Echuca Gardens

We booked the 3 bedroom cabin for an overnight stay, We were quite shocked at how the state of overall cleanliness of the accommadation. We acknowledge that the benches, floors, toilets were clean but thats about it. The bedding that was on the beds were clearly not clean, the pillow slips had holes and there was a package on each bed with sheets. The instructions were that we were not allowed to ***** the bedding but to place a bottom and top sheet on the old sheets. Cleary these bottom sheets had not been changed, they were visibly dirty, smelt musky and had dust on them. There was visible dust on the walls, curtains, flooring and on most surfaces. There was bare wires, light switches that had wires poking out, the lamp was broken and had a light globe dangling. We had severe concerns regarding our young children and their safety. The heating was insufficient, there was large heater in the dinning room which heated that area well but barely touched the bedrooms. The bedrooms had small bar heating that turned on and off every 15 minutes, the noise of this function was quite noisy during the night. There was abosuletly no heating in the bathrooms, the windows were half open and could not be closed. This was extremely cold on a minus 2 degree night that showering was almost impossible due to the freezing temperature. Some of the cooking utensils were dirty and appalling. The thought of the cottage was meant to be charming, however, this cottage needs a thorough clean and thoughts on adding heating to bathrooms. I highly doubt due to the level of dust and grim that any COVID cleaning was done prior to our arrival. We arrived late aftrrnoon and was gone early the next morning, so unfortunately we had minimal encounters with the host, but the small interaction on check in they were very friendly and very welcoming.

This is not a bad place to stay however we probably would have been able to get more comfortable accommodation elsewhere. We arrived in the evening and was greeted quite nicely by the gentleman who then showed us our cabin we stayed in the gypsy cabin. It was quite unique and small however we did expect that. The furnishings such as curtains bedspreads etc weren’t up to par and were quite old and dusty. The kitchen had everything you would need but again outdated and old. Other than a microwave there is no ability to cook in the kitchen. The dining table takes up a bit of room however the couch to sit on to use the dining table is not sufficient for anyone with a big butt! In my opinion they should get rid of the dining table and build in couch and replace those with a normal couch and sidetable potentially. The bedspread had an iron burn on it which is easily replaced even from Kmart is less than $50! It did look presentable however the bed was rather hard and the pillows were very old and used. Again these things can be replaced quite cheaply but it looks as though they haven’t bothered much with decor at the property. The bathroom is sufficient and had a toilet a sink and a small shower. The gardens were not up kept unfortunately which let the place down because the photos show beautiful gardens. The area where the cabins are is quite pretty and lit by fairy lights. All of the grass is fake however but it still looks nice. The gardens were a disappoin**ent, the most important thing about staying anywhere for any reason is the sleeping arrangements and unfortunately the bed in the cabin did not succeed in comfort in anyway. It is only a double bed so we were quite cramped and being tall it was hard to get comfortable even on a hard bed With over used pillows! A bit of a disappoin**ent unfortunately if we were going for a couples retreat we wouldn’t come here again. However it is suitable for an overnight stay if you want basic accommodation.

This place seems to want your money but do not really want you to come and stay. They keep making up new rules as they go along and are taking undue advantage of the Melbourne and Victorian lockdowns. Even looking at other reviews here, it would seem that this is the case. We booked for the weekend of 13/14 August 2021 but Melbourne and then later regional Victoria went into various lockdowns. Unluckily, we booked direct with their website and not through *********** or any of the others. We had to put a deposit of one night's stay AUD 165.00 for two of us and our dogs. On 31 October, our various lock downs were lifted but in the meantime I had been diagnosed with a severe heart condition that required surgery. Kym, the host, very kindly agreed to extend the time that we could use this "deposit" till 23 December 2021. But this is where his magnanimity ended! He then started saying that you must have a two night stay if you want to use the deposit, which was for one night. If you want to use it between 24 December and 31 December, you must stay for a minimum of four nights or three nights or some such. If you want to use it in "peak" period in 2022, you must stay for a minimum of three or four nights. We tried explaining to Kym, our side of what was happening but he refused to understand - supposed to be a teacher - and did not wish to return this so called "deposit". *********** and the other sites do not have any minimum stay conditions for this place....so Kym was just making this up as he went along! Truly disappointed but Kym seem to want money without really putting himself out!