To expect a tumble dryer in a family seaside property?

We have a holiday cottage in Windermere in the Lake District. Not 4 star - just a dog-friendly 3 star. We bought it last year and it already had a combined washer-dryer. The agency we let it through (English Country Cottages) said that it was a requirement to have a washing machine (not sure about a dryer).I was slightly surprised as I've never thought of doing washing whilst on holiday. From what I can tell it isn't used very much (we supply detergent capsules and they are rarely used). Given the frequent wet weather, I think the dryer may be used more. I'd be a bit miffed to think people were doing all their washing before heading home! This year we fitted a new kitchen and managed to squeeze in a dishwasher - this is used much more.

We have winter weight duvets on the beds at the S.O's holiday house, but we left summer weight ones in each room. Given that the summer was very hot at times I'm surprised that no one has used them. Any problems with a holiday let should be mentioned to the lettings company to be resolved asap. They charge a hefty amount for their services. It's very strange the sort of things that happen to a holiday rental property. Someone has taken the battery out of the doorbell. I'd love to know the reasoning behind it....and there was a complaint that a window couldn't be opened and was a danger; the window key is on a hook at the top of the window with a note on it to say please leave it here unless there is a danger that a child might open it.

I think my children must have been messier than most as I've almost always had to do washing when on holiday. One of mine once fell into a cow pat(!) and there was no way I'd be keeping those clothes hanging about for almost a week until going home!

My boys were prone to doing stuff in ponds and rivers and getting very dirty, too, so their stuff would need a rinse through.

Plus holiday homes, if they supply any at all, only seem to supply one bath towel per person, so they need laundering mid-week. We had only two tea towels in the posh barn conversion we rented this summer. That's not enough for a family of five with no dishwasher. We also had to buy dish cloths to supplement what was there.

We wash and tumble dry whatever clothes need doing before we head off home - it saves the hassle when we get back. I think that's fair enough since we pay quite a lot of money for our accommodation and are out of it most of the day so are not using much electricity/gas.

Tegan, maybe they wanted a battery for something else?

I lived in the US almost all my adult life and had a basement in every one. I think Florida is one place where as a rule you do not see them (maybe other places, but am not familiar).

We had a dryer, but we also had a lovely wood FURNACE in the basement in our northern New England state. I had clothes lines strung across all the ceiling joists and when that furnace was roaring, the clothes dried faster on those lines than in the dryer, and it was 'free' heat! Same when we lived on the seacoast. Brisk ocean winds dried well, even in winter. You have to remember that top loading US washers do not spin at the speeds here. No 1400-1600+ ,clothes come out wetter, and I often spun twice to get the water out. I can't say what the speed was, but maybe 700? A normal priced top loader would shimmy off it's base at higher speeds.

Yes, dryers do remove the need for ironing in most cases thank goodness. But I don't miss the electricity they eat up.

Hard mattresses. If you are going to a self-catering where you think the bed might be uncomfy, I take a duvet (single for a double bed, double for a king) and put it under the fitted sheet. Soft on my old bones!

We had a laundry room attached to the cottages we let in France and the minute guests arrived they were doing washing and tumbling. At first we thought it strange but then realised children might have been sick or got food mess down them on the journey. Occasionally we'd see bed linen going through the machines - didn't like to ask! If guests are paying good money for their stay they should be able to do what they want.

Lewlew, I do that for a sofa bed we only use when there's a real houseful. A duvet under the bottom sheet makes such a difference. I keep an old winter one just for the purpose!

Bluebelle, I too have lived in a country with unreliable water and very little ones, and yes, I agree that you can work around most things. Our water came out of the tap hot and brown. We had to filter it, and boil it, and keep it in bottles in the fridge.
But I didn't even think of complaining - it was the price of living on site in a Middle Eastern desert where OH was building an airport.

Expecting mod cons in a UK location where you are paying many hundreds of pounds for a week is, I think, a rather different matter.

I agree,*Witzend*, it's about the price and level of amenties, regardless of location. I am sure they will get complaints from others, or their agent will, and be encouraged to add one. Trip Advisor is very influential and for the most part I follow it and have not been disappointed in accommodation standards.

We let furnished flats and I am turning on over now and have to buy a new 3 piece suite. It's 15 years old, and is leather, but cracking. Would not be a problem likely, BUT the agent is marketing the flat at an increase of almost 20% as the last tenants were in for several years at a lower rent.

Time to smarten things up! The increase will pay for the suite within a year.

With the problems there have been lately with tumbledriers catching fire I'm not surprised that holiday home owners aren't leaving them in their properties. People do abuse them by leaving them running and not clearing the filters, I would rather not have one available than worry that someone would leave one running with the consequences. It won't be long until the insurance companies cotton onto tumbledriers as a potential risk and up the owners premiums! There won't be a holiday let that includes one then.

I used a dryer in a holiday let last year, we had GC with us. The dryer did not seem to be working efficiently so I checked the filter and it was thick of fluff, dangerously thick. I could not believe that previous users did not clean the filter after use. Our ten year old dryer at home remains pristine, cleaned after every use.

Surely the owners should check things like filters in dryers between lets (and light bulbs). The expensive one we went to in the summer had no light in the ceiling light so if you weren't sitting next to the lamps you couldn't read or sew, only watch tv. I always take extra tea towels and my own washing tablets and micro fibre cloths as however expensive the place is they seem to think one dishcloth should last a week. I use a fresh one daily . The smell of a week old dish cloth yeuch.

Surely the owner of the holiday let should check the tumble dryer filter each week? And I've never had a dryer that you could leave running. They've either had timers or a sensor that switches off once the clothes are dry.

I invariably empty the filter of my quite elderly tumble drier, every time I use it. And I don't leave it running while I am out. I'm very aware that most fires caused by driers are due to an accumulation of lint in the filters.

Pulling out the lint screen is a must after every drying. At the holiday house we rented, there was a sign over the dryer explaining this.

We only had a programme/timer on the one we used to have in the US for 60 mins tops. That's not long and we often left it running. But I liked to get back before then so I got the wrinkle-free benefit of the tumble, otherwise, had to run it for another 10 mins!

Never had one catch fire or heard of it while living in the US in my areas where I had lived. If not properly wired, any heavy appliance can cause a fire. We even had gas dryers there.

Many buildings with purpose built flats there often have laundry rooms with washers and dryers that are self service.