Villas In Burford

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Gary - Verified booking

  All in all a very disappointing experience.

  The cottage is well presented in a beautiful garden and Niki could not have been more welcoming. However our stay was extremely unpleasant due to a persistent insect infestation. It was apparent on the first night that there were a lot of spiders around the place. My partner has a phobia and it resulted in poor sleep for both of us, as I was woken up to catch around 20 of them on the first night. We also noticed wood lice appearing at night too. These were around the edge of the floors, but also on the kitchen worktop and hanging from the loft hatch in the bedroom ceiling. I’d pick off about 10 a day, hoping that would be an end to it. Ants were also a problem in the kitchen, with them crawling all over the surfaces and cupboards. There is no lid to the kitchen bin, which may possibly have attracted them. In hindsight we should have complained immediately, but each time we thought that we’d sorted it ourselves and that would be an end to it. We did report it to Niki after the 5th night though and gave her the opportunity to sort it out. She attempted to eradicate them during the day, but we returned to the property late in the evening to find the problem to be as bad as ever. We took the decision to cancel the holiday rather than endure another night and packed up and left the cottage around midnight. We thought the four hour drive home would be preferable to another night there. We left the 8 wood lice that were found in the bedroom in a glass, for Niki to see the extent of the problem from just one evening. We also offered photographic evidence of this. The owners showed no concern that we’d had to leave and a request for any refund was flatly refused. Sykes Cottages state in their terms and conditions that they are simply a go-between and have no responsibility for the accommodation and just referred us back to the owners. We did take out an insurance policy through Sykes, but this did not cover the property being uninhabitable.

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• Victoria - Verified booking

  Garden Cottage is in a great location for many towns and villages around the Cotswolds with an abundance of pubs, tea shops, independent shops and walks.

  There are also some interesting National Trust properties and Blenheim Palace a short drive away. The cottage provides everything you need in a lovely setting. I would however like to provide some additional feedback on a few things that I believe would offer a better experience and therefore rating. - Suitable sensor lighting along the gravel pathway to the cottage which is pitch black in the evening during the winter months would be very helpful. - Appropriate bathroom flooring rather than carpet would be more hygienic and provide a clean appearance. - Upgrade of towels and bath mats would make a big difference. The ones provided were well worn and one of the bath towels was barely bath size. - Bedding and pillows could also benefit from an upgrade. The pillows were incredibly heavy and hard and the addition of a top sheet under the duvet can detract from it’s comfort and purpose. If it’s purpose is to reduce laundry I would suggest this would not be appropriate practice for a holiday let. - a display stand of homemade goods to be purchased occupies valuable space where suitable seating would provide more comfort. - a few welcome commodities are always a lovely touch and make a difference. As long as these are packaged and sealed with the necessary content information, guests are able to take responsibility of specific dietary requirements. The above feedback is intended to be constructive and to enable an improved experience and in no way is a criticism of the property itself.

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• Katherine - Verified booking

  Firstly, it was a lovely break away with our dog for our 4 year anniversary.

  The cottage is well located with a local pub and a close walk to Burford town being only 5-10 minutes away. We enjoyed mostly how quiet and rural this property was as this cottage gave off a homely countryside vibe and just screams “Cotswolds” which is exactly what we were looking for. I rated the cleanliness above because of the following we come across during our stay: 1) Large and small shower head are covered in hard water stains and specks of mold. 2) The shower screen seal is mouldy. 3) The Kettle was quite a large concern for us from the beginning so we actually ended up purchasing a kettle from the nearest B&M to use during our stay. Starting with the outer appearance with the paint chipping and limescale covering the handle. Upon opening the kettle, there was further limescale. 4) The Toaster (which we didn’t end up using for this reason) had a fair amount of bread crumbs in the bottom as I am coeliac this is too big of a risk. 5) We found various cobwebs around the property. I rated the comfort above because of our personal preferences below: 1) The Sofa 2) Memory foam mattresses Overall, we would recommend but would make people aware of which I have highlighted above as considering the price I would expect the cleanliness to reflect this which saddened us more than anything else due to it being such a beautiful cottage with so much potential. In regard to the facilities, we found these very convenient due to there being a washer/dryer and a dishwasher available.

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• Hollie - Verified booking

  From the moment we arrived at Garden Cottage we were greeted with the warmest welcome from Niki which instantly made us feel like this was a home from home.

  The cottage was perfect and suited both myself and my husband perfectly, it had everything we needed for a comfortable stay. The cottage was decorated beautifully and was thoroughly cleaned prior to our arrival. The cottage was situated in the small town of Black Bourton where we were able to enjoy stunning walks, we were only a short drive from some of the larger towns as well as local attractions. Niki had kindly created a welcome pack which highlighted everything the Cotswolds had to offer and the must see places, this was incredibly helpful and we planned some lovely day trips. We would also recommend the The Plough Inn in the village of Alvescot which was just a short 5 minute drive with free parking at the rear of the pub. The food was superb and reasonably priced, again we would have to thank Niki for the recommendation from the welcome pack which highlighted some wonderful places to eat nearby. We cannot find any fault with our stay at Garden Cottage and our hosts Niki and Lawrence were some welcoming and friendly, we were even given the pleasure of meeting Jasper the family Labrador who greeted us every morning by sitting by the back door in the garden. We highly recommend anyone who is considering a visit to the Cotswolds to stay at Garden Cottage, we are already talking about booking our next trip.

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• Gillian - Verified booking

  I have been in email contact about poor cleanliness but you were not interested.

  Thick dust in specific areas. Bedroom. 1 particularly on slope area. Someones socks left under table - thick floor dust where not cleaned properly Thick long black hair in property. Tea stained sink and washing up bowl just needed bleaching. Toe nail and pill in bedroom 2 on floor between 2 beds. Kitchen cupboard fronts had food debris and not cleaned. Fridge not clean. TV needs an upgrade to smart tv. Unsightly air brick behind tv. Kitchen poorly equipped - 4 knives, 4 forks for 4 people is not enough. No baking trays. Knives in knife block a have rust spots from dishwasher. Inadequate bedroom storage - no hanging space at all Local office were helpful but overall - Poor customer service as can not ring to discuss and received standard email saying matter is resolved and I did not follow process and report on arrival. No one took time to listen I was not seeking compensation but wanted to.alert to poor cleanliness. So assume my feed back wil be ignored and poor standards will continue. Of course you are welcome to publish but of course you wont! Oh and requested arrival time of 6pm unreasonable particularly when property had not been cleaned properly. Had assumed later arrival time was to allow more time for cleaning

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