To give you a bit of background to our little Norfolk venture, the property has been in the family since 2003 originally owned by my Sister Helen who made huge alterations to the property to bring it in to this century. We bought 3 Storeys Loke in August 2007 as we couldn’t bear to lose our Holiday home. The cottage has been christened Daisy cottage after our eldest Daughter Daisy who will be 10 this year (2009), both of our girls (Daisy & Tabitha) just love it here & prefer it to holidays abroad.

We have attempted to create our Holiday Home with our Eco footprint in mind; all the paints used are eco-friendly, all of our kitchen electrical goods are A rated, all of our cleaning products are eco-friendly, we have salvaged wood or wool carpet flooring, where possible all wooden furniture is from sustainable sources, the leather sofas were hand made here in the UK & all of the packaging from our Ikea trip has been recycled. Going forward all profits from this venture will be re-invested back in to the property & future projects will include solar or wind produced power provision & possibly a mini worm farm for the kitchen waste. (Mmmmm, the jury is out on this one, children love the idea, adults are fairly revolted by it!).

You should find everything you need at Daisy Cottage to make your stay a comfortable one but if we have missed something then please let us know & we will arrange to put things right for you.

You will find that we operate on a basis where we have provided the basics, i.e. Soap in the Bathroom, Cleaning Products, condiments, Flour etc but you will also find in the Kitchen a Cupboard with tins in, this is a ‘use & replace’ (or leave the equivalent money in the Lighthouse Honesty Box in the Bathroom) operation. We know what it’s like arriving to empty cupboards, going shopping, buying a load of stuff & then having to take half of it home with you so we hope that this may help you in your stay here.

In addition, you will find an ‘Emergency Tin’ for plasters, headache tablets etc and cheap new toothbrush’s for those of you like us who annually forget to pack them (again the honesty box system applies for the toothbrush’s).

In the shed you will find beach related essentials eg wind breaker & mallet, shopping bag on wheels, buckets, spades, crabbing net & bucket etc

Outside you will find a Gas Barbeque, please ensure that you clean it after use, before your departure, ready for our next guests.

In the bathroom you will find lots of Forever Living Products sample sachets, these are absolutely free to use, I am an independent Distributor for Forever & wholeheartedly recommend all of their products, (all ingredients are organically sourced) particularly if you have sensitive skin or scalp or skin conditions such as Eczema & Psoriasis.

The heating system here at Storeys Loke is electric Storage Heaters & depending upon the time of year they may be switched off at the wall, if you are not familiar with Storage Heaters they take in energy during the night to then provide the heating the following day, be warned it can get very hot if you put them on max!

Similarly the water heater may be switched off, the switch can be found in the Airing Cupboard & the timer will already be set for am & pm, should you need to boost it during the day you can (just by flicking the switch on the right hand side of the timer box to the opposite direction).

The Washing Machine is on an Economy 7 timer which can be easily overridden for convenience. On the right hand side of the timer you will see a switch that has 3 positions the top position (I) means that the power is on & you can use it, the center position is off & the bottom position is for the timer to take effect.

We try to recycle our plastic shopping bags here & use them as bin liners for the household waste. You can find a supply of used bags in the pink & white gingham bag hanging up under the stairs. You will also find here some stronger re-usable shopping bags for when you do want to go shopping.

You will see we have what is called a ceramic hob, this needs only a gentle clean with plain old water, please do not spray any cleaning products on it as it can damage the surface. On the subject of the cooker I found the top oven / grill slightly confusing, rather than to attempt to explain it I’d like to refer you to the user instructions instead.

The Dryer can be found in the Shed (Key hanging on the blackboard in the kitchen), as we are still awaiting our Electrician to organise electrics in the shed it’s a case of using the extension lead through the Kitchen window, please read the Dryer User Instructions, which you will find in the Appliance Information file.

The TV is digital so if you’re only getting terrestrial TV you need to press the DVT button on the remote, any problems check the Arial connection to the TV, again the information is in the Appliance Information file should you require further help.

Please feel free to watch the videos & DVDs, play any of the games or read any of the books.

If you have a Baby or Toddler you will find the High Chair under the stairs, the Travel Cot behind the Door in the second bedroom, bed linen & towels in the airing cupboard & sterilizer & toys under the Bunk Bed.
You will find under the Kitchen sink some disposable anti-bacterial wipes to clean down the toys after use (or before if you’re anything like me!) If you are going through ‘potty training’ we have provided a potty & a child’s toilet seat in the square basket in the Bathroom. A Disposable waterproof bed mat will be provided for each single bed, for this reason the bottom sheets will not have been fitted on the beds in the second bedroom so that you can make your own decision whether to use them or not. A rubber backed mattress cover can be found in the Airing Cupboard should you prefer it.

Extra pillows, duvets & blankets can be found in the Wardrobe (top cupboard) in the main bedroom in the canvas bags.

The Iron is under the sink & the Ironing Board is under the stairs (it’s a small one you put on top of the table).

If the kids want to get crafty & arty you will find a plastic coated tablecloth on the game shelves, we would be grateful if you could cover the tables before your little Van Goghs make a start. All other table linen can be found in the airing cupboard. The table in the lounge will extend to seat 8 should you need it.

The bins are emptied alternatively on a Friday morning; they are exceptionally picky here & will refuse to empty the bins if it’s not sorted correctly. The black bin is for household waste, BEWARE this does not include glass! The Green bin is for tin cans, plastic bottles & card/paper. To help with our local recycling policy we have provided a recycling bin in the Kitchen. Please note the following:

Red Bin – Glass only (please wash first)
Yellow – Card, paper ,tins & plastic bottles (please wash first)
Green – Household waste (to be transferred to the large black bin outside when full)
Our housekeeper will then ensure your waste is disposed of appropriately (as all glass needs to be taken to the bottle banks outside the village hall).

Under the stairs you will also find a few things that could help with your trips to the beach, you will find; a windbreaker & rubber mallet, a cool bag (frozen blocks are in the freezer), a black Ikea trolley bag with wheels & a bucket & spade.

If you have brought along your ipod then please feel free to use the ipod speaker system in the kitchen, to get it to work place your ipod in the connection cradle, press the power button first & then the ipod radio aux button.

We have left behind some woolly hats, scarves & gloves in a box in the wardrobe just in case you get caught short with a spot of chilly weather, please feel free to use them & when used leave them in the washing machine for the Housekeeper to sort out.

We would be very grateful if you could take 2 minutes to water the potted plants (inside & out) if they are looking thirsty.

Hopefully this has just about covered it, it goes without saying that caution needs to be taken if you are using candles, log burner, storage heaters or the bedroom heaters (i.e. Not putting anything flammable too close or on top etc). Whilst on this subject you will notice that we have hard wired smoke alarms fitted & have a Fire Extinguisher fitted near the Dishwasher, it is always advisable to familiarise yourself with the extinguisher instructions in case of an emergency.

We sincerely hope that you enjoy your stay at Daisy Cottage & would appreciate it if you would complete our small Feedback Form at the end of your visit, this will help us to make any improvement if required & to check the quality of our Housekeeping staff. Please feel free to complete the Guest book, children are more than welcome to comment on their stay also.

If you do have any problems at all during your stay then please call us direct immediately, you will find our contact information in the Emergency Number section.

Kind regards
Leigh Armstrong