Dog Friendly Apartments in Cumbria

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Judith - Verified booking

  Grizedale is a spacious apartment with a handy entrance lobby for storing suitcases, shoes etc.

  which leads to a large living/dining room. On one side of the living room is the ‘master’ bedroom with a very comfortable super-king bed and a small but well fitted ensuite shower room. The velux window in the roof had been fixed when we were there. When it is closed and the blind down it makes the room very dark – we ended up leaving the blind open a little bit so that there was a bit of light for those midnight trips to the loo. On the other side of the living room is a large kitchen which is very well provided with everything you need and good cupboard space for your breakfast cereals and other essentials. It’s probably big enough to take a kitchen table which would make the living room even more spacious. Next to that is the main bathroom which is also large with one of the biggest walk-in showers I’ve seen. The second bedroom is next door is bigger than the master but not ensuite. The furnishings are ‘retro 60s’ with hints of ‘industrial’ which probably echoes the original commercial purpose of the building and is fashionable at the moment, though we found the settees a bit low (we are in our late 60s). The decor is in shades of grey with colourful cushions as highlights, and the overall effect is minimalistic. Again, fashionable but we felt a bit anonymous – there was very little which said: “you’re in the Lake District”. We could have been anywhere; there weren’t even any leaflets about places to visit or take away menus left around which would have been helpful. Jayne, the owner, is excellent. There was a problem with bedding and towels (due to the usual cleaner being on holiday and the temp cleaner making a mistake). This was sorted out very quickly and Jayne kept in touch to make sure everything was OK, including that we didn’t have problems with the velux. Because we stayed for 2 weeks, we also met the regular cleaner, Meg, who did a mid-stay change of linen/towels and bathroom/kitchen clean for us and was very helpful. The apartment is more or less in the centre of Kendal so very close to pubs, shops, restaurants etc. and is only a few minutes from the river for those early morning/last thing at night comfort walks with the dog. However, as it overlooks one of the many alleys or ‘yards’ in Kendal, there is no view. The description of the apartment says that there is unallocated parking close by which we found slightly misleading. Parking is in the pay-and-display car park behind the building and as another guest has said, it is very easy to miss – we suggest a very close study of the map before setting out. There are two left turns into the car park from Lowther Street but they are very sharp and the sign for the car park is hidden behind overgrown shrubs. Also, satnav gets lost, so we also drove around Kendal’s weird and wonderful one-way system a couple of times. The charges for parking are not cheap but we downloaded the ‘paybyphone’ app and got a 7-day pass which allows you to park in a number of other car parks in the South Lakes including Bowness, Ambleside and Grange over Sands as well as in Kendal. Two things that the owner has no control over but are worth mentioning. 1. A previous guest mentioned the convenience of the ev-chargers in the car park – these were all out of order when we were there and clearly had been for some time. The nearest charge points are at Booths which is a few minutes drive away and these are fast chargers. You have to pay for parking as well but you can redeem the cost if you spend £10 in Booths which isn’t difficult. Apart from one Sunday we didn’t have a problem accessing a charger. 2. Although our dog is small and elderly, he normally doesn’t have a problem with stairs and happily climbed up to the apartment. However, he was terrified of going down and we had to carry him every time we went out. We think this is because the stairs are enclosed and painted a dark grey which makes them quite gloomy even though they are well lit. From our dog’s point of view, they must have they looked like a big black void. But I have to emphasise this was our dog – a much younger dog in a neighbouring flat didn’t have a problem at all.

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• Thomas - Verified booking

  What a beautiful location.

  That's our fourth time staying on Esthwaite farm since June . First time in Bassenthwaite cottage. We found it fantastic as usual. The cottage itself seemed " more cottagey " somehow, having the panelled internal doors with the old fashioned latches. The wood burner is just fantastic. Sitting there in front of a roaring fire brought back memories of holidays in my youth in County Down. The first couple of days the weather was terrible but it didn't put a damper on things. It was great sitting in front of the fire and looking out at the rain. In fact once I woke up in the early hours, went into the living room, the fire was still blazing and there was my wife peering through the window and I thought, if this weather gets any worse I'm going to have to let her in. I found the fire very easy to light although some people have said they could have done with instructions?? The kitchen had all we needed. The cooker was great but we ate out most days. We went into Hawkshead and got some provisions. Teabags, milk and the like. But a few instructions on how to make a cup of tea would have been helpful !!!!! The scenery is spectacular. A recommended walk would be right round Esthwaite water. Through Hawkshead and then round the west side. About 5 miles but not very hilly. Highly recommended. And that's from an almost sixty something. Other great places to see are Tarn Hows, Hawkshead Hill and Grizedale forest is a must. There's a visitors centre with a cafe and also a pottery shop with a potter doing his stuff. This is where we picked up our ceramic poppies all hand painted. A must see place. All in all another great week. No matter how many times you go to the lakes there is always something new to see. We love the place, especially my wife who says she'd like to move to the Lake District. I said I thought it was a great idea but we should write to each other at least once a week. Tommy & Angie Reid

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• Elizabeth - Verified booking

  Grizedale was an excellent apartment and we had a fantastic week in Kendal.

  The accommodation was perfect for us, and the decor was luxurious as the photos show (accurate pictures). We heard no noise from the very busy street at all. We know Kendal well, and so with everything on the doorstep we knew what to expect. The bathrooms were superb and underfloor heating a real bonus. Well stocked kitchen, and useful laundry area with washer dryer was a bonus. Plenty of space for three adults and our small dog. Parking was very close by, down the yard. We have an EV and parked on the roof level of SLDC car park which had three EV charging points, Superb! It took 40 seconds to walk to the car down yard 7 ( the yard for our apartment) so EV drivers are very lucky! Easy for packing and unpacking the car too.. Tesco 10 seconds over the road for stocking up and Booths 5 minute walk. Would definitely recommend Grizedale. We also took train twice from Kendal to Windermere for hiking into the fells, and once took the 555 bus to Grasmere which was easy too (even though we had the car, to just try the public transport system). My only criticism was the crockery in the kitchen. The plates and bowls had a gold rim around the edges and couldn’t be used to microwave (arc and spark) which was really difficult when warming up food. They were also a bit flimsy as were the glasses, very thin glass which we worried would break. It definitely needs some nice rustic plates and bowls and some more mugs/thicker glasses. Apart from that, and as long as you know you are in a very busy street when you step out, the apartment was like a five star hotel and we loved it. Thank you.

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• Elaine - Verified booking

  Property generally very nice, well equipped, although the sofas are a little uncomfortable for more than one person sitting on at a time.

  We couldn’t get our fire stick to work in the tv , but I’m not sure if that was due to settings or not. Daughter couldn’t get wifi in the twin room. The instructions for arrival that we received from the owner were more detailed than the ones from Sykes, unfortunately we still went round the one way system a couple of times! Didn’t help that it was pouring with rain. Idiot proof instructions would be helpful! The velux blind in the main bedroom didn’t appear to be working, so we were unfortunately woken early in the morning, the owner tried her best to sort this, the temporary cover was only minimally more helpful, and the engineer couldn’t come til the day before we left. It turned out there was a switch which was turned off, which was frustrating, as the blind was very effective and saved an early awakening on our last day. We were refunded £50 for the inconvenience. The front door had a lot of bird poo and rubbish next to it, not the owners fault, it is a public street, but it did attract a lot of flies which wasn’t pleasant to have to go to through on entering and leaving. This was actually cleaned up later in the week which improved matters. The information book was useful regarding local restaurants and walks. All in all a nice property and helpful owner

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• Becky - Verified booking

  Nice apartment although you do get quite a bit of noise coming through the ceiling from the apartment above.

  Facilities were good the wood burner was especially nice after a day of walking. Shared facilities were ok with hand sanitizer provided. The two Hoover's that were provided had seen better days though and I had to empty one before I could use it which in the current climate wasn't great. I was also surprised to see the cleaners when they came to clean a different apartment didn't have any PPE on and one was carrying the towels resting up against her face! Again not great in the current climate! We also found a dirty cup and some crumbs in the cutlery drawer which did make us wonder if the extra deep clean had been done efficiently. There was also broken glass near the bins so didn't seem anyone was checking them. Communication could have been better too as we didn't know what the situation was regarding recycling. All in all though a good apartment brilliantly situated for exploring the South Lakes although getting in and out of the drive wasn't for the faint hearted!!

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