The Last Straw Cottage - The Last Straw Cottage Mount Heslington Road

Amazing place. Recommend to anyone to stay just stunning

I cant speak more highly of The Last Straw Cottage. It surpassed all expectations, which were very high, given the beautiful images and description of the BnB. The tasteful decor, luxury linens, beautiful country gardens, log fire ready to strike a match to. The attention to every little detail, create an entirely treat experience for guests. I was surprised and delighted by the generosity of the hosts - from home baking, chocolates, to sumptuous breakfast options - well above the hum drum of usual BnB fare. Sincere thanks for a memorable stay. What a gift to those who discover your wonderful cottage. Debra Lee

Unfortunately I have to give the last straw cottage less than 5 stars due to the service of the owners. We had 30min left before checkout when the woman who runs it let herself in and sat down at the kitchen table while we were in the lounge having our coffee, she also blindsided us by last minute upping the price, obviously this made us all feel uncomfortable and we packed up and left straight away. The cottage itself is beautiful but the strange behavior of the owner makes me not likely to recommend the last straw cottage.

My family had a wonderful stay! It is a beautiful house with a cozy feel allowing you to make yourself feel right at home! The perfect place to relax in after a busy day boating around Abel Tasman. There is a small garden we took advantage of and made a great salad for dinner. Wish we could have stayed longer!

I’d just like to clarify for anyone who has been recommended this accomodation, it USED to be amazing BUT is now under new management and is the most appallingly unprofessional, disgusting place that anyone could have the misfortune of staying in. We booked this as a place to get ready before our wedding and the lady who manages it now was nearly an hour late to let us in. The next day she had a complete meltdown when the hair and make-up artists and photographer arrived as she viewed them to be “extra guests” and then tried to kick us out half way through getting ready. Even if she had been polite, there was someone working on power tools the whole morning in the shed right next door and it really wasn’t a nice experience. We were so disappointed.

Exquisite! The Last Straw Cottage was absolutely perfect for a quick trip away. Every last detail had been thought of from the homemade muffins on our arrival (much to the delight of our teenager!), to the hand-drawn map of the local area with places of interest marked in (coffee, bakery, bike trails), and local produce from surrounding farmlets (eggs, whole milk, lemons). Everything was spotlessly clean and tidy, the bedrooms comfy and quiet, the living spaces relaxing and cosy. There was even a shed we were able to keep our bikes in, as we were riding at Wairoa Gorge. This must be the closest accomodation to be found! The hosts were very friendly, accommodated our needs and went out of their way to ensure that our stay was enjoyable. Their local knowledge was invaluable and nothing was too much trouble. A highlight for our son was being invited to hand feed the cows and seeing baby rabbits, ducklings and quail out the window! We can’t wait to come back to the Last Straw Cottage for another visit... it definitely made for the easiest holiday we’ve ever had. Thank you.

Our stay at the Last Straw Cottage was the most peaceful, relaxing and enjoyable stay ever. The cottage is immaculately clean; the beds & bedding luxurious; there were lots of yummy breakfast provisions and treats and the hosts were over the top friendly and helpful during our stay. We highly recommend you stay here when visiting the Abel Tasman/Nelson area. Our only regret is we didn’t stay long enough.

The house itself is lovely and it’s a nice area to stay in, however my friends and I were a bit disappointed and uncomfortable with the hosts. Overall we found them invasive and slightly rude. To begin with, the woman lets herself in while a few of our friends had arrived before us without knocking and brought over an ornament she had taken out of the house which was a bit off. Secondly, they had both come over to greet myself and two others who had arrived late and began telling us what we could and could not do. One of the things we could do was take a walk through the paddocks but use the gates and not to touch the fence. 5 minutes later one of us was actually yelled at by the man who owns this place saying “oi, come down here and talk to me now” and yelled this so loudly it sounded like an angry father screaming at his 5 year old child, completely inappropriate to speak to a person this way and especially since we were just told we were allowed to do this. Thirdly we had mentioned we would be out all day for a festival so they knew we wouldn’t be in the house. We came home that night to find our door unlocked, and they had attempted to tidy up our things but had touched many of our personal belongings which was highly inappropriate and unacceptable and this made us feel very uncomfortable. Fourthly, they had told us upon arrival that if we wished to stay longer and have a late check out we were more than welcome but on the day of our departure early in the morning I received a text message from the woman reminding us we needed to “promptly leave the property by 10am” which we all found a bit rude as we were told we could take our time? And lastly, this text message also included instructions on how to clean up the whole house rubbish etc when we were told well before our check in we must pay an extra fee for cleaning which would result in us not having to do this all ourselves. This stay felt uncomfortable and hosts were highly unprofessional and all 7 of us were not feeling at ease during this stay, we certainly didn’t appreciate our personal belongings being touched by them as this is obviously highly inappropriate and we won’t be staying here again nor will we recommend this place. EDIT In response to the owners: 1. No one was upset over paying extra money for extra guests hence why we mentioned it before hand. 2. This is a formal review for future potential guests as that is what google reviews are used for. 3. We arrived at 2:45pm, 15 minutes early. 4. They mentioned a cancellation to us in person. 5. The problem we had with this man was not his "loud voice" but the words that came out of his mouth towards another human being. 6. Air bnbs should have minimal disruptions but many of our personal belongings were touched and moved without our consent. This is disrespectful and unprofessional. 7. "Large amount of glass bottles" there were 7 adults staying for two nights, we obviously had beverages with us including energy drinks, bottled water, orange juice, coconut water etc, none of us see the relevance in this being an issue when we would clean this type of thing up ourselves before check out before we are adults 8. The hosts have not acknowledged our review in relation to us feeling uncomfortable and disrespected about all of the points noted in the review and we are feeling more uncomfortable that this has been the entire experience. At least the hosts did not come in and make themselves cup of coffee during our stay, we would have packed our belongings and left immediately!