Dog Friendly Apartments in Lake District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• James M - Verified booking

  I am awaiting a call back from Sykes Customer services relating to our booking at High Ridge this weekend.

  Upon arriving at the property at 7.30pm Friday evening we found the property looked like someone else was staying there. There was open food in the fridge, dirty plates/pans/crockery on the side and in the sink, wet towels on the floor, no toilet roll. The beds had been slept-in so were obviously dirty and unmade. After trying with difficulty to get an emergency number for Sykes', it took an hour and a half before we were finally offered any alternative solution to this situation, one of which was to move to a caravan(!!!) at 9pm at night in a different village 15 mins away and the other was for a property at the top of a steep hill away from the centre of the village. I had a child with me that needed to eat immediately as well as an elderly parent - both options were completely unsuitable. We had travelled nearly 4 hours in traffic to get to Ambleside and despite this unpleasant situation, we had absolutely no option but to stay and try to make-do. We had to go out and purchase a load of cleaning products, cloths and toilet roll and we had to make-up beds with the least dirty sheets we could find. We spent the rest of the evening cleaning up someone else's mess to try to make the place as habitable as possible. There were no cleaning products in the apartment for us to clean up their mess, no toilet roll, and the "spare" sheets that we were advised to use were in a pile inside the filthy over-loaded store cupboard that was a complete dumping ground full of personal junk, mould, dust/dirt and peeling paint flakes, dirty brushes & mop-heads etc. To top it off, a stack of dirty old paint cans and decorating materials were stored in there immediately next to the pile of bed linen - highly flammable and illegal to keep in a rental/communal property I do believe. (BTW, we were instructed to make-up our own beds with these sheets!!) This is all hugely concerning. This property is in an extremely poor un-loved condition. It is very dirty throughout and has large areas of mould and damp stains in every room. There is also peeling paint and wallpaper throughout. There are no mattress protectors on the beds with vile dark stains on the mattress, pillows and duvet covers. And despite feedback/reviews on this matter I see there are still no curtains or blinds to shut out the light in either bedroom or to give privacy in the bathroom. (I hesitate to imagine what kind of state the carpet and cushions are in). Sykes "emergency" procedures are clearly pretty much non-existent. Basically it's tough, deal with it! - Unfortunately, we were unable to return home the following day due to another commitment however we departed the property as soon as we could at 7am the following morning. You will see from your records that the last time we booked with Sykes Cottages in April, we had very similar experience arriving at another filthy property with used sex toys and lube left on the bedroom cabinet for my children to find and handle! We are frequent visitors to the area and repeat customers who have booked your properties for years without issue. Are we wrong to assume proper service levels these days from Sykes or is this the way it is now for customers? These are some serious and unpleasant situations we have faced at the hands of your company and it is extremely disappointing to see that once again, Sykes cottages takes customers for granted with absolutely zero quality control and is happy to place them in filthy, run-down properties that are not fit or safe to stay in. As discussed with Christine from HO, we expect a 100% refund on this booking as well as reimbursement for costs due to yet another weekend being ruined at the hands of your company. (Photographic evidence available on request) I look forward to hearing from you.

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• Sarah - Verified booking

  Derwentwater is a very lovely little cottage, well decorated and laid out, and very well situated.

  The bedrooms are a good size, for example the main bedroom contains a wardrobe and chest of drawers, and a bedside table, with enough floor space left on either of the three sides for a dog bed. Very comfortable beds, and very clean laundered sheets and towls (which are provided). 2 teatowls, and a dishcloth and sponge, and bin bags were also provided, which I was not expecting them to be from the booking description. There is also a laundry in a building next door that guests can use, which is very convenient, 2 x washing machines and one dryer. There is a clothes horse, an iron, and small ironing board provided in the property. There is an amazing view from the kitchen and from the living room of the valley, and the patio accessed from the living room backs directly onto the shared dog area (for exercise/toilet when needed). Dogs need to be kept on a lead as this area is not completely enclosed. There is a path from this area which leads to the lake, Esthwaite water. The fittings in the cottage are very good, for example a large high definition tv, and the kitchen is well stocked with cutlery, mugs, plates, pans etc, and good quality appliances. I’ve never used an induction hob before, and was very impressed with it (very quick). As other reviewers have mentioned, some of the markings have worn off the dials on the oven, but there is a diagram in the property folder of the oven dials you can use for reference to use the oven, which I only used for the grill anyway. The owners of the property, Graythwaite, are very responsive if there is any maintenance issue, I contacted them by email on a Friday night (not expecting a response until in the week), and received an email reply on the Saturday morning, and someone from maintenance came by on the Saturday afternoon. If there is any issue whatsoever, please make them aware. Another draw for us was the property’s proximity to Hawkshead, which is about 2 miles away, its walkable, half on the road, half off on a path (new path put in by the parish council). Overall a very comfortable stay and we will hopefully stay again (2 adults, one 6 yr old, 1 large German Shepherd).

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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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• Carl - Verified booking

  We enjoyed our stay and won't hesitate to come again.

  The property is very well placed in Ambleside at the top of the high street. It's the second floor in a building that houses the Co-op on the ground. It has a unique layout which gives it character. The property is slightly split-level having a small flight of stairs from the entrance/kitchen/bathroom level, up to the dining area/living room/bedroom level. The living room and bedrooms are extremely spacious. The living room has a large bay window which I enjoyed sitting in to watch the street life below. The kitchen feels modern, and the velux windows give it plenty of light. It has a small bar area for two to sit at. The kitchen facilities and utensils are plentiful. The bathroom also feels modern, there's a wash basin and bath and shower. Plenty of bath towels were provided. A small cloakroom area allows for coats and shoes. The tv has good reception and the wifi extends throughout the property. The property is very clean. We didn't hear any noise from the shop or it's morning deliveries; there was some noise from road traffic but nothing untoward. Parking is plentiful, the permit covers the whole of the Millans Park street which is immediately to the rear and is a long street. The decor is good but a fresh coat of paint wouldn't go amiss in some places. The blinds in the spare room aren't affective at keeping out the morning sun. It wasn't immediately obvious which gated entrance led to the property as there was no signage (except for #1 Redbanks next door). The shower feels "average", although probably depends on what you have at home :) Overall we were pleased and happy we got value for money.

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• Brian - Verified booking

  Great location with good-sized rooms apart from the bathroom which is poorly laid out.

  Maybe lose the bath and make room for decent sink and toilet space. The toilet is very close to a frosted window with a flimsy/see-through bamboo blind so it felt like we could be seen from outside. The mattresses were pretty hard and the beds squeaked, which made for a poor night's sleep. The double room has a 3-sided dormer window with a single blind so be prepared to wake at sunrise. Well equipped kitchen with a full range of pots, pans, cups, plates, glasses etc. The frying pan lost its 'non-stick' many breakfasts ago so we had to buy one from the shop downstairs. The entire flat is in need of redecorating, as there are damp stains on the walls in all rooms. The WiFi didn't work and there were no instructions so we didn't know which network to connect to and had no password either. The phone signal is pretty poor in the Lakes so WiFi is essential. The biggest issue was the 'free parking permit', we arrived to find two parking 'Discs' so I felt like we had been duped. We had to move our car every 60 minutes between the hours of 10:00 to 18:00 every day, which was a real pain. On the last day, I spoke to the cleaner from downstairs who said that there should have been a yellow disc left for us. Did the last guest forget to leave it? Ideally, a welcome pack informing us about the parking permit and WiFi would be welcome.

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