Big House Wedding Venues

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Dan - Verified booking

  On the whole the property is a characterful, beautiful and historic cottage, it has ample outside space and the setting is fantastic.

  Unfortunately on arrival, we thought that the property was not cleaned to an acceptable standard. Whilst areas had been cleaned, much of the homes carpets and upholstery were not clean, dusty corners, cobwebs, and just a general feeling of uncleanliness was evident throughout all rooms, the kitchen floor in need of a scrub and polish, in addition to a lingering odour that bestows homes of dusty and slightly dirty nature. At 6pm following a full days travelling, we really did not intend to contact the holiday agent to commence a dispute, so we spent the first hour of our holiday hoovering and cleaning. We are practical and down to earth people, so it wasn't the end of the world to us. However, with a baby who would be crawling on the floors we needed to get it sorted there and then. We called into the Salcombe agents office for the property to inform them as we were passing by. We are not expecting action, we were just informing them of our experience. They suggested that we should have contacted them straight away and sent photos so that they could send cleaners out. This just wouldn't have been workable at 6pm on a Friday evening when we are knackered and need to get the kids down. Sending cleaners for a quick spruce up wouldn't have helped much, it's not necessarily the regular cleaning, but that the property needs a serious deep clean, the vac is a 25 year old Henry, so unless there's some emotional attachment to it, he probably needs replacing. The only mattress that seems fit for purpose is a single in the middle room, the rest, along with the pillows have the ability to reshape your back and neck into arrangements only a qualified chiropractor can sort out. A special mention to the fridge, whose noise became so loud at one point we thought it might be trying to communicate. A minor issue. Many areas were good however, the new cooker and hob were fantastic. The Amazon TV stick worked great for the kids. The single child's room decor was really fun. The house is of an age where you expect the quirks, and much of the decor fits well with that character and helps you disconnect from life back home. A side note, the nearest pub didn't do any food, although was welcoming. The Royal Oak further round was pretty bad, the bar lady served me whilst on her phone, empty glasses littered the place, with areas caked in dust. I love a dive bar now and again but this place took to a new level. We had fantastic weather with some brilliant visits to local villages and towns. We've made some wonderful memories and the cottage played a good part in that. The areas mentioned let it down, so I'm not sure we would return. I think the areas mentioned are fairly easy to address though.

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• Jacqui - Verified booking

  The cottage itself was lovely and very well equipped and comfortable, one of the best I've stayed in.

  It was very clean and clearly a lot of thought has gone into guest comfort. The location is beautiful. What I didn't like was the lack of privacy. CCTV recording video and audio at the front. CCTV on the back garden. Neither were declared in the listing even though Sykes say it should be disclosed. Fortunately the hot tub is around the side and not covered by CCTV. Over zealous and very bright security lights made sitting outside in the evening with a glass of wine to enjoy the fading light impossible as they come on at the slightest of movements. This was a disappointment as it's a great spot for night sky gazing. Ditto for enjoying the hot tub after the kids have gone to bed. No screening between the neighbours conservatory which abuts the boundary so the neighbours were sat a few feet away looking straight into the garden. There was an odd and seemingly unnecessary mention of sex offenders in the guest information folder which my daughter read. I hadn't expected to be explaining to a 10 year old what a sex offender is on the first night of my holiday. The information on wild boar was interesting and informative. The hot tub almost certainly was not serviced during our stay. It had reasonable use as there were 5 of us but despite diligent showering beforehand by the 5th evening the water was cloudy and it had a very unpleasant smell. We left on day 6 so no idea if it was serviced after this. We pretty much only ever book properties with hot tubs and have never previously had issues with water quality or smell. It was too cold to use on the first evening presumably due to a change of water so don't expect to relax in it soon after arrival. When usable it was a great addition. On the whole what should have been a wonderful stay in a beautiful cottage didn't feel particularly relaxing particularly when using the outside space. I'm aware I could have cancelled on arrival as the CCTV was not declared however this wasn't a realistic option after a 7.5 hour journey with three young children. It's not particularly clear from the listing whether there's a dining table which almost put me off booking as we always eat meals at the table as a family. There is dining table with two benches and a fold up chair which was perfectly adequate for dining.

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• Jill - Verified booking

  Awen Ingli is a lovely home, with an emphasis on the last word!

  The lovely pieces of art, sturdy and pretty plates, cups and bowls, the gorgeous blankets in the living room and scatter cushions, as well as the comfy beds and toasty heating all greatly enhanced our comfort and elevated this lovely property beyond your usual holiday-home feel. There are too many thoughtful touches to list, but we appreciated them all, thank you. My top amenity was the eight-hob gas oven and two-over + grill. I'm an enthusiastic cook and baker and this was a fantastic support to my efforts :) Any improvements I have to suggest are in this area - I would suggest the addition of one very large saucepan, and perhaps a mid-size one slightly larger than those already there. These would be very handy for batch / entertaining cooking, but won't always be needed day-to-day and could perhaps be stored in the window corner of the living room as I appreciate space is tight in the kitchen. Also a couple of spatulas would be handy. However, we worked the galley kitchen pretty hard, and it was well up to the job. We loved Awen Ingli's location more or less right in the village and within a few mins of the estuary walk, which we did I think every day with our delighted cocker spaniel. The village crafts shops are lovely for browsing and the butchers TG Davies is fantastic with all manner of prepared meat pastries, butcher's-own sausages, Welsh thick bacon and plenty besides, as well as veg. The village Spar was open right through Christmas and the Wholefood Store has fantastic breads. The village antique shop adds another element - my collector son was delighted with a couple of purchases there and the owner was so friendly. The Castle Inn staff and drinks selection were top notch. All in all, we'd consider it a bit of a risk to book any other village if doing an extended family Christmas away again!

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• Donna - Verified booking

  The location of cottage was lovely.

  We enjoyed the walk to local beach and nice clean town and eateries. The furniture in cottage was very nice and quite comfortable.Nice wooden table and twinkly light. Ameneties were adequate. Shortage of toilet roll.No washing up liquid, we left a bottle. See thru door into ensuite shower room and broken window glass to outside. Small shower was very powerfull- lovely. Disappointed no small welcoming pack. We didn't have the parking permit so was allowed to park on the grass verge.The rubbish bins were full outside but we recycled in the next door carpark. The cottage definitely needs some TLC! I Wiped down all handles , light switches and crockery before we used. A small bin was not emptied, full of ladies sanitary wear. Washing machine rubber was mouldy. Fridge was dirty in the grooves. Doors had splashes down them.Cobwebs. Small sink in Main bathroom with glass shelf above meant washing difficult. Everything needed a good clean.Corners etc ......A little disappointed with Sykes..

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• Janika - Verified booking

  The property was beautiful, well thought out, very well equipped and we thoroughly enjoyed staying there.

  The location was perfect and the secure garden for our dog was a real gem and one of the main draws to staying here. Unfortunately the bath was unusable our entire stay and although a lady who had been cleaning the cottage was there after 4pm when we arrived who told us she'd reported it to Lake Lovers who said they should be out the next day no one arrived. The same can be said for the main double bed which a leg had broken off and wasn't fixed whilst we were staying there. Fortunately there was a second double bed in the upper level which we were able to access but should other guests have perhaps had mobility issues etc navigating the spiral stairs may not have been so easy. All of that being said it's just bad luck when things break or go wrong and it wasn't the be all and end all of our stay and it wouldn't deter us from staying at this property again!

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