Bigbury-On-Sea Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Carole - Verified booking

  Right from the booking early in the year up to and including whilst we were away the Sykes' agents were very helpful, friendly and efficient at dealing with both the reservation and any subsequent queries.

  The holiday was a very special family get together as a celebration of good news following my recent health issues and it could not have been any better. The travel directions were excellent (although the last bit of the route along the typical narrow, high hedged Devon roads is not for the faint hearted!) Seaspray felt welcoming and smelt very clean as soon as we opened the door. Unlike previous holidays with other companies the photographs are accurate and not deceptive. It was wonderfully equipped with ample, spacious accommodation for 8 of us of 3 generations. We only used a car once during the whole week, unfortunately we chose to have a takeaway on the one evening that one of the recommended restaurants didn't deliver to Bigbury-on-Sea! The location is amazing, we all enjoyed the beach even on cloudy days - we were there on the hottest day of the year and although it was busy there was still plenty of space. We had some great multigeneration games of beach volley ball and the waves were perfect for grandchildren learning to bodyboard - but challenging enough for the "bigger" children. The Venus Beach cafe was wonderful - pasties strongly recommended and an excellent variety of both food and drink. The walk back up to the house is a little steep but great for walking off calories after pasties and ice creams..... The tractor trip and climb up Burgh Island fitted the bill perfectly providing great entries in the Year 3 holiday homework "busy book". We would also recommend treating yourself to afternoon tea at the Island hotel if you have a special occasion to celebrate whilst on holiday. We would all have liked to stay longer and would definitely recommend Seaspray and Sykes Cottages. We will certainly chose Sykes in the future.

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• Tim - Verified booking

  We have stayed at several of the Burgh Island Causeway apartments - this was the first time at no.

  23. Generally speaking, we had a lovely time in our favourite part of the world. Helpful Holidays as usual lived up to their name. The following are hopefully constructive comments about the apartment. * Broadband. This is woefully inadequate... we know from other apartments stays that a perfectly usable broadband service is available. It costs no more than the older services as in place at no.23. * Washer-drier. When in drying mode the unit makes a clunk every 14s that resonates around the apartment, making it unusable whilst we were there. * The fridges both have doors that do not shut properly without a firm shove - including the freezer compartment door. This meant a number of items of food had to be discarded. * There are at least two flickering bulbs around the flat - these need replacing. * There was no hand soap in the property. * The second bathroom has no towel rail - the towels at the end of the week were fairly unusable as a result. * Cleanliness - we found bits of sweetcorn on the floor of the 2nd bedroom. This doesn't bode well for how well the place had been cleaned before our arrival - a worry given the current emphasis on keeping things clean. A final note was that the cleaner turned up at around 9:15 on our day of departure and lingered in the hallway. She was also disparaging to my wife. We have always left the apartments we have stayed in as clean and orderly as we found them. We didn't need this rudeness on our final day. We had to ask her to stand outside until we left at 9:50.

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• Jeffrey - Verified booking

  Things people look for in their holiday accommodation include comfortable beds, plenty of hot water for showers and baths, and fast and reliable wifi.

  This apartment didn’t offer any of these. As most other reviews have mentioned the apartment does offer an amazing front row seat to views of the sea and Burgh Island and is just steps away from the beach. The kitchen is well appointed with modern appliances and all the “stuff” that’s needed to self cater. But, for us, good views didn’t compensate for the fact that the beds were uncomfortably soft, we were not able to take a hot shower, and the internet was abysmal. The mattress and bedding made sleeping unpleasant. The mattresses and pillows felt very used and the fitted sheets were “piled” and quite uncomfortable to sleep on. No matter what we tried with using the hot water “boost” button, the shower went cold just after a few seconds, as such we had to resort to taking showers in the pool changing room. The internet speed varied from an extremely slow 500 kbps to a very slow 1.3 mbps. As there is little to no cell service for Three or O2 in that area, the slow internet impacted communication with family via WhatsApp or wifi calling. It also made watching shows on Netflix or freeview frustrating by periodically having to wait for the TV catch-up downloading a programme . (I would recommend downloading any shows you want to watch on your laptop before you arrive.) I have read other reviews dating back to early last year that mention the issues with the beds and Internet and, for the money it costs to stay there, I would expect something to have been done about them.

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• Thomas - Verified booking

  We had a fantastic holiday at Seaspray and so much so we have booked again for next year.

  The house is in a great location with the best views of the sea and coast from any property we have stayed in. The property is very comfy and loads of indoor and outdoor space. Our party consisted of 6 (wife and I, two kids and grandparents) and we had ample space. Our eldest (4) loved his room as it had a lovely animal theme and very happily slept in there without a problem. The house was stocked with everything you need as a family on holiday: washing machine and dishwasher tablets, hand wash, loads of toys, kids puzzles and books. I wish they hold told us this in advance as this would have saved precious boot space and is a great selling point for families. There is also a storage box outside with things for the beach (buckets, spades etc.), which again it would have been great to have been made aware of and made it clear it was for guests. Only a few very niggles; 1)the blinds in the conservatory have seen better days and need replacing asap. You will want to close them in the afternoon to keep the house cool, but when do you will find sections are broken or don’t work well. 2) we have an electric car and as it is a little remote there are no charging stations within 30 mins drive. It would be a great benefit to get a electric car charger added to the property. There are some on other rentals on the road, so it would be great to see next year.

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• Coralie - Verified booking

  Bigbury-on-Sea is a wonderful holiday destination.

  The beach is one massive stretch of sand that seems to go on for miles at low tide. The views from Burgh Island are fantastic. We enjoyed being able to do various walks straight from the cottage door which meant we didn’t need to drive anywhere for several days. However you do need to drive to pick up groceries apart from a small shop in the next bay of Challaborough which is accessible on foot down a steep unmade track. Sea spray cottage itself has everything you need in the way of facilities and equipment, it is on one level apart from a step down into the conservatory and one up to the master bedroom, there are several steps in the garden. The area in general has steep hills and is difficult if you have mobility issues. No need to watch tv as the view from the conservatory provides entertainment every minute of the day and whatever the weather, bring binoculars. We had near perfect sunny, warm weather for the two weeks we were there but if it rained every day you would need to drive out of the village along narrow country lanes to find indoor things to do. We went on this holiday as an older family group and it’s one of the best holidays we’ve had.

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