Big House Wedding Venues

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Hugh Michael - Verified booking

  Cheviot Cottage.

  On arriving at the cottage, I was surprised to find that the cottage was in the far-right hand corner of the courtyard down a little side lane, the photos on sykes website did not indicate this. Entering the property was a pleasant surprise with what looked like new carpeting. We unloaded the car and then set about unpacking, there is no where apart from the fridge to store any food, looking round the kitchen area I spotted grease and dirt on the extractor hood with writing in the grime. This clearly has not been cleaned for a long time, also cobwebs hanging from the cupboard to the left. On returning to cottage on Wednesday evening at first glance it looked as though someone had been into the cottage as the grease and grime on the extractor looked as though it had been cleaned unfortunately when I switched on the light this was not the case Front Door. When the door was closed and locked daylight can be seen all the way down the lock side of the door, this also rattled in the light breeze and was very drafty, I have to say this is also a security issue as the gap was such that the locking mechanism as very little purchase on the frame. Another large cobweb hanging from the picture to the right of the door. Bathroom. This would appear to have been recently refurbished and was very clean, on attempting to use the shower as there were no instructions for use on the information leaflet I turned on the water flow and could see that the temperature was set to 40 degrees, the water ran cold for a while whilst the boiler was heating the water, once up to temperature I got into the shower as it should regulate itself, it didn’t, the water ran hotter and hotter until the boiler kicked out and the shower then ran cold, this process kept repeating until I eventually gave up on the shower as I was going to get scalded, so no more showers for the rest of our stay. Scenic view from widow seats, This is spoiled by the failed glazing units in both the seated windows as the have condensation in the units from late afternoon to Late morning. WIFI. Although it was stated on the website that Wi-Fi connection was intermittent due to the location, the information sheet indicated to Wi-Fi names and passwords, neither of these came up when trying to log in, a name did come up and I suspected it was the small white router on the bedside cabinet, success this had a password on the bottom of the unit, I managed to access the Wi-Fi however there was no internet available, this stayed the same for the remainder of our stay certainly not intermittent. Central heating, no instructions for the use of central heating and as this was in the corner down the lane did not get any sunshine worth mentioning so tended to be rather cool in the cottage, heating came on automatically in the mornings as we were getting ready to go out and then for a very short period at around 6:00pm. Outside. The dark courtyard and the lane where our cottage was located, had outside lighting fitted however during our stay this never came on at any time, no switch inside the property operates these lights, so have to assume the owner has control of these and they just aren’t working. Seating area to rear with table and chairs. This was like a bombsite; timber has been sawn up into logs and left lying around strange as there is no log burner on the property. Two wheel barrows left to patio area along with various other garden tools, a pile of masonry, a partly filled excavation and two planters with weeds, looking along the backs of other cottage the seating areas were pleasant with established planters and no building mess. On Thursday morning we decided we would pack the car and leave a day earlier as we were due to leave on Friday morning and both needed to get home and get a shower. I have photos of all these issues and will forward them if you can send me an email address

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• Anne - Verified booking

  There is no doubt that Lakeside at Louper Weir is a prestige rental.

  It is a beautifully built modern house with the most spectacular views of Lake Windermere. However it is not without faults - there were a number of things broken, not working or not up to the standard you would expect from a house of this quality and resulting price bracket. To name a few - the barbecue ignition wasn’t working, the tv in the second bedroom had no signal, the toilet seats are quite old and discoloured and need replacing, there was regular interference to the main tv signal. Also, the WiFi in the home is quite dated and is one of those systems that constantly kicks you out and you have to reconnect to. The equipment in the kitchen is fairly hi-tech but the instructions left by the owner are not helpful or comprehensive enough. They assume you know that you have to lift the glass off of the Tepan Yaki grill in order to use it - I stumbled across this by accident. Also the microwave was within one of the ovens and completely frustrating to use because of the complex menu system. The hob is too small for a home meant to cater for 8 persons. You can barely fit 2 pans on it. I was aware on booking that building work was taking place next door but was not aware how very intrusive it would be. The building project is vast and has been ongoing for 3 years. It involves the entire site to the right side of the building and the builders have a lovely view into all of the big glass windows on that side of the property. I feel the owners are not being open enough with customers about the privacy issues that this creates. The bedroom blinds are automated and if you want to enjoy the stunning views from the master bedroom, you have to have BOTH blinds open, which gives the builders a very clear view of the master bedroom and bed! This could be rectified by the owner but they have chosen not to do so. Also, our last day (Friday) we had 3 landscape gardeners at the property for the entire day when we wanted to enjoy the outside space and hot tub but felt awkward doing so. Finally, a couple of days after leaving the property we were emailed and asked about a missing soap dish as if we had taken it. We hadn’t and had treated the house with care and respect and to receive this email was a surprise and a disappointment In summary, we had a wonderful stay but the house needs some basic maintenance and the owners need to think more about their guest’s experience rather than their bottom line.

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• Alissa - Verified booking

  We booked the stay for much needed recuperation after my husband’s recent chemotherapy.

  However, although we were very much looking forward to the stay, we were very disappointed and would not book the property again for the following reasons: - weeks after our visit and without our knowledge we were charged £192 for a faint lipstick mark on a duvet (I’m sure a bit of Vanish would have done the trick!) and £4.50 for a supposed broken Prosecco glass that we didn’t smash. They also ‘waived’ a £45 fee for a broken tripod, again we have no idea about. We have stayed in many beautiful properties over the years and have never had this happen to us before. We left the property clean, tidy and respected it during our stay. - the building works next door were very imposing. The master bedroom has two sided glass walls, with beautiful views of the lake… and the building works next door! from 8am - 4:30pm the workmen could see right into the bedroom. I was caught in my underwear the first morning which was very embarrassing. The blinds are electronic and you cannot close just one side, so we had to keep all of the master bedroom blinds closed throughout our stay. - the noise of the works was very loud from 8am - 4:30pm so we could not relax outside in the day. Also, there was a lot of foul language from the workmen - we have a 3 year old. - I love to cook, but the size of the oven and hob was caravan sized so I struggled to make a big family meal. - we had good weather but with all of the glass the property was exceptionally hot and we only had 2 fans for 2 bedrooms. It was unbearably hot at night, the couples in the hot rooms didn’t sleep a wink. (We tried to rotate the fans). We did try to get more fans for the property but were told we were lucky to have 2. - the main sliding concertina doors to the patio / dining area were out of order - there are a lot of cameras outside the property so we felt a little ‘watched’. There is one on the master bedroom balcony so it didn’t feel very private when we were sat taking in the the views at night. We use lakelovers a lot and spend a lot of money on stays, regrettably this is our most disappointing stay to date. Which given the reason for our stay, was very unfortunate for my husband.

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• Robert - Verified booking

  On arrival 5/1/2024 @ 16:00hrs.

  1-House freezing cold 13C no heating on in the house or annex bedroom. took over 2-3hrs to get to 20C 2- Property Ad states Open Fire but no log/wood to use or indication that you had to buy it 3- Back fence in corner all broken and open to field. The property states enclosed garden it was assumed that meant secure but after arriving Best of Suffolk folder states not secure? 4- Down stairs toilet light not working Outside front door LED motion sensor light not working very dark had to use car lights so we could see while we unpacked the car. 5- Side of house open to drive 6- Rubbish bin outside full and lots of beer & wine empty bottles on the floor therefore no collection 7- After call Sykes last week before our holiday and after reading the previous reviews which also mentioned the same issues After speaking with Rebecca and also receiving an email was told the AGA had been fixed and they would send someone the check fence issue. 8- On arrival called Sykes and spoke to Alex explained these issues encountered and that I was not happy and would be making a claim for compensation ! 9- Had to call Sykes again as now the downstairs toilet light not working This time spoke to Christine she said she would look into these issues and later called me back with update 10- Not long after a guy turned up Kirk and confirmed the light switch was not functioning properly and told me to leave it on and next week an electrician would sort it He (Kirk) took photos of the fence but by this time I had done a fix with cable ties. He also brought some wood for the fire which was very much appreciated. He also removed all the bottles. He was very nice and helpful and fully appreciated why we was upset Photos can be supplied of all the issues mentioned above please send me an email address so that these photos can be sent.

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• David - Verified booking

  The location of the house was brilliant, right on the lake and the inclusion of the kayaks was something we enjoyed even in October!

  All the rooms were a lovely size and included plenty of soft towels and two bathrobes in each room which was a nice touch. The kitchen was fully stocked with any gadget you’d be familiar with at home. We had two families staying in the house and the only thing I would suggest to consider is the driveway/ parking. We were able to get two cars out the front of the house but we had to manoeuvre round the gate entrance each time one car wanted to leave so if there were more than two cars this may be more challenging. There is an additional parking space on the winding driveway and you could get a car parked up by the road. With this house being designed for up to 4 couples we only had one gate entrance key, so on the occasions that we wanted to go out separate we had to agree who would be back first to open the gate which was a slight inconvenience as there was no way down to the property unless you left the side door open on the latch. We had a slight issue with the electric gate on arrival and we couldn’t seem to easily see any out of hours support which was frustrating. We got a call back at about 1pm the following day so if we were really stuck then this was far too late to be helpful. The battery in the electric gate key was not connecting properly so we were unable to open the gate upon arrival however it wasn’t until the morning that we realised this was our issue. The instructions mentioned a triangle fob (which we did not have) so we thought this was our issue.

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