The Hideaway: Information

Online version of the information booklet

Here is some information about the house and area that you might find useful.

We really hope you enjoy your stay here!

If there are any problems you should contact Holiday Cottages on 01237 459910 (Monday to Friday 9am – 8pm, weekends and bank holidays 10.30am – 6.30pm).

Follow us:

Instagram: @TheHideawayEyemouth  

Twitter: @EyemouthSeaView

Things to do in Eyemouth

There are a number of attractions/facilities in Eyemouth that are worth exploring (some are seasonal), namely the swimming pool and fitness gym, the appallingly ugly amusement arcade, the golf course, Gunsgreen House, Eyemouth Maritime Centre, the town museum (including tourist information centre), and various kinds of trips on boats. The best beach for days out is Coldingham Bay (approx. 5 miles away, RNLI lifeguards in the summer).

The swimming pool has regular fun sessions for children, in which they set out inflatables for them to climb over or slide down. It also seems to have plenty of quiet sessions for general lane swimming and so forth. There is a platform diving board that is sometimes open. Although there’s a whole beautiful world to walk/run in, in and around Eyemouth, it’s also surprisingly pleasant to spend time on the treadmills in the fitness gym, looking out over the bay.

You do not need to be a member to play the 18-hole golf course. Apparently, the food there is pretty good and so is the view from the clubhouse restaurant.

A wonderful thing to do in Eyemouth is simply to walk. Both ways round the bay are wonderful. Wandering through the harbour (there’s usually seals!) takes you up to the right-hand side of the bay, as you look at it from the house, and past the fish market. Climb up onto the ridge along that edge of the bay and the view is fantastic. You can walk south from there, past the golf course towards Burnmouth.

You get to the headland on the left-hand side of the bay from a set of steps that lead up from the beach. These take you up to the old fort there (‘Fort Point’) which played a big part in borders skirmishes in years gone by. There are two canons there. Walking across the back of the caravan park takes you to the next bay (‘Killiedraught Bay’). On the way, you can explore a lovely cove that has wooden steps leading down to it. As you come to the end of the caravan site the views open out to Coldingham Bay, St. Abbs, and St. Abb’s head.

There are several shops and food places in Eyemouth. The co-op is open seven days a week until late including bank holidays. The baker is open very early (lovely fresh bread!). Local recently caught fish is available from Collins on the harbour-side. Giacopazzi’s is an award-winning ice cream parlour that also makes great pizzas. Fish and chips from Giacopazzi’s and from Mackay’s are great, and Oblò is a very pleasant restaurant/bar.

We are afraid that we have had to remove the wetsuits and beach shoes that used to be available in the lighthouse bedroom.

 Online resources

Needless to say, there are numerous online resources relating to Eyemouth and the surrounding region. For example:

https://www.visitberwickshirecoast.co.uk/

 The keylock box

The keylock box is in the workshop, on the left-hand wall as you walk in. The code will have been made available to you by Holiday Cottages. Please always set it to 0000 whenever you use the keylock box.

There is a light in the workshop. The switch is on the same wall as the keylock box.

Plastic

We are trying (in difficult times) to limit plastic usage. So, the hand soap dispensers, the Duo Max spray cleaners, and hand sanitizer bottles are all refillable. Please don't throw them away. Hand soap refill packs should be in the kitchen (under the sink) and in the upstairs bathroom cabinet. We will try to keep the Duo Max and hand sanitizers topped up.

The blue paper roll is recycled paper (though not, itself, recyclable).

AV equipment (TV and stereo) and broadband

Our aim was to avoid having broadcast TV (it’s a hideaway!) but we have relented, so there is TV, dvd and VHS videos, and various ways of playing music.

TV

Use the ‘source’ button on the white Samsung remote control to switch between broadcast TV, and the other components. HDMI1/DV1 is the DVD. AV VCR is the VHS VCR. Sound is through the TV (with remote control of volume). ITV and Channel4 reception is notoriously flaky here. The best option for these is to use the ITV hub to watch live or on catch-up, or All4 to watch on catch-up. To access these online channels use the funny shaped multi-coloured (yellow, blue, and green) button in the middle of the Samsung remote. Sometimes the HD versions of the channels work on 101-105.

AV equipment

The amp is the bottom component of the ‘separates’ and needs to be on to play CDs, records or an auxiliary device (like an ipod). Use the following selections:

·         CD = CD player

·         Tuner = ipod or some-such plugged into grey cable with black mini headphone jack

·         Phono = record player

·         NB Tape monitor overrides everything else so check it is not ‘on’ if other things don’t work

·         Make sure Speakers A are on

There are CDs, VHS videos and DVDs (some near the TV, some in the green and yellow downstairs cabinets, downstairs).

Record Player

We hope you enjoy playing records here. There are some decent albums (but rather too much Uriah Heap which came from who knows where….) and they used to be in alphabetical order by artist name. Needless to say, please handle with care! There’s a brush for dusting the albums before playing them. There is no auto queue - so records have to be manually queued using the lever at the back right of the arm. There is also no auto-off, so if left on the record will keep spinning and the arm won’t raise - so please try to remember to switch it off when a side ends. The on-off button is the black rocker switch on the front left of the player. Make sure the ‘phono selector’ switch on the amp is out otherwise records are muffled.

Make sure Speakers A are on (button on amp pushed in) otherwise no sound will come from the speakers. If no sound, check ‘tape monitor’ is not on.

·         The DVD player can take a LONG time to switch on!

·         There is no remote control for the Toshiba VHS player.

·         If the DVD player says ‘HDD’ (hard disk drive) go to ‘function’ -> ‘drive select’ -> ‘DVD’ to enable the playing of DVDs (on the longer silver Panasonic remote to the right of the wheel).

Broadband wireless internet

Even the remotest hideaway needs internet access. Our wireless internet access name and password is available to you in the house. The router is in the locked under-stairs cupboard in the dining room. Occasionally, like any wireless, the signal drops out mysteriously and then comes back on after a few minutes. If it stays off you could try switching it off at the mains for a minute and then switching it back on again. The mains plug is at floor level in the back right-hand corner of the dining room, just beyond the door to the under-stairs cupboard. It is the plug with the black cable leading through the bottom of the wall.

If for some reason the Broadband router resets to its default state, you can look in the physical copy of this booklet to find out its name and password.

Guests are reminded that illegal file-sharing is not permitted at this property and any violations will be the sole responsibility of the occupant. There is a TV licence for the property so you may answer ‘yes’ when prompted by iplayer and such like.

We try to keep a stock of new and semi-used batteries for remote controls in the right-hand drawer of the green cabinet in the dining room.

The shared garden and workshop

The garden and workshop are shared with our neighbour. They and their family have access across the garden, and we share usage of the workshop, the washing machine and drier, and the washing line for drying clothes. Do go ahead and use these when you need to – no need to check in advance. If you wish to sit in the garden or have a barbecue, and there are clothes drying which are not yours, then it is not a problem to take them down carefully and leave them in the workshop or somewhere sensible.

The timer on the tumble drier works, but you have to work out where ‘zero’ is on the dial before setting it, as it seems to ‘slip’.

The gate to the right of The Hideaway (as you look from the road) is our neighbour’s private gate, so please do not go through there.

Showers

Both of the showers are power showers and won’t work unless the isolation switch is on. The upstairs shower is switched on with the pull cord just inside the main bedroom; the downstairs one is switched on with the rocker switch which is high up in the bathroom, next to the light pull.

Open fire

The house heating is good, but there’s nothing like an open fire. The co-op sells logs and coal. There’s a fireguard and needless to say please take care, always use the fireguard, never leave it unattended etc……

Electrics

The fuse board is above the front door, to the left of it as you look from the stairs. Should anything ‘trip’ then the answer should be found up there. There are various useful things are in the green dining room cabinet drawer.

Dishwasher and oven

The dishwasher in the kitchen is mostly self-explanatory. The best cycle is the ‘eco’ one. Sometimes it appears not to want to start. If this happens, switch it off, wait a few moments, turn it to eco and wait a few more seconds before pushing the ‘start’ button. The cooker is all gas - hob and oven.

Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers

There are four smoke detectors. False alarms can be silenced by pressing the big central button on them. The key to night-time safety in this house is making sure that all the downstairs doors are closed at night. All the windows of this house are higher than ground level and there is only one door from which to exit, so closing the downstairs doors ensures that this exit remains accessible.

If a smoke detector starts ‘chirupping’ it can be unscrewed from the housing on the ceiling and it should stop. The essential ones are in the hallway and the landing on the first floor, so if necessary one of the alarms from the two small bedrooms can be moved into the hallway/landing. Please let Holiday Cottages (01237 459910) know if there are any problems with smoke detectors.

There are two fire extinguishers. One in the kitchen, and one at the top of the stairs. There is a fire blanket in the kitchen also and a carbon monoxide detector in the hall.

 High chair and travel cot

There is a travel cot in the master bedroom, in one of the cupboards, and there is a high chair in the workshop.

 Water and Heating

The heating and the hot water are controlled by The HIVE thermostat in the hall. The old fashioned thermostat on the wall opposite has no effect on anything! There should be instructions at the back of this booklet. Set it however you want it for max comfort! We will set up a default ‘schedule’ but feel free to edit that to whatever works best for you. Boost functions for CH and HW are controlled by two rather difficult to see buttons on the top of the thermostat.

PDF guides and various instructions are available at: www.hivehome.com/user-guides

The radiator in the lounge is very powerful and sometimes needs separate adjustment to get the balance of heating right.

The water tank is not the biggest and we find that about three good showers in the morning exhaust it. It doesn’t take too long to heat up again though.

Windows

The downstairs windows at the front of the house (in the lounge and dining room) are one storey above ground level, so please be careful when they are open. Both top and bottom panes of the window should not be opened at the same time (since one acts as the frame for the other). It’s advisable to open them only as far as the limiting device in the left-hand side of the frame will allow, but this can be overridden. If there are children in the house we would recommend using the upper portion of the window for ventilation, keeping the lower pane shut.

The front windows may get cleaned while you are staying. We do not have curtains on the downstairs windows because we are not overlooked, and we hope you enjoy the darkness of the harbour and the sight of the harbour lights and the ships’ lights as they pass on the horizon, or come and go from the harbour.

Snooker table

You are welcome to use the tabletop snooker table. Be warned, however, that it is VERY heavy (proper slate base) and needs two people to lift it. Please make sure you replace it behind the sofa - it’s much too heavy for our cleaner to lift on their own. (NB Table tennis works well on the dining room table - look in the drawers for the net etc. Bonus points for wall and ceiling shots.)

Bins and recycling

The bins for the house are located just outside the back gate. They are collected from there and returned there, so there is no need to worry about what day they get collected.

Recycling: Blue lidded bin, Wednesday collection

Household waste: Green lidded bin, Thursday collection

Sometimes after a collection one of the bins goes missing up or down the road. If one is missing when you need it just have a look around - it may be just up the road (towards the church). They have 45a written on them. Please let Holiday Cottages know if one of the bins really goes missing.

The blue-lidded bin is for recycling. The things recycled surprisingly include tetra-packs and plastic bags. The green-lidded bin is (confusingly) for general waste. As with most local authorities, each bin is collected every other week, so there is occasionally a capacity problem getting very full towards the end of the second week – so we’d ask you to try to use the recycling bin for all recyclables (even tetra-pack cartons) for obvious environmental reasons, but also to preserve green-lidded bin capacity.

There is glass recycling in the leisure centre car park outside the Dolphin hotel.

Parking

You will have seen that there may or may not be parking directly outside the house (on the opposite side of the road to the back gate). We tend to try to park there to load and unload the car, and then use the parking spaces 100 yards further up Paxton Terrace - the ones which face the bay, outside the church. There are no restrictions there, it’s flat, and there is a lovely view! The only place to avoid parking there is the first space on the right after the houses finish (parallel with the bay) because that space is needed for cars to get around the very tight bend from Upper Houndlaw, and for the bin lorries to turn.

Dogs

We’re not dog owners ourselves, but up to two dogs are very welcome to stay in The Hideaway. We would really appreciate it if they were kept downstairs, and off the furniture. We are slightly allergic to them, and so keeping dog hairs downstairs on the wooden flooring, rather than on the furniture or the carpets upstairs, would be very helpful to us. There should be a ‘throw’ available if it is difficult to keep them off the downstairs sofas.

There is a blue dog bowl usually kept in the coat cupboard in the downstairs bathroom.

Important safety information

Please make sure that all downstairs doors are closed at night, in case of fire.

Please always use the fireguard if you have lit a fire and do not go out and leave it unattended.

The workshop has some tools (including an axe and some power tools) and various noxious substances like white spirit in it. There is also a lot of wood stored, some of it with nails in. Please take care, and children should be accompanied in the workshop. The door can be bolted if necessary to ensure young children cannot access it.

The gate between the garden and the road leads directly onto the road. It is not a busy road, but it is narrow and cars pass in both directions immediately outside the gate. Please take care when exiting and make sure that children are aware of the risks.

Please be careful in opening the windows in the dining room and lounge.

We would advise not locking the outside porch door when you are in the house, as this is the exit route. The fire service recommended that we lock the inner door at night and keep the key in the lock, half turned, so that exit is quick and easy if necessary.

Health care contacts

Eyemouth medical practice, Houndlaw Park, Eyemouth, TD14 5DD

Phone: 018907 50383;  NHS24: 111

Berwick Infirmary, Infirmary Square, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1LT

Phone: 0344 811 8111

https://www.northumbria.nhs.uk/our-locations/berwick-infirmary

A & E is dealt with at the ‘Minor injuries unit’: Berwick Infirmary - Phone: 0344 811 8111

Dentist

The Eyemouth Dental Practice, Old Telephone Exchange, Upper Houndlaw, Eyemouth, TD14 5BU - Phone: 018907 50519

Vets

Galedin Veterinary, 1b Manse Road, Eyemouth, TD14 5JE - Phone: 01361 883266 (For emergencies outside working hours: 0700 0785333)

(details checked Mar 2020)

Garden

If there are things like strawberries growing please just help yourself. And if you fancy watering them then please do (there should be a watering can in the workshop). There are herbs in the garden also.

There are outside chairs and a table for sitting outside. There are some wooden and director’s chairs in the workshop also.

If it’s really sunny you could try the sail we have instead of a parasol. It’s in the downstairs bathroom cupboard, with instructions. It’s not straightforward to put up, but it can be quite fun. We’d appreciate it if you’d take it down at the end of your stay.

When you leave: Keys

Please put the keys in the keylock box, in the workshop when you leave. Please leave the wheels on the box on 0000.

There is a light in the workshop, on the same wall as the keylock box.

Please double check that the big velux windows on the upstairs landing (x2) and in the bathroom, and lighthouse bedroom, are closed. We have had a flooding disaster with these, hence the slightly mismatched flooring at the top of the stairs…

And please remember, if you have used the snooker table, to make sure it is replaced behind the sofa as our cleaner cannot move it on their own.

(ps if there are any plants in the house, could you please water them? Thank you!)

Visitors’ book

We do hope that you have an enjoyable time in The Hideaway. We didn’t buy it in order to let it. We bought it in order to live in it. But, life courses changed and now we just want to share it with as many people as possible while we can’t be here, until we can be here more permanently again, perhaps when we retire. We have had to clear out a lot of ‘stuff’ in order to make it easier to clean in these complex days, but we do hope that it will still feel like a ‘home from home’. Do please write something in the visitors’ book. We treasure the comments that have been made over the years.

If there is something that you think we could improve, please let Holiday Cottages know.