Dog Friendly Bed And Breakfasts In Devon

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Neil - Verified booking

  Where do I start?

  I will start with the positive - this is a nicely appointed cottage on a busy thoroughfare. It has bright breezy rooms and good facilities. The gas fireplace warms the downstairs well in the evening and the garden and outside conservatory is delightful. However, our particular week was marred from Day One by an ant infestation that was apparent as soon as we arrived. Previous occupants had left food in the cupboards which had not been removed by the cleaners, and the entire Kitchen/Living room was literally crawling with ants. We did out best to stamp-out what we could but the invasion was persistent. In the evening, we could feel them crawling on us as we sat on the couches, and it was impossible to leave any food out at all. Virtually all of our provision that we had brought with us to stock the cottage for the week had to thrown out on Day 2 of our visit (approx 35 GBP's worth), and from then-on we had to keep all food (even the Tea) in the fridge. The ants continued to re-appear each day for our entire stay. After complaining to Sykes through the Help Centre on Day 3, someone did visit the property while we were out - ant traps were left and (strangely, 'Spider Spray ??). This did nothing. Despite our regular re-location of the traps, the ants continued. Each day I updated Sykes, but to no effect. Neither Sykes, not the owners, were attentive to our complaints - nor the infestation itself. As a consequence, we left the property despondent one-day early - we were simply tired of trying to manage this problem on our own...and furious that no attempt was made to even acknowledge our situation. We spent far more money than we had budgeted having to eat-out each day, and felt compelled to return to the property early each afternoon to stamp-out the bugs. Subsequently, both the owner and Sykes have rejected our request for a 'goodwill gesture' of (at the very least) a refund for having to leave a day-early. We are long-time customers of Sykes and have never had such a disappointment - we come from Canada and have enjoyed many excellent properties...however, this property should be removed from the market and future customers should be relocated until a pest-control expert has done a serious intervention. I will be sharing this evaluation on Trip Advisor and Google as well. Our visit to beautiful Lympstone Devon was a shame. N. Orford CANADA

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• Paul - Verified booking

  4 Cumberland Cottages, This cottage is in a fantastic location, idilic.

  Great food at the pub next door. Our trip wasn't the best to the cottage and upon arrival it was beautiful. To the eye!! Great location. Very well equipped kitchen. The smell of damp & mould hit us straight away but we ignored this, as old (previously flooded according to a local in the pub) houses do suffer with this issue. The extractor fan in the bathroom didn't work. (We let the owner and a note for the cleaner to let them know) No sqeedgy to wipe down after a shower and very little bathroom item space. If you were a party of 4, very annoying. Showers were quick so as not to use limited hot water. The upstairs smelt very strongly of mould and damp. Could almost feel it in the hard, hessian type carpet. Stairs are quite steep with a lethal "blind" step into the back bedroom If you have allergies or asthma would avoid staying here. All the cushions and pillows are goose/duck feather. Awful , toxic to dogs, stick scent bottles everywhere (to mask the stale damp smell we would imagine). The Henry hoover smelt horrific of old previous wet dogs. The courtyard could definitely do with some attention! Slippery cobbles, (weather is not the owners fault) and very green from moisture. The dog in the row of cottages which was a residence dog. Howled alot. During sitting trying to relax, which set our own dog off The owner was aware of this as when we told them, they assured us the dog was loved. That's as maybe. Sounded quite distressed not to mention annoying. We get you get the odd cobweb in old places, but think the cleaners could make more of an effort on this front The bathroom was covered in them. It is a nice looking cottage, and as previously stated , we'll equipped kitchen. Although the skylight in kitchen has a cracked window with plants growing through it from outside. I would say if you don't mind damp and have no allergies. Go for it

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• Charlotte - Verified booking

  I thought the cottage was lovely and met all our needs.

  The village of Lympstone is very pretty and the cottage is ideally placed for all our holiday needs. However, I was not impressed by how clean it was, particularly during these current times. The lounge had clearly not been hovered or mopped properly as there was a small child’s book under the rug. The dishwasher was filthy and was full of rotten food and stank. It clearly had not been cleaned in between each stay. We did not use it as it was clear that it was not washing properly as some of the utensils were not washed properly. The cupboards had crumbs scattered over them and the cleaners drink had been left in the fridge. As the none recycled rubbish is only collected every three weeks we were greeted with filled bin bags in the garden which stayed there for the whole week, and because the collection was during our week, were required to put it all out in the street for collection. The bin had been rammed full and was extremely heavy to move. This would have been very difficult for someone less abled. I think that the holiday company should arrange for someone to collect this privately in between each stay. It might also be worth hiring a gardener as the weeds are starting to overtake both the front and back garden. Both these areas are very nice, so it would be a shame for them to be ruined. All these issues are easily solved and should be rectified as it really is a lovely cottage and deserves a good review.

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• Perry - Verified booking

  Barberry Brook was awful, it was filthy, dusty, run down, absolutely full of cobwebs/spiders/Insects and flies.

  We could not stay there. The owners weren’t there to greet us, we were wandering around for 45 minutes before just letting ourselves in to be disappointed. After phoning them to complain they were extremely rude and uncooperative. We had to wait well over an hour and 30 mins for them to return. The whole site was nothing like the photos, very run down, no tennis court as advertised, filthy games room and junk everywhere. The Photos online seem to be from years ago. Sykes wouldn’t return our calls to the emergency helpline, therefore leaving us stranded with zero assistance at 7pm. We wanted help for an alternative accomodation and none was given. Therefore we left the property and booked into a hotel, leaving for home the next day. We have now been told we cannot claim our money back. I have left a review on trip advisor with more details. We will never use or recommend Sykes again, and have been left extremely upset and our holiday ruined. This needs looking into further, I would suggest Sykes visits these kind of holiday cottages/establishments every so often to review the star rating as this certainly was far from a 4 star and very overpriced. We will carry on trying to get our holiday refunded as we feel it’s extremely unfair as to how we have been treated, especially trying our hardest to get help from Sykes but being left until the next day without any contact from them.

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• Emma - Verified booking

  Hugely disappointed with Sykes on this booking.

  The floors were disgusting, so much so I mopped them myself after my 8 month old baby was covered in filth from them. The heating in the second bedroom did not work too so we had half of our party returning home as they could not use the room. When I spoke to sykes they sorted the floors and gave us a radiator for the second room. Unfortunatley it was too late for our family as they had to return to cornwall. The heating in the second bedroom was also known about as the guest book mentions it in October 2019!! Parking is not 5 minutes away it is a good 15 minute walk away - which didnt bother us it would just have been nice to know in advance! The cottage itself is lovely, no expense spared in furnishings. The tv signal came and went, maybe due to the storms. Welcome pack again was lovely. I would most definitely look into the agent looking after this property as the cleanliness was just not acceptable to us. I took pictures of all the cobwebs and filthy mop bucket water to pass on. I hope this is constructive feedback as I said the cottage itself is so so lovely. I am sure the owner has out a lot of thought and effort into making it a home from home.

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