Staying here with young children

The playground is across the street

Not a drive. Not a walk with a buggy along a main road. Across the street. Shorefront Park runs along the Great South Bay right beside the house, and the playground sits in it, which means a seven in the morning wake up can go outside instead of into your bedroom.

Guests keep saying this unprompted. One wrote that it was great being right across the street from a playground and perfect for his daughter. Another called it a great place for kids with a playground near. Neither of them was answering a question about children.

How big the house actually is

About 600 square feet, on a quarter acre, open plan. There is a bedroom with a queen bed, a second bedroom with a double, and a sofa bed in the living room. One bathroom. We cap it at four guests, and that cap is deliberate rather than a bed count.

For two adults and two small children that works well, and the open plan is part of why: you can cook and still see the room the children are in. For four adults plus children it would not work, and we would rather say so here than have you find out on the first evening.

There is a washer and dryer, which matters more with a toddler than almost anything else in the house. Parking fits two to three cars and check in is self service, so a late arrival with a sleeping child in the back does not involve meeting anybody.

Where you can actually swim, which is the confusing part

The Patchogue Beach Club is a four or five minute walk, about a fifth of a mile. It has a pool and a stretch of sand and charges a small fee. You are not allowed in the water at the Beach Club. That surprises people every season and it is worth knowing before you walk down there with towels and a plan.

Corey Beach is where you can swim in the bay. It is about a nine minute drive. It is barely a mile away in a straight line, but the road goes inland around the water, so it is a drive and not a walk. Non residents do not need a permit and pay at the pay station, which on our last check was four dollars an hour Monday to Thursday and five Friday to Sunday and holidays, or twenty and twenty five for the day. The pay station runs 8am to 10pm. Dogs are not allowed at Corey in any month, service dogs aside.

The thing that might put you off

The park across the street has sports fields in it. In the afternoons, evenings and at weekends they are used, and two guests have told us about games running late, once until half ten or eleven. If your children go down at seven and wake at any noise, that is a real consideration, and it is the same patch of ground that makes this house good for families in the first place.

The band shell is next door too. In summer you can hear and see the concerts from the patio without leaving the house, which most guests count as the best thing about the place and a few would count as noise. Ask us what is scheduled for your dates and we will tell you honestly.

Ask us before you pack

We would rather you asked than assumed. Send us a note about what you need for the age your children are, and we will tell you what is in the house and what is not. A straight answer before you book is worth more to both of us than a nice sentence on a web page.