Child Friendly Villas In World

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Mark - Verified booking

  Before going I read some of the past reviews and they did worry me - you don’t want to travel somewhere dirty with a leaky toilet!

  We were pleasantly surprised that it was really clean and certainly had no issues with a leaky toilet or a furred up kettle not working. The house is smaller than the photos suggest - it’s a wide but quite shallow house, but still plenty of space for a family of four. There’s nothing special about the decor, it’s not a luxury experience but still really clean and looked after - just doesn’t have a wow factor decor wise. The house itself is really lovely, a honey coloured thatched cottage which could be off a postcard. The garden is reached via the neighbours courtyard but she is really friendly and helpful so we had some nice chats on the way through. The garden itself is really nice, a real cottage garden, it’s better than the pics. The location is brilliant with the house. If you bring kids there’s a park virtually next door which has an epic zip wire. My daughter was obsessed. You can be at the beach within a short stroll and if you bring dogs there’s some fantastic walks nearby, again within a minutes walk. People have complained about it being on a busy road, this didn’t bother us, there are almost no vehicles at night - it’s pretty silent - but did hear cars in the morning with the windows open. With the windows closed there was no sound at all. The village is stunning, you couldn’t ask for somewhere more attractive, it won best large village of the year and it’s well deserved as its absolutely idyllic. People are really friendly and the pubs are good. Theres a village farm shop and a petrol station open quite late so it’s well served. Our big tip is to book the Three Horseshoes way in advance if you stay during busy tourist periods, it’s really popular and we could only get one lunchtime booking for the whole week. The food was brilliant, ditto with the Parlour which is probably half an hours walk from the house, it’s meant to be brilliant but there were no spaces for the entire week. The Station Kitchen at West Bay was brilliant too. So all in we had a brilliant holiday and the house was perfectly fine for the week. Would I stay again? We’d probably prefer a house with easier access to the garden with the dog but we’d certainly be more than happy to book again.

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• Katherine - Verified booking

  We had a very pleasant stay at River Cottage, and would definitely recommend it for families wanting to visit this part of Dorset.

  The property was easy to find from the directions, and has a key safe so access was very straightforward. There is parking for two cars behind the cottage in a shared driveway area used by another holiday let on one side, and owner-occupiers on the other side. The private garden, which is a lovely walled and private space, is accessed across this shared drive. This separation between cottage and garden wasn’t initially clear from the photos of the property, but once across the drive and through the garden gate it was secure for our dog. There is a great kids playground in the field next to the property, and two lovely pubs an easy walk into the village. We ate at both and the food was excellent. Slightly further afield, the Hive Beach Cafe is fabulous especially for breakfast, and the Club House also had great food. The cottage is walkable to the beach, but we drove as the kids are small and walk slowly! The carpark at Hive Beach is National Trust, and free to park for members. Hive Beach was very safe when we were there, with a small shore break and no rips or large currents. The kids had a great time (with wetsuits as the water was FREEZING). The cottage itself was very clean and comfortable. The toilet smell mentioned by other reviewers wasn’t a problem for us, so seems to have been resolved. There are blackout blinds on all the bedroom windows, and a hairdryer and nightlight are provided. The linens and towels were in good condition, and some basics were provided including hand soap, a loo roll and some dishwasher tablets. Despite dire covid predictions, the cottage has not been stripped bare of every comfort. The kitchen is well-provisioned, with everything we needed (even a knife sharpener). There are two comfortable sitting rooms, one with an enormous tv and a freeview box that we used to log into our Netflix and BBC accounts. The cottage is let down by the mattresses, which are saggy and not comfortable. The cottage bedrooms get very warm on hotter days unless the windows are open, and the road noise is loud as there is no front garden - we had no problem sleeping through it as it isn’t hugely busy but if you are a light sleeper it may be more of an issue.

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• Catherine - Verified booking

  Lovely cottage in the heart of the village.

  Very clean, comfortable and well equipped. Only one wardrobe, but there are hooks behind each door, though you may want to bring a few more coathangers. Looking at previous comments we thought the cottage has probably had a bit of a re-furb, because we had absolutely nothing to complain about. You park round the back and enter via a large porch which is very useful for coats, boots, etc and also gives a 'double door' situation which makes it hard for your dog to escape! The garden is lovely, but as everyone will have read from previous comments, access is via the neighbour's courtyard. This wasn't a big problem, but it does mean you obviously can't just open the door and let your dogs out, you have to go with them. We just took our cups of tea over every morning and sat while the dogs did what they needed to, but we were lucky with the weather. If it had been raining every day we probably would be moaning about it! The park next door has a great kids' playground, and also gives access onto a field which is good for giving the dog a run. Hive Beach is an easy 10/15 minute walk away (though to be honest we never walked it, always going to it before or after going somewhere else!). It's a lovely, sandy beach which goes on for miles except at high tide. The two pubs in the village (a couple of minutes walk to either) are excellent. Totally dog friendly and with really good food. Both pubs are full of locals and get very booked up - even out of season we'd recommend booking ahead. The Three Horseshoes is already booked for Sunday lunch up until the end of October! My only gripe (and this has nothing to do with the cottage) is that we spent a fortune on car parks! Hive Beach is National Trust, so if you belong then it's free, otherwise it's £3 for two hours minimum - annoying if you only want half an hour to run the dogs. It was the same in many places. Dorset needs to do something about this.

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• Graham - Verified booking

  I usually post positive reviews for Sykes cottages.

  Unfortunately, it was only in the last few days and as we approached the holiday that we noted some other feedback posts. It should be made very clear that is not possible to use the enclosed garden immediately from the house. We had to put our dog on a lead and then cross the back yard and into another persons back yard to reach the enclosed garden. Not a comfortable arrangement. The garden is not large enough for medium to large dogs - only maybe small dogs. It has no grass areas - important for many dogs. So we were disappointed. Arrived in the dark so could not use the garden for the dog on arrival. Indeed we hardly went into the garden as it was not suitable for dogs the entire week we were there and were not comfortable walking into an area clearly for use of a resident. There is only 1 toilet which is very small. The kitchen is well equipped as other posts show. However, we found the accommodation uncomfortable. But nowhere to hang clothes. Sofas were very uncomfortable. People walking immediately in front of the house and often looking into us as we sat and ate/watched tv/read etc. Noisy traffic immediately close and outside at front. There is an excellent park where dogs can be walked safely which was a godsend. Sadly we were disappointed in the accommodation. However it is in an excellent location to get to beach or get to Bridport or other tourist sites. Sorry we could not be more positive but have up until now enjoyed the Sykes holiday cottages without having to post a negative review.

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• Paul - Verified booking

  The positives: Lovely Village, brilliant walks, nice pubs, great cafe at Hive Beach, and strolling east or west along the beach is great.

  The negatives: unfortunately, the cleanliness was not adequate. We had to wash up almost every item in the kitchen before we could even make a cup of tea. Either the previous occupant had put everything away filthy or nothing had been checked. I wish I could add photographs to this review. The oven had not been cleaned for some considerable time, so using it sent a smell through the property. We also found a pair of somone else's black underpants on the bedroom floor when we arrived. The taps in the kitchen and toilet are loose (noted on a number of other reviews, as has been the cleanliness issue). We also had a problem with the drains, whereby after a shower, the sinks would take some time to drain, so if the dishwasher was operating, its waste water would fill the kitchen sink. (Note that Sykes did offer after a couple of days to visit to rectify the drain issue, but as we had spent time cleaning in the kitchen, we were not keen to have the drains explored until after we left). The garden across the courtyard (through the neighbour's gate where their dog roams) is not suitable for one's late night trip for a dog's ablutions; we used the nearby field instead. Would we stay again? In Burton Bradstock, yes absolutely. In River Cottage? No, absolutely not.

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