as a family we are a little bit in love with norfolk. it would be wonderful if one day we had a place of our own up along the norfolk coast. we come every single year without fail and have done so now for around 5 years. each time we have booked a cottage to stay in, all via various web sites and agencies and all have been great. however this time we went a little off our normal sources and tried airbnb for the very first time. we have friends that rent out space on it, we have friends that have used it, it came highly recommended, so we thought we would give it a whirl.
if you’ve not heard of airbnb i’ll give you a quick overview. if you do skip this part and have a look at our lovely norfolk cottage.
airbnb was founded back in 2008 in san francisco, creating a marketplace for people who want to rent out their spare rooms, flats, houses, villas or even castles! it cover more than 34,000 cities in 190 countries covering every budget and allowing people to monetise their space to an audience of millions.
so there you have it.
this bank holiday rather than our normal north norfolk coast stay, we thought we would head over to south norfolk. out of character for us but after spotting some rather gorgeous photos of a cottage in harleston on the instagram feed of mummy daddy and me we simply couldn’t resist. being south of the county it meant we finally had the opportunity to visit southwold, the wonderful bressingham steam & gardens and now one of our most favourite place bewilderwood. and boy we were not disappointed.
we were welcomed to the cottage with a beautiful hand written note, which was a fabulous touch.
ivywood cottage may well be somewhat medieval in age and grade II listed, but the renovation of this cottage is certainly more leaning in contemporary design with a simple classic vintage pieces mixed in with a spot of mid-century modern. a soft mix of white and shades of grey give the stylish cottage an air of calm and space. absolutely stunning. gem and ed have great taste.
the listing advertises that it can sleep up to six however with just two bedrooms, i can only presume that the landing can also be converted into a sleeping area too, there certainly is enough space to.
we didn’t get to explore the garden at all, as the weather was a little changeable so we were keen to get out and explore as quickly as possible. however there is a large lawn in a walled garden with an orchard for children to explore.
this was the absolute perfect base for our long bank holiday weekend. a home from home. in addition to the places we visited, mentioned above, it is also close to many other places of interest including diss, the waveney valley, aldeburgh, norwich and beccles the start of the norfolk broads.
gem & ed also own the house next door which also can be rented through airbnb, this sleeps up to ten, which is absolutely perfect for family get togethers.
the cottage rates are £120 per night for two people and £40 extra per person after the first two guests. there is a cleaning fee of £30. airbnb also add a service fee to this. you can find ivy cottage just here
the house rates are £295 per night for six people and £50 extra per person after six guests. the cleaning fee is £50 and again airbnb also add a service fee to your bill. you can find ivy house just here.
disclaimer : we always go away for bank holiday and norfolk is one of our favourite go to places. we paid in full for our stay at gem & ed’s ivywood cottage. we have posted these pictures as like us i think you will fall in love with the cottage as much as we did and sharing is caring you know.
I never do holidays in England as the weather unreliability drives me insane. That said, this cottage is actually tempting. Gorgeous pictures as usual x
Ahhhhh lovely – so much attention to details .So beautiful and not at all my bad experience at another of their places. You might just have tempted me to give them a second chance!
I’ve just booked our apartment in Rome through Air BnB and I’ve been scared for a second thinking about your old people’s home experience 😉
Ohh you struck lucky there, it looks just fabulous. Great find. Mich x
You’ve found a little gem there Vanessa.I think I’d have to leave my kids behind with all that white though and just indulge in a weekend away by myself.
Love the feel and style of this place. It looks so relaxing x
What a gorgeous place to stay – the cottage is decorated beautifully and I’d be so happy to be staying there. I keep hearing about AirBNB lately so I think it’s time I investigated 😉
I would never think of looking at somewhere like Harleston to stay, it’s somewhere i’ve only been for football matches. That cottage is just beautiful, I think I’ll take a little look at Airbnb