Meet The Owners: Marlborough House Forge

The delightful Marlborough House Forge has been a part of the Suffolk Cottage Holidays family from quite early in its conception. A charming ground floor cottage located in the heart of the Suffolk countryside in the quiet village of Saxtead, just outside the popular market town of Framlingham. Read on to find out more from the owners about their experiences of holiday letting:

"We had only recently moved to Suffolk and began finalising our discussions with SCH quite soon after getting planning approval and appointing builders for the Forge in 2017. The renovations took approximately 6 months and we had our first guests at the end of May 2018.

We chose Suffolk Cottage Holidays as a letting agency for Marlborough House Forge because being new to Suffolk we felt it was crucial to find a company that had good knowledge and a local presence in the area and one that had been running successfully for some years.  We did a lot of research into national and local letting opportunities choosing SCH because of their reputation and their professional, efficient and friendly style

For us the marketing, website and dedicated booking management were our priority requirements. Being on site we did not need to take advantage of add-on services such as cleaning or maintenance  that are important to a lot of remote property owners.

As an owner we have enjoyed working with SCH from an early stage.  As we were progressing with the renovations we asked SCH for their feedback on current customer requirements to make sure that we hadn’t missed a trick with planned  layouts etc. in the property.  After subsequently  ‘going live’ we have found the liaison team to be excellent at doing just that !  Queries and questions are always answered promptly and efficiently. We love the tone and the feel of the marketing and the website – it is easily navigable as a customer and as a homeowner. Also since a large proportion of customers are searching for properties via a star rating we are delighted with the 4* Gold awarded to Marlborough House Forge by SCH own quality assessment scheme.

We moved here from Kent with a view to buying a property which would allow us to offer self-catering accomodation. We loved Marlborough House together with its original Forge building. Being on the edge of our property, detached with beautiful views across the countryside we felt it offered an ideal venue and early on we had lots of affirmation from SCH that the Forge would be a popular destination and this helped us feel confident moving forward with our plans.

The property also gave us space/outbuildings to allow us to develop our charcuterie and associated foods business, Marlborough House Foods, which is building nicely. 

Some of our recent guests have loved sampling and taking home various items and the reviews speak for themselves :

Our thanks to Peter & Cathy for providing an excellent venue for our New Year break - nothing is too much trouble for them and we particularly appreciated the facility for charging our electric car. Peters smoked bacon is the best we've tasted in some time -  Sheila & Jeff - 2nd January 2019

Lovely place, lovely hosts, lovely stay! Recommend Peter's lovely smoked produce - its a must. Had great Ale in Aldeburgh and the Dennington Queen. Many thanks to Peter & Cathy - John & Annie - 27th December 2018

To anybody interested in letting out their property as a holiday cottage our advice would be to have plans and ideas of your own but do your homework. Look around and research your options and find a company that reflects your own “brand” and attracts the sort of customers you would feel happy hosting."

Click here to find out more about this charming self-catering holiday cottage. Are you interested in holiday letting? Get in touch with one of the team to find out what holiday letting can mean for you.

Written by Peter & Cathy Stafford