Cozy Retreat - Marsh Mellow South Cottage

This is a bungalow next to a mansion in a residential neighborhood near Holetown in Barbados. The surroundings are beautiful and the house is unusual in that there are no glass windows, just openings that have wooden shutters. This gives you a feeling of living outdoors, but with an air conditioner. Initially we were worried about opening the windows and bugs coming in, but there was no issue with that in time of year that we visited (early March). So for most of the time, the windows were open and a lovely breeze went through the house. The house is on top of a steep hill and you really need a car to get anywhere. In the mornings, monkeys would visit the front yard, picking coconuts, which was spectacular. One minor thing is that the kitchen appliances are old. The only oven is a toaster oven, which sometimes did not work. Overall, we had a wonderful and unique experience of living closer to nature.

Housekeeper wonderful. Agency responsive when I asked for proper wine glasses. Great place for WFH as internet very good. Less so for relaxing, as no private garden, no pool and no loungers so you had to drive out to relax in the sun. Very comfortable firm bed. That was a big bonus for my husband who has a bad back. Tv programmes were dire - needs Netflix or similar. No books or helpful info about things to see and do. Nutshell Tourist booklet a year out of date so we left an up to date one, and a few leaflets. Building work was mostly not bad - a couple of builders and a wheelbarrow, though the stone cutting at 7am one day was a loud wake up call. Biggest bug bear were the bins for the whole Marsh Mellow property, that were dumped in front of our gatehouse cottage by the entrance. The existing binstore (opposite the other gatehouse) was too small for the big bins. Very unsightly and this really devalued the rental price - not what one expects and very easily solved.

Comfortable home, great shower, excellent AC, privacy outside & quiet neighborhood, lots of TV channels. The host was fast to respond to any questions and requests.

positive: nicely decorated clean villa, in a quiet setting. pretty gardens with monkeys running around and roosters heard in the background. negative: the city and the shopping centre as well as the bigger beaches aren't within a walking distance, you need a car; after heavy rainfall, the floor was soaked; there were some big cockroaches in the kitchen which, in this price bracket, is not acceptable rating 6/10

Nice cottage so well located . Hanging rod in the bedroom is too high for a short person to reach. That's my observation not a concern. Monkey experimenting in the shower was an unbelievable. I loved it . I will be talking about it for the rest of my life.