| Description | Rating | Posted By | Date |
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I stayed in Peter's lovely East London home for six weeks in early 2013. It's a fantastic flat, accurately described in the listing. Quiet and serene. Tastefully furnished, with a very well equipped kitchen and great books in abundance. It wasn't yet warm enough to properly use the beautiful balcony but I enjoyed looking down to the Hackney Marshes. The location is not exactly central but there are lots of buses connecting to tube/overground. Lovely Stoke Newington is 15-20 minutes walk away, and Chatsworth Road (10-15 minutes away) has many nice cafes and shops. Diverse neighbourhood. Peter is generous and helpful. Recommended.
| Excellent |
agroom
| 5/5/2013 2:06:00 AM |
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My wife, brother, sister and I stayed during July 2012, and although there were only 2 of us at any one time the apartment could readily have accommodated four. The apartment is very accurately described in the posting so I won't repeat that information except to say that it is indeed comfortable and commodious with all the resources needed for a pleasant stay, and exceptionally beautiful to live in. It was tempting to enjoy the atmosphere of the flat rather than plunge into the sights and excitement of Paris. The wifi was excellent and there is also a VOIP phone which can be used for free calls, but I never worked it out probably due to my limited French and we used our mobiles instead. We enjoyed the large screen TV, especially for live operas eg from Orange, and the Tour. You can turn on the French subtitles which helped us with French programs. It was fun to watch the 14 juillet telecast and then look out the window at the airforce fly by.
Peter and Beatrice were friendly, effective and helpful in regards to briefing and orienting in the flat and making payments, which is always a bit difficult especially as we were coming from outside the eurozone (Australia and USA). Our deposit was returned in a timely manner.
Security in the flat is excellent as you have to pass through 2 locked doors and then the front door has a very strong lock. The neighbourhood around Col. Fabien is very multicultural and alive, and of course close to Canal St Martin. You don't see tourists round here, we felt very safe the whole time though obviously one always keeps alert. The boulangerie downstairs on the corner opposite the Metro was very good, and there is another excellent one down Grange aux Belles towards the Canal. Not to mention Av. Secretan, well worth the short walk past the large Francprix supermarket on r de Meaux.
The local bus 46 was convenient for getting to and from the Gard du Nord and on to CDG airport. The 75 bus takes you to the Pont Neuf and I often walked across the Canal St Martin and took the 39 down to the Quartier Latin via many landmarks such as the Palais Garnier.
On the 6th floor you have to plan your trips, but we enjoyed our daily workouts. We would definitely come again and in fact hope to.
| Excellent |
Rob
| 8/31/2012 5:34:00 PM |
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My family (two adults, one small child) stayed in this incredibly charming flat for 10 days. Books and plants line the walls, and lovely vintage finds grace every room. It had everything we could have ever needed. The narrow plant-filled terrace even offers a view of the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The building is only a minute away from the Metro stop Colonel Fabien, and the Buttes Chaumont is a short walk away. There were also several supermarkets nearby, including one near the Metro stop.
The owners were accommodating and earnest, and our dealings were totally straightforward—our deposit was returned within a day or two of leaving the flat. I would not hesitate to recommend this flat to anyone.
| Excellent |
natasharg
| 6/14/2012 6:40:00 AM |
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I stayed in this lovely flat with my partner and our young son for four months in 2011. I can highly recommend it as an excellent place to stay - it's a short walk from the station, where frequent trains go to central London in less than 15 minutes. The flat is spacious and very well decorated; it is on a nice street, close to Springfield Park and the river; and there are a couple of great local pubs a short walk away (the Hope and Anchor, and the Sovereign). The owner of the flat was very pleasant to deal with, and always responded quickly to emails. He left the flat spotlessly clean for us and refunded our deposit promptly. All in all this is a great flat in a nice East London location, and very good value.
| Excellent |
Clare
| 3/31/2012 11:54:00 AM |
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Thank you Peter! I had a very comfortable stay, the apartment was both spacious and quiet, and had good access to the Metro. I felt very much at home there, and would definitely consider staying again. What a lovely place to come home to in the evenings. The nearby park and Canal St. Martin are also great places to stroll and eat!
| Excellent |
Nicole Michaud
| 8/15/2011 4:05:00 AM |
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We stayed in Peter and Beatrice's flat in Paris for two weeks in October 2010. It's a lovely apartment, very charming and cosy, and far more spacious than most Parisian flats in this price range. In fact, the price is very reasonable. We very much enjoyed our stay there.
| Excellent |
Anne Forsythe
| 11/21/2010 4:04:00 PM |
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I loved staying in this flat--the price was a bargain, the flat is lovely and spacious, and the washer-dryer in the kitchen is incredibly convenient. The owner was friendly, flexible, and easy to deal with. I really enjoyed spending time in the neighborhood and at the corner pub, and taking the 253 bus from Hackney Central to Euston Station for British Library research every day was incredibly convenient.
| Excellent |
carissa
| 9/24/2010 8:34:00 PM |
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The flat was all we had hoped for, and was accurately described in the listings. It was very spacious, light and bright and we felt immediately "at home". Its location so close to Colonel Fabien metro station, local Velolibre (bicycle hire), supermarket and market was convenient, and it was peaceful too. A very happy home from home.
| Excellent |
Jane Warren
| 8/24/2010 4:19:00 AM |
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On the Hackney Apartment---Overall, we had a very pleasant stay. The apartment is lovely, just as described in the ad, gets good light, is fully-equipped, etc. The neighborhood is great---Sainsbury's isn't too far and there's a large park a 2 minute walk away that is nice to run in and also has three tennis courts (play is free of charge). Transportation-wise the location is fine. There's no tube station nearby and the overground runs a bit infrequently for my tastes, but there are tons of buses. We got bus passes and went all around the city that way. It's about 45 minutes to the British Library via bus during rush hour.
My only problem with the apartment had to do with noise. The wooden floors of the building let through quite a bit of sound, particularly from the upstairs neighbors. Perhaps the noise level is standard for European apartments, but coming from American cities (Chicago and New York being my primary points of reference), the apartment floors struck me as notably porous regarding noise. Other than the neighbors, however, the apartment is pretty quiet. There's some noise from the street in the living room, but mainly a lulling background buzz that can't be heard in the bedroom or study.
| Good |
Audrey Truschke
| 8/14/2010 8:20:00 AM |
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The Paris apartment was wonderful. It was so spacious which made it an extremely comfortable haven to return to after a long day walking in beautiful Paris. The kitchen was well equiped and we enjoyed cooking and eating at the apartment after purchasing supplies at what could be the cheapest supermarket in Paris over the road. Thanks for the plentiful supplies of books, the amazing HDTV - the French Open was so lifelike especially when our Aussie girl got to the final - and the extremely fast wifi. The metro is at the doorstep literally or a short walk to Belleville station means straight to Chatelet with no changes. I was overwhelmed by the fact you could see the Eiffel Tower - not all of it but a little of it - from the balcony and also stand and watch the activity on the boulevard in the sunshine. We miss our Paris home and hope one day we can return. Thank you.
| Excellent |
Debra Mill
| 7/1/2010 4:07:00 AM |