La Petite Foret - Gîte Holiday Rental, in Merlimont, Pas-de-Calais, France

Unfortunately the property had not been cleaned when we arrived, in places it was really very dirty indeed, especially the kitchen. Dirty oven, filthy TV, and dog hairs downstairs including ground floor bedroom, odd for a property with a "no pets" policy! The wifi wasn't working when we arrived and although we contacted the owners several times during our holiday, and were told it would be resolved, still we had no internet access until the morning of our departure - really disappointing given Internet availability was a factor in selecting where to stay. The property itself could be so much nicer if properly maintained - it just seemed rather unloved and uncared for, the photos on French Connections website depict it favourably compared to the reality, we can only assume they are very out of date. On contacting the owners on our return we were told that, yes previous tenants had also complained about the property being dirty. Understandably, this did not make us feel any better about the situation. The final insult was needing to chase the owners for the return of our security deposit! All in all it was not a good experience at all. Such a shame because it is in a nice location and there are lovely places around and about to visit.

Reply from Owner:

Our cleaner went in as usual on Saturday 29th July.  This is the first complaint of this nature in the 7 years she has been working for us however we will be sending her the report in order to get some feedback.
Chris and Helen contacted us late on Saturday evening.  We responded the same evening and assured them that we would be in contact with our ISP to get the wifi issue resolved as soon as possible.  Chris and Helen did not mention the issues surrounding the cleanliness of the property until the Monday, two days later.  Unfortunately, the wifi wasn’t fixed until their last day.  We are very much dependent on our supplier and made every effort to fix it as quickly as we possibly could.  We have had wifi for approximately 9 years and have been very pleased with the service however we cannot guarantee an uninterrupted service.
We are keen to keep the property well maintained.  Each year we have workmen go in to repair, upgrade, and make good the property.
We had been at the property the week before Chris and Helen and on our arrival, we found the property as we would expect and, as is normally the case, we ensured that the property was left in a clean and tidy state.  We were very surprised from the comments left by the following visitors.
Chris and Helen did contact us for the deposit after two weeks.  We communicate to our visitors that the deposit will be returned within 3 weeks of their returning home and we did this.
When Chris and Helen contacted us on their first day, they advised us only of the issue with the wifi.  They did not highlight to us about the unsatisfactory state of the property.  Had they advised us immediately on arrival of this, we would have been in a position to get the cleaner back into the property in order to resolve the issues.
We were in regular contact during the course of the 7 days and apologised to Chris and Helen for both the lack of wifi and the condition of the property on their arrival.  We have a number of families who return to La Petite Foret each year so are very disappointed that on this occasion, we let Chris and Helen down and wish to apologise again for the inconvenience caused to them.

Guest rating:

We have had a lovely week, weather has been great.  House is well equipped and is ideally situated for a nice walk to the beach.  If you arrive late Saturday/early Sunday, then the Aldi Marche is open on Sunday, on the way to Berck.  Local market at Berck is the best as it has a bit of everything!  If you have children, then the Bagatelle theme park is definitely worth a visit as it is ideal for all ages, young children and teenagers.  Lots of nice boulangeries in walking distance.  Sky TV and wifi has been an added bonus!  Have been over winter period, with several inches of snow outside, Le Touquet is a winter wonderland of lights, so beautiful!  Thank you very much for the use of your house.

Guest rating:

A fantastic holiday in a lovely area.  We had mixed weather most of the week so thank goodness for the fantasic, well stocked house that we spent so much of our time in.  Saying that, we still ventured to the beautiful beach every day, great for flying kites.  Looking forward to next year.

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A fantastic gite, the best we have stayed in with Sky TV and internet, it was brilliant!  Visited the regular places, Le Touquet, Stella Plage etc.  Gite very warm and comfortable, excellently equipped.  We will be back for our 5th consecutive year.

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We have had a lovely, relaxed holiday.  The house is lovely and the garden is a real sun trap, lovely for relaxing in.

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We have stayed here several times now and absolutely love it.  The house is brilliant, great location, feels just like home.  Weather has been very good.  Visited The Somme; great day out.  Visited also Montreuil…beautiful!  Our holiday has been most relaxing, lovely weather and good food.  Beach was great.

Guest rating:

A very well equipped house – great to be able to use the dishwasher without running out of dishes in the process (so irritating in so many holiday homes).  Thanks for supplying essentials such as dish-washing tablets and washing powder.  Le Touquet was probably the nicest town we visited.  The citadelle in Monteuil is also a good trip.

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