5 minutes into exploring for our evaluation of Shell Home in Bournemouth, my daughter turned to me and requested critically if the house owners would possibly promote for one million kilos – not a foul first response to our weekend break, a style of luxurious self-catering in Bournemouth with youngsters.
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Alas, neither she nor I’ve one million kilos mendacity round however happily a keep at this five-bedroom home prices lots lower than that – plus you’re solely a brief stroll from Bournemouth seafront and seashore, in addition to it being a terrific base to discover Dorset.
As a result of this vacation home is an actual gem for a household break by the seaside – learn on to see my full evaluation of Shell Home Bournemouth to find why.
Shell Home Bournemouth evaluation: Very important statistics
A part of the small Seaside Hideaways assortment, the Shell Home is one in all two properties providing luxurious self-catering in Bournemouth – the opposite, The Seaside Home, sleeps as much as 20.
The Shell Home has 5 bedrooms and usually sleeps as much as 12, though there’s an choice so as to add two further beds and sleep 14.
There are three bogs as effectively – two en-suite and one household toilet – plus a bathroom downstairs, a small backyard space, together with well-equipped kitchen, front room and eating room.
It’s dog-friendly in addition to child-friendly, if you wish to convey your (well-behaved) four-legged pal.
There’s no parking on the property itself, though there’s a parking lot a few minutes stroll away which prices £11.50 per day. You’ll be able to ebook in 24-hour slots on Ringgo, and there isn’t a no return coverage, so that you simply want to recollect to begin a brand new parking session as quickly as the primary one runs out.
There’s additionally some on-street parking close by if you could find an area, however do test the restrictions. Alternatively, Bournemouth station is round 5-10 minutes away by automotive, with quite a lot of sights in strolling distance of Shell Home.
Shell Home Bournemouth: self-catering with youngsters
The very first thing you discover as you stroll in to the Shell Home is how trendy it’s. In all places you flip, there’s one other eye-catching element, an opulent contact, an decoration to covet.
Normally in case you ebook a luxurious self-catering property, there’s one thing I want I may convey dwelling with me – a chunk of artwork maybe, or in a single case an enormously mushy sheepskin rug. I believe the Shell Home could be the primary time the place I’ve wished I may packed the whole contents of the home into my suitcase although!
There’s clearly been an enormous quantity of thought gone into the renovation of this Bournemouth home, from the necessities within the kitchen to the design particulars within the bed room, the color scheme, even the selection of paintings on the partitions.
After a two-hour drive from west London, and a brief stroll from the close by automotive park, letting ourselves in had gone with out a hitch – the check-in particulars had been emailed over earlier that day.
However being greeted by a collection of welcome treats is all the time an added bonus – a basket within the kitchen was stuffed with biscuits, crisps and chocolate, whereas a bottle of rose prosecco rested within the eating room on a gold octopus holder (which caught my eye simply as a lot because the fizz!)
Tempting although it was to sit down straight down in one of many comfortable seats, open the prosecco and put my toes up, there was much more to discover.
Downstairs, the lounge has two large squashy cream sofas, all dotted with throws and cushions, and a collection of little tables tucked within the center.
As we wandered over to take a look at the TV and a number of the different ornaments on the little tables and partitions, we found there’s even a small passageway operating parallel to the corridor which takes you again via to the kitchen.
The 2 armchairs within the kitchen really grew to become one in all our favorite spots, with the spring sunshine streaming in and slightly desk subsequent to one of many armchairs for a drink and one in all our welcome treats.
The kitchen itself has all the pieces you would possibly want – multiplied by a dozen. Looking via cabinets and cabinets, I additionally got here throughout a gold cocktail shaker and matching ice bucket, an ornamental vase which appeared to have been impressed by octopus tentacles, and a few fairly glass plates, for starters.
Fairly other than all the sensible stuff, plates, mugs, glasses galore (together with for white and crimson wine, beer, cocktails and who is aware of what else), saucepans, cutlery, chopping boards, sieves, picket spoons…
Actually there was nothing that we wanted that we couldn’t discover: the fridge had milk and orange juice in too, plus there was tea, sugar and occasional pods for the Lavazza machine, in addition to varied different odds and ends.
The home is equally stocked with dishwasher tablets and fundamental cleansing provides as effectively, together with binbags and washing up liquid.
The oven had no sophisticated settings and whereas the dishwasher was barely temperamental the primary time we used it, even that didn’t trigger us any issues.
The truth is, there’s a lot within the kitchen, that I utterly failed to identify one other cabinet for a number of hours – opening it, it turned out to include a canine bowl and treats, varied tins and different odds and ends.
Past that, the eating room was already set for 2, though you may simply match 12 individuals on the benches across the desk for a giant household meal.
The bathroom is tucked away on the again, whereas the doorways open onto the little backyard, with one other desk, further chairs and a barbecue for good climate.
The garden is astroturf, so that you gained’t be as much as your knees in mud in case you’re unfortunate sufficient to be staying after heavy rain both.
By this level, we have been already totally gained over, earlier than even exploring the bedrooms.
Throughout our keep, the additional bedrooms have been locked so I didn’t get to peek inside, however there are two additional rooms with king beds (every with area for a further roll-out mattress), and one other with king mattress and two single bunk beds.
Nevertheless beautiful they’re, I nonetheless suppose we got here off effectively, with a four-poster mattress and en-suite toilet in every.
The primary had a mushy purple color scheme, in addition to loads of the – by now anticipated – luxurious particulars, together with seaweed-themed artwork mirroring a number of the items on the steps and within the hallway.
The second, in the meantime, had jungle print artwork and a inexperienced color theme, with curtains drawn again across the four-poster king dimension mattress.
And, like Goldilocks, I attempted each to seek out out which king dimension mattress was juuuust proper. With squashy pillows, and a beautiful supportive mattress, I slept fantastically in every.
Each en-suite bogs had a rainhead bathe over a shower (plus a handheld bathe, so it pays to show the knob the fitting means except you wish to be unintentionally sprayed whenever you swap it on!) and a few beautiful Noble Isle toiletries.
There’s loads of area to your personal toiletries across the sink too – one in all my largest bugbears is when there’s room for a toothbrush and never a lot else.
Plus a separate household toilet on the highest flooring with twin sinks and a walk-in bathe, so even you probably have extra individuals staying, there shouldn’t be a lot of a wait within the mornings!
As ever, it’s the little particulars which set the entire place aside – starfish knobs on the drawers, shells dotted round, seaweed paintings, crops (principally synthetic however the form that are so convincing, you must rub the leaves to test).
It’s not laborious to see why my daughter fancied proudly owning the Shell Home and residing right here completely!
So are there any downsides? Fairly truthfully, not many. You do have to think about the price of parking on high of the keep, and in case you’re planning an extended go to than our weekend break self-catering in Bournemouth, it’s value dropping the bags off by the home in case you can.
The stroll is simply brief, however it’s barely uphill – we had no bother however solely wanted to convey sufficient for a few days relatively than a fortnight by the ocean.
The streets close by aren’t all the time essentially the most picturesque a part of Bournemouth both, however it’s a trade-off we have been completely happy to make for its comfort.
Solely a brief stroll to the West Cliff zigzag path main down from the clifftop to the seashore, you’ve obtained seven miles of sand to take pleasure in, in addition to supermarkets and loads of locations to eat inside strolling distance as effectively.
You might be on the Bournemouth Oceanarium in lower than quarter-hour, in addition to the pier, whereas it’s solely round 20 minutes to the Alum Chine tropical gardens within the different course. In case you are driving, you might be at Poole in round 20 minutes too.
On gloriously sunny days, it’s tempting to spend your entire time on the sand or out on the water. However on a cloudy March weekend, I wasn’t sorry to be spending time indoors.
With our fish and chips on a number of the ornamental plates, a terrific night time’s sleep forward, and loads of locations to curve up and calm down, this explicit style of Bournemouth self-catering with youngsters is definitely probably the most trendy methods to benefit from the seaside.
Ebook the Shell Home: luxurious self-catering in Bournemouth
You’ll be able to ebook Shell Home straight through the Beachhideaways web site (in addition to the Seaside Home in case you’re searching for someplace greater).
The property can be out there on different web sites together with reserving.com.
For extra concepts of one of the best issues to do in Bournemouth with youngsters, try my high picks in addition to concepts of issues to do in Dorset with youngsters and concepts for Dorset within the rain with youngsters
Disclosure: My keep at Shell Home Bournemouth was free for the needs of evaluation – all opinions stay my very own (and my daughter’s). This submit incorporates affiliate hyperlinks – any purchases you make are unaffected however I could obtain a small fee
Seaside picture courtesy of Depositphotos, all different photographs copyright MummyTravels
