Cookie Policy

What's a Cookie?

  • A "cookie" is a piece of information that is stored on your computer's hard drive and which records how you move your way around a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes.
  • Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system.

If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. You can block cookies at any time by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

How are Cookies Used?

Cookies are used to track your use of websites. They help to understand how you use websites in order to develop and improve websites as well as products and / or services in response to what you might need or want.

Cookies are either:

  • Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any personal data from your computer; or
  • Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again.

Cookies can also be categorised as follows:

  • Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when buying a product and / or service, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
  • Performance cookies: These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular.
  • Functionality cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised.

[Please note that third parties who advertise on our website (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies]

The Cookies We Use

Cookie Name Category Purpose
PHPSESSID Strictly necessary session cookie The PHPSESSID cookie is native to PHP and enables websites to store serialised state data. This cookie is a reference to a unique session ID set by our website code (PHP) for a current browsing session. No personal data is stored in it. The session is ended when a user’s browser is closed.
cookie-control-functional-cookies Functionality cookie Cookie Control cookies. These cookies are set in order to remember preferences in regards to cookies.
NID Third-party functional cookie: www.google.com The NID cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language (e.g. English), how many search results you wish to have shown per page (e.g. 10 or 20) and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on. On the Contact Us page of this website a google map is embedded to show you the location of Kittiwake Cottage and it is this google map that uses the cookie.