Martin - verified booking

"Evergreen is a lovely cottage and certainly deserves more than the 3 star grade given on the website. I have stayed in 4 star rated properties which are nowhere near as good. Although I stayed in mid January with it being below freezing outside the cottage was very warm and there were absolutely no draughts, this is thanks to the gas central heating which is rarely found in other holiday cottages (which more often than not rely on bottled gas, electric heating or the dreaded night storage heaters!) The other benefit to being on mains gas is that there is a gas hob in the large kitchen, another lovely change to the awful ceramic hobs usually found. The location is not isolated (which is good), being on the outskirts of Hordle in an upmarket semi-residential area on a quaint lane, it is a very quiet area indeed with about one car passing by on the lane outside every 30 minutes. At night it is extremely peaceful and all I ever heard were owls hooting outside - lovely. The neighbours barely seem to exist at all, nothing is heard or seen of them which suited me. Although there is a wifi internet connection this is strictly for simple web browsing only, do not expect to stream anything as the downloading speed maxed out at 0.6mbps. This is still better than nothing at all (which is what I experienced in my last three cottages) but hopefully the owners can upgrade this speed soon as sometimes it is nice to watch a film online in the evenings, however this is really such a minor trifling issue. There seems to be a newer, larger HDTV than that shown in the picture & I successfully plugged in a USB drive to watch downloaded films.Overall the cottage was super, with a powerful hot shower and probably the best equipped kitchen I have experienced (they even had a rolling pin!), the place was beautifully clean too. It was also a bonus that you could actually park in your own private driveway right next to the cottage, again this necessity can be surprisingly absent in other rentals. Best of all, you are not ‘adjacent to the owners house’ as 90% of rentals seem to be; you are in your own house in its own grounds with nobody interfering, snooping or getting in your way. If you want isolation you won’t be bothered!"

Sarah - verified booking

"The cottage is very sweet, well decorated and has an excellent kitchen diner, which is well equipped. It is well located to drive to all the main attractions in the area, being able to get to the coast and the forest really easily. We were pleasantly surprised to find a travel cot erected ready for us, as I didn't see it on the details (though we had taken our own and used it as it seemed more sturdy). A good touch.Our main issue was the heating. We stayed in the winter and it snowed whilst we were there, with temperatures not rising above 4 degrees on any day, so it was cold. You expect older houses to be poorly insulated and have draughts so this isn't a complaint, but may be useful to know if you plan to holiday in the winter. The lounge is comfy and would probably have been cosy with the log burner lit, but as our 10 month old son is cruising about and very inquisitive we decided not to light it. The heating is good, but the lack of a door into the lounge meant that there was a significant draught that could not be overcome. The kitchen diner was also cold - needs another radiator or some draught excluder around the main door. At night the bedrooms got very toasty initially (22 degrees) , but once the heating went off dropped down to 15 degrees - this made it tricky to know how to dress the little one for bed. The duvet on the double beds is really a summer weight one, and we topped it up with one from the other room, which wouldn't have been an option if there were people in there too. Really we could have had the heating on continuously but we would have roasted as we couldn't find the thermostat. Overall we liked the cottage and felt that in the summer it would be a lovely place to stay. As other comments in the guest book suggested, perhaps a curtain over the lounge doorway, a thicker duvet and a little attention would make it a little more snug in winter. "

Mrs Watson - verified booking

"It's got a little private garden with table and chairs and most windows overlook fields (my husband saw deer grazing there one morning!). The landlord and landlady were very kind and provided us with more firewood to heat the wood stove in the living room than we could have ever wished for. It was amazing how warm the rooms got when the stove was in full swing! In terms of kitchen utensils, the only things that might have been nice to have would have been a cafetière and a garlic press. But these are minor details; everything else was absolutely fine. The location was ideal too - easy to get to anywhere in the New Forest. Some good heathland and woodland walks were just a few miles away from the cottage. Also there were at least 3 pubs not too far away (The Hobler, the Red Lion and the Filly Inn). I wouldn't recommend walking even to the nearest one - The Hobler - as the road is quite busy and there are no pavements. But it was excellent to have the choice of different establishments for dinners when one doesn't want to travel too far. And there is a Waitrose a few miles further down the road on the northern outskirts of Lymington - very convenient. We had a brilliant time and will highly likely return to this cottage!"

Sam - verified booking

"I have scored this cottage 10/10 on the criteria above. It is real stunning and very well equipped. There are a few niggles with it though. 1. The front door has the wrong kind of handle on it which means that if you don't lock it from the inside anyone can open it from the outside without a key!!2. The kitchen light switches are on the wall where the fridge is. As you open the door of the fridge it hits the switches and turns them off! 3.The downstairs bedroom door isn't a tight closed fit so that when the air vents are open in the windows the door bangs loudly even when closed. We took to wedging tissue paper in the gap to stop it moving. 4. The mat at the back door is of the coconut hair variety and is sitting on a tiled floor. My 4 year old son came in from the garden and jumped into the house landing on the mat which then just flew out from under him and he almost fell back out into the garden on his head. The mat needs some anti slip rubber under it! (and maybe my son should be more careful!) That's it! 4 small issues that are minor annoyances and don't, as I've said, take away from the 10/10 review I've given!It is a brilliantly stocked, comfortable house and we took many ideas away for our own place!"

Fiona - verified booking

"The Cottage was beautiful, we had a couple of chilly nights and wanted to put the woodburner on. However, the flu does not link with the woodburner, so rather dangerous. The wood burner itself was one of the oldest I have ever seen with no viewing pane, just iron doors. A few light bulbs were out, but lamps were in place and bright enough for the rooms. The Cottage was in the perfect location for walking and cycling straight into the New forest, with great trails on the doorstep. The garden was fabulous, owls hooting at night and woodpeckers during the day. Wonderful time and great cottage. Do not use the Brewers Faye in the village, was a horrible experience, they didnt have half of the food on the menu and the service was terrible."