. There was a problem with the electrics on the Friday, which I had to fix, although an electrician did turn up there was nothing he could do. Finally, you might want to look at your "Maiden Newton" guide book. The advertised fish and chip takeaway had long since closed down, the menu for the Chalk and Cheese was wildly out of date, (and in fact had no chef, so no food) and Le Petit Canard was nowhere to be found. This meant that we had to leave the village to get something to eat, not fun for the driver! Over all we had a pleasant stay, but for £2400 for the week we expected a bit more polish.

  Reviewed by Stephen3.8★May 2024

• "It is a beautiful house in a nice location, but the decor and cleanliness are very poor."

  Most of the furniture is way past its best (tatty, tired and grubby). Windows and frames filthy and mouldy. Bathrooms were clean to be fair. Just dust everywhere and way too much old furniture (and not in a good way). Kitchen a bit grubby- ovens etc. Even the info pack was dirty! Fag butts in garden. Pool table room way too small to actually play pool, no chalk, split cues. No shower curtain in middle floor bathroom. No hand towels in downstairs loo, or a cleaning spray or cloth (just a sponge and washing up liquid). Countless signs everywhere were off putting. House was very cold. Storage heaters couldn’t be turned on, we had to use a combination of the Aga, blow heaters and the fire. There were logs provided though- why not set a fire ready to be lit for guests? Area is lovely though- and a good jumping off point for beautiful Dorset. The owner needs to invest time in a declutter (dead dried flowers in a frying pan?) and properly cleaning the place. Behind the furniture is disgusting, as well as updating fittings. All these points were mentioned before.

  Reviewed by Richard2.2★Mar 2024

• "The property itself was lovely and immaculately clean, however a few negatives such as one of the windows was nailed shut in a front bedroom which made it stiflingly hot."

  There is no Wi-Fi although it says there is and lastly, the shower outside the bluebell room is either scalding hot or freezing cold, no in-between at all. That said the property can easily accommodate 12 people with everything they could possibly need. Big thumbs up for the pool table.

  Reviewed by Beverley4.1★Sep 2023

• "We all loved Mill House!"

  Full of character and lots of room. The children loved the garden and "The Snug" which they commandeered! The rest of us enjoyed the spacious kitchen. The house was clean and tidy when we arrived. Well placed for lots of local attractions and good local facilities. A couple of minor issues which do not affect our 5 stars but which need some future attention. One bulb was missing in the kitchen which we replaced. Could do with coasters for mugs and glasses to prevent marking the lovely kitchen table. The worktop behind the sink is starting to deteriorate and some of the older windows need attention to the woodwork.

  Reviewed by Bryan5.0★Aug 2023

• "This house is nowhere near as scruffy as some past reports would have you believe."

  It's a super place for a group to stay and use as a base for exploring Dorset. Maiden Newton itself proved a very interesting place ona two hour or so walk. We were surprised how little the flowing mill water disturbed us at night. The mill owner got really stroppy with our smoker who threw his tab ends into the leat! The upstairs shower needs a non slip mat. I managed to stay upright but didn't dare repeat the exercise. Our member who had the misfortune to pick one of the front bedrooms complained - rightly - that she could not open a window because the one opener was screwed shut from the outside. It's a good job she didn't need to escape that way. We all slept well with no compalints about the rooms or the beds. With a group of our size a second key for the house would have been welcome. Lastly, we were very disappointed at the lack of a welcome pack. I don't think a loaf of bread and a few tea bags enough to qualify for the name.

  Reviewed by Christopher3.8★Aug 2023

• "Lovely house with great facilities for a large family gathering"

  Reviewed by Tracey5.0★May 2023

• "Overall, this cottage is charming, spacious and a wonderful space to host a large group."

  The house sleeps 12 people and we were a group of 10 who stayed at Mill House for the Coronation Weekend so we had plenty of space to relax and enjoy each other's company. The house: there are large living rooms and a big kitchen - perfect to relax, host and cook. There's a pool table which gave us hours of entertainment. The garden is luscious and landscaped with enough garden furniture and a BBQ if you fancy a cooking session outside. Towels and bedding are provided as well as a dishwasher which makes the clean up easy! The bathrooms seem to be fairly new - there are 2 power showers - the pressure is quite weak/slow but there was plenty of hot water for everyone to use which is great! Don't miss: the Daisy bedroom which overlooks the river and garden! (if you want a quiet night's sleep, choose another room but the view is stunning!) From Mill House you can easily travel to the beach in Weymouth (about 25 minute drive) or Dorchester town. Or stay local and enjoy a walk around the local village to take in some lovely views. There are a few local shops and local pubs too which are useful. But we were a bit disappointed for the following reasons: - the house is quite tired and could do with some thorough interior renovations and attention to detail. Examples include: the light fixture in the daisy room is hanging from the ceiling with wires exposed. The furniture is very worn, used and quite tatty in places (the sofa in the main living room is missing one of the feet so it slopes). Upon first look the kitchen is well equipped BUT there's a lot of tatty, broken and unusable cooking items and the oven was really dirty! The beds are uncomfortable - mattresses are sunken and lumpy. The parking is a fairly narrow drive way that is shared with next door neighbours so there's only enough room for 3 cars - maximum (and parked very close together!). Overall, the house is a pleasant and charming space but some of the basics need attention to really do the place justice!

  Reviewed by Louise3.1★May 2023

• "Lovely old, quirky house ideal for 10 of us walking the Jubilee Trail."

  Many happy meals around wonderful long, large table in the comfortable, old fashioned kitchen. Bedrooms light and attractive and everything clean and OK.

  Reviewed by Joanna5.0★May 2022

• "The property itself is in a stunning location and is a beautiful building."

  Parking is good and well provisioned. The village of Maiden Newton is well situated for West Dorset and the Jurassic Coast However, overall the house was grimy and poorly cleaned. We found mouldy food detritus in the kitchen, as well as grimy surfaces and cupboard fronts, and bins weren't emptied throughout. The top of the fridge was filthy, and it made a horrendous grinding noise. Lots of crockery was dirty, chipped and mismatched. The dishwasher needed a clean and rinse aid. Theoughout our stay, the heaters simply didn't work. The only way to heat the house was by lighting the fire, which was not massively effective. Individual bedrooms had electric panel heaters which were OK, but not great. We had a 16 month old with us and we were constantly worried about the temperature and cleanliness of the property. Windows in one bedroom were screwed shut - this made the room damp and could not be ventilated. Lots of storage in the house was filled with random junk and detritus. One lamp in bedroom had no bulb in it! There was in general very limited instruction in how to use anything in the welcome pack, which also had food stains in it! Wifi was very poor and only really worked in the living room. As there is very limited mobile reception, you rely on Wi-Fi to enable you to keep in contact! Generally the property felt unloved, dirty and poorly maintained. Considering what a beautiful building it was, and the stunning location and village, it was really disappointing. Sadly at the moment, I would avoid this property until improvements are made. Our experience is borne out by previous reviews as well, and had we read them prior to booking, we would have likely chosen elsewhere.

  Reviewed by David1.9★Mar 2022

• "Lovely property."

  However could do with a bit of TLC.

  Reviewed by Stuart4.1★Nov 2021

• "Lovely property, however needs some TLC , along with a new fridge and microwave also oven has seen better days."

  .

  Reviewed by Stuart3.1★Oct 2021

• "The house was really lovely, however it was a bit run down and dirty and in need of a bit of TLC."

  The two most disappointing things were the shower situation ( 1 out of the 3 worked sufficiently) and the fact that the bedding was not particularly clean - when we took the bedding off at the end of our stay we found horrendous staining on duvets and mattress covers and one bed didn’t even have a protector on (pretty disgusting and definitely not Covid safe I’m sure!) We didn’t raise issues with the showers during our stay as previous guests have mentioned this for over a year so didn’t see the point, and the duvet/ mattress situation only really fully came to our attention at the end of our stay. The Mill House is really gorgeous and we had a great time as a large group but probably wouldn’t recommend the property because it really needs an update and thorough clean. Little things like the pool table were great but most of the cues were broken with no tips (one of the group bought some and we left them there for future guests). The owners really need to spruce it up a bit and then it would be an AMAZING place to stay!

  Reviewed by Ruth2.8★Jul 2021

• "The cottage bed mattresses are old and need changing."

  Spring cleaning is very much needed.

  Reviewed by Anna3.4★Apr 2021

• "The downstairs shower did not work, despite many attempts."

  Entry in Visitors’ Book in July also mentioned this. There was no shower screen on the bath in one of the other bathrooms, so again unusable. The third bathroom shower had insufficient - for six adults, this is unsatisfactory and irritating. The hot water tap in the kitchen was scalding and the water near boiling, while hot water flow to upstairs bathrooms was very slow and sometimes not worth waiting for, so, often a cold wash. There were previous guests’ dirty sheets in the laundry basket. There was a broken window latch in one of the bedrooms and could not be opened, so bedroom not usable. Broken mug left on shelf in kitchen; sitting room sofa coverings dirty. We had a good time nonetheless, and enjoyed Corfe Castle, Durdle Door, Maiden Castle (all in the rain!) and Kingston Lacey in the three days we were there. The Mill House needs an overhaul as it could be excellent. The house is big and has sufficient equipment and could be great for families.

  Reviewed by Jenny2.8★Sep 2020

• "Everything about the Cottage was just what we were looking for"

  Reviewed by Mr Johan5.0★Aug 2020

• "There were 9 adults, 2 children and a guide dog and we all had a great time."

  Took a while to warm the house up but once we got the fires going it was lovely and toasty.

  Reviewed by Sandra4.7★Feb 2020

• "Interesting house, full of character, in a beautiful setting."

  However, much of the house needs a face lift. Heating system complicated to operate and insufficient on cold days

  Reviewed by Guido3.4★Oct 2019

• "The house is situated in the middle of the village with proximity to pub village shops garage plus an excellent restaurant."

  Reviewed by Andrew4.4★Sep 2019

• "Great venue and location, liked the big kitchen, garden and views."

  Thank you

  Reviewed by Graham3.8★Jul 2019

• "Mill house is absolutely beautiful and was the perfect place to stay for our friends wedding!"

  Dream cottages staff were super friendly and quick to respond to any queries!

  Reviewed by Alison5.0★Jul 2019

• "House was not very clean but tidy unable to cook for us as range was set to low ..."

  House was not very clean but tidy unable to cook for us as range was set to low only half of the grill worked no starter pack for fires and Sykes did not phone me back when they said they would on several occasions

  Many thanks for your comments. All feedback is taken seriously, and I can confirm that this is being looked into. If you feel that you'd like to discuss your points further, please don't hesitate to call on the details below. 01244 345 700 - Our lines are open 7 days a week from 9am until 7pm. Property Owner

  Reviewed by Angela2.8★Mar 2019

• "Mill cottage is beautiful."

  We loved it

  Reviewed by Sophia5.0★Nov 2018

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