A charming little home away from home! I had a lovely time at The Little Marlowe. It’s such a cosy cottage with an outstanding location.
It’s a short walk from the basically anywhere you would want to go to in Canterbury; Westgate Towers, Westgate Park and the high street are at the end of the road, the train station is 7 mins walk away, the cathedral is about 5 mins walk if you cut through the car park and it’s literally on the river. You can even hear the cathedral bells, which chime every evening at 17:15 for evensong.
I spent a lot of time on the terrace watching the birds and ducks and watching the sunsets in the evenings. There’s even a tower from the 1300s next door but one, which is very appealing and visible from the terrace. From the bedroom and the living area you can see the top of the theatre and the cathedral.
Unsurprisingly Canterbury is seeping with history everywhere and even the cottage itself must be Victorian, if not Georgian. If you like history, music and nature then you will have plenty of things to do. I went for 8 nights and I still didn’t see everything.
The cottage is situated on quite a busy street so you do hear cars going to or from the car park as well as people walking past. Generally it gets a lot quieter at night so I didn’t have any trouble sleeping. There’s also a footpath on the opposite side of the river, which is reasonably busy but people keep to themselves and aren’t noisy or anything so I wasn’t disturbed by that.
The cottage is well equipped and had everything I needed. I even did a load of washing whilst I was there and they provided washing powder and fabric softener. I cooked my meals most evenings and the fan oven is particularly good. Coffee and tea was provided as well as a small carton of milk, which was especially appreciated as I was able to come in and have a cup of tea before doing a full shop. They also provided a nice little welcome pack.
The lounge area is nice. I moved the sofa so it was opposite the tv as it was more practical for me and moved the broadband router to the shelves so I could use the table for cups of tea. The TV itself does have a mounted arm so you could probably reposition it to face the sofa if you didn’t want to move the sofa itself. I’m a large lady and I was worried that the sofa may not hold my weight at first but it was fine in the end. I even lounged across it without any issues. The Sky Glass was great and I was able to watch a lot of interesting programs. You have to log into your own accounts if you want to use the catch up Apps (like BBC iPlayer, Four on demand etc.), which doesn’t take long. There’s a little alcove with dinner trays if you fancy a TV dinner instead of sitting outside or at the bar.
The bedroom has a very comfortable double bed and there’s enough storage for clothes so you don’t have to live out of your suitcase. The shower is nice and hot and shower gel and hand soap was provided.
I gave 4 stars for value as it does feel like a lot of money but I guess everywhere is getting more expensive now so maybe it’s the going rate. They did mention that it’s cheaper to book through their website.
The hosts were excellent! I had a last minute change of plans due to the train strike, which they were able to accommodate and they were very quick to respond to any messages. They messaged me whilst I was there too to see if I needed anything. As a part of this review I have sent through some suggestions of extra things that could be provided too but none of them are necessary.
I had a really lovely stay at The Little Marlowe and plan to come again next year 😊
