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The Victory

The Victory

4.1
out of 5
Ratings from 7 reviews
71% of guests
recommend
Cleanliness
4.1
Comfort
4.3
Condition
3.7
Location
5.0
Value
3.3
Customer
Service
4.4

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Formerly a fisherman's pub on Kingsdown beach, The Victory is a beautiful coastal retreat sleeping 8-10 comfortably. The house has a nordic theme throughout with wood panelling and painted floorboards. It is also very pet friendly and has a private enclosed garden making it perfect for family holidays in Kent by the sea.

Best birthday weekend destination

Review submitted on Wed, 22 May 2024
4.8
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
5.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
5.0
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
5.0
We had a lovely stay at the Victory. Gorgeous house in a perfect location. Great for kids as well as adults. Very sweet and accommodating booking agents.

Lisa from stayed at The Victory for 4 nights in May 2024


Great location but doesn’t live up to expectations

Review submitted on Thu, 11 Jan 2024
3.5
out of 5
Guest doesn't recommend this property
Cleanliness
4.0
Comfort
3.0
Condition
3.0
Location
5.0
Value
2.0
Customer
Service
4.0
2 families of 4 plus two small dogs stayed.

The Victory is a quirky property, full of character in a fantastic location right on the beach in Kingsdown. We stayed over New Year when the weather was rubbish so spent a lot of time in the property - maybe my review would differ slightly if just used as a place to sleep in the summer when outdoors more.

Positives:
The property itself on first impression once inside has lots of character and the bedrooms are very comfortable and spacious.

The kitchen/dining area is great for socialising - we celebrated new year with games/karaoke and it was perfect.

The log burner was lovely and we appreciated that plenty of logs were left for us (shame there was no kindling to get it started.- We had to borrow some from the pub next door, which was great by the way!)

Upstairs snug had great views of the sea (through the scaffolding (see below)

Negatives:

We arrived to the house to find it covered is scaffolding so not a great start. It was obviously there for a reason but might have been nice to have been pre-warned about this when we were expecting to turn up to a beautiful beachfront house.

the lounge (an extension of the kitchen/diner) is not big enough for 8 people to relax together. Being the winter we wanted to get cosy and watch a film together - we had to move chairs and to say it was a little cramped is an understatement.

The kitchen is extremely under-equipped if you want to self-cater. Not enough cookware to prepare a meal for 8 people (we had to go and buy our own roasting trays) and some of the utensils could do with replacing. Again, it depends what you want from your holiday - if you’re eating out all the time, a slice of toast and a cuppa would be fine.

The garden is a courtyard, which would have been fine except it was a mess from whatever building work was going on. I even paving, broken furniture, builders tools, so felt unsafe for the children and dogs.

Overall, we enjoyed our time at The Victory, however, we have stayed in much better properties at the same time of year for less cost - you are paying for the location and view, not luxury.

Emma from Upminster stayed at The Victory for 3 nights in December 2023


Great beach front location

Review submitted on Mon, 22 May 2023
5.0
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
5.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
5.0
Value
5.0
Customer
Service
5.0
Lovely property right on the beach. Beautifully decorated. Well equipped. Added bonus of record player and great LP collection

Jonathan from Tunbridge Wells stayed at The Victory for 8 nights in April 2023


A week’s Easter holiday with the kids

Review submitted on Wed, 12 Apr 2023
3.3
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
4.0
Comfort
4.0
Condition
2.0
Location
5.0
Value
2.0
Customer
Service
3.0
We love Kingsdown and we return every year for one or two holidays. We’ve loved the place since we visited our grandparents here when were children. The Victory is a super property right on the beach and next to a favourite pub right on the beach, The Zetland. This can be a drawback however as it does sit on one of the narrow, dusty lanes by the pub car park which is usually jam packed over the holiday season so it got rather noisy during the day at Easter weekend with cars driving up and down looking for parking spots. That said, we weren’t in the house, we were out on the beach which is lovely, clean, huge and pebbly (wear trainers or beach shoes in summer) and the kids and our dog loved being able to run in and out of the house - provided they took care crossing the road and pub car park. We also loved the Victory itself - the interior design is right up our street. It’s stunning and quirky and a proper beach house but really cosy too. Well insulated, great lighting, great heating - although that was where our first problem came.We couldn’t get the thermostat to behave itself with the heat during the day and it turned itself on full Blast in the middle of the night…there was no need to use the sauna! The hot water was luke warm all the time and the pressure was dreadful. We let Keepers cottages know and they offered to send someone over but we opted not to be disturbed as we were in and out of the house, staying a limited time and we could manage with it being warm for the duration. To our surprise they sent workmen anyway who let themselves in while we were out and were walking all over the house when we returned with friends and children for tea. No one asked permission and it was quite disconcerting as the dog was home too, as well as all our private and personal belongings lying around. I have no doubt they are really trustworthy and lovely people but it was a bit weird to go ahead and do it anyway. Unfortunately whatever they did made little difference. The water pressure got better but the temperature remained ‘warm’ and took ages to reach the upstairs bathroom. The shower head in the downstairs bathroom was clogged, the shower curtain (ew) needed a wash with dirty grouting between the floor tiles and stained paintwork around the door frame. The mixer tap and in the upstairs bathroom was also broken which meant we couldn’t use the shower head. It was then we started to realise that although the property is lovely for many reasons, it really is rather tired. Other happenings during our stay - the microwave burst in to flames, the washing machine door handle was broken clean off when we opened the cupboard to use it and it kept making very sad, whirring, unusual noises when we tried to use it. The bed in the master bedroom collapsed - I promise we were literally just sitting on it reading! We managed to cobble it back together for the last night. Handles had fallen off a chest of drawers, paint was starting to peel off some Walls and there were dents and damaged plasterwork in others. In the kitchen, the pots and pans had seen better days, the dishwasher needed rinse aid and salt, the plastic chopping boards were dirty and needed replacing, kitchen knives needed sharpening. All basic wear and tear over years of other people’s use which needs to be addressed and wouldn’t take much at all to improve. Given this rental comes at a premium we would have expected things to be in better condition. I also think this rental system seems a bit broken. While Keepers cottages are very efficient at being a sort of human air bnb they don’t seem to take responsibility for inventory or fixing stuff. First, we would have expected them to inspect the property regularly and note all these niggles for fixing before marketing the house on their site. Instead, when we reported issues - concerned we might be charged for breakage- the standard response was ‘we’ll let the owner know’. I’m keen to understand who then logs all of this and ensures it gets done before the next rental. That microwave was really dangerous! All of that said I would definitely stay here again next Easter provided the property gets a wee refresh and update which really wouldn’t require much time / investment at all. Just being fully transparent but all in all we would stay another week and recommend it.

Natasha from stayed at The Victory for 7 nights in April 2023


A wonderful family break

Review submitted on Sat, 03 Sep 2022
5.0
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
5.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
5.0
Value
5.0
Customer
Service
5.0
This is our 2nd time staying in Kingsdown with Keepers Cottages, first time at The Victory. It didn’t disappoint! We were 6 adults, 3 small children and 2 infants. I was worried it may feel too cramped for us all but it was perfect due to the layout, location and excellent amenities at the property. Beach at your doorstep and next door to the lovely pub, we all enjoyed walks, a big bbq as a family in the backyard and generally fell in love with the property! The toys were very well received and everyone raved about the comfy beds. Another great find is the Oxtail butcher, 5 mins walk - they had everything we needed for our bbq, brilliant produce, we didn’t need to go further than there! Thank you so much Keepers Cottages and we will be back!!

Sinead from London stayed at The Victory for 3 nights in August 2022


Nowhere near what we were expecting.

Review submitted on Mon, 04 Jul 2022
2.8
out of 5
Guest doesn't recommend this property
Cleanliness
2.0
Comfort
3.0
Condition
2.0
Location
5.0
Value
1.0
Customer
Service
4.0
Before starting my property review I want to state that none of this is a reflection on Keepers Cottages who endeavoured to help but were not backed up by the owner. I also acknowledge that my review is on outlier against others here and elsewhere but I photo documented everything, and have sent the photos to the owner.

We found the property to be both poorly cleaned and poorly maintained.

Our welcome was a broken front gate (which was like this when we were in the area in March), leading to a property in which there was a used tissue in the living room, used make up wipes in the downstairs bedroom along with a part empty can of beer under the bed. The shower curtain was mouldy, the casing of TV remote was melted, the washing machine door broken, there was soiled bed linen in the upper bedroom, dead plants, frayed furniture, a dirty pot in the kitchen cupboard, a leaking radiator, and a badly stained blind in small first floor bedroom.

Outside, the food bins had food in them and one was truly disgusting with rotting food and numerous flies. The cardboard bin was full to overflowing and the glass bin was half full of plastic and foil containers mixed in with bottles and glasses, which had obviously been taken from the Zetland Arms. Keepers Cottages arranged for their rubbish collection company to come and empty the bins - the owner doesn't provide this service so you're expected to wait until the council empty the bins.

The front terrace has four or five holes where paving is missing, which is potentially dangerous and the wooden furniture is falling apart – two of the seats should not be used. The back terrace is no better, being quite overgrown with weeds and again with furniture which is well past its best. It’s certainly not an inviting place to sit.

We were also surprised that there was no pack giving details of the house, the equipment, the local area, local restaurants etc. Nothing to make us feel in any way welcome.

The property has a 'shabby chic' design, which is absolutely fine but it shouldn't be at the expense of cleanliness, good maintenance and safety.

Over the years we have rented a number of properties in this price bracket - £2,770 for a week - (we have twice stayed elsewhere in Kingsdown) but have never had an experience like this one.

We complained directly to the owner and were offered an evening meal for two as a gesture of goodwill. We politely declined, although in reality we were insulted by the offer, which we felt was derisory for the experience we'd had.

Thanks to Keepers Cottages for your assistance over the week.

Alan from stayed at The Victory for 7 nights in June 2022


We will be back!

Review submitted on Sun, 15 Aug 2021
4.5
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
4.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
4.0
Location
5.0
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
5.0
Loved our stay at The Victory. House, location, morning swims couldn’t ask for more! Great Vinyl and art to boot.

Jeff from stayed at The Victory for 7 nights in August 2021