Dog Friendly Cottages in Alnmouth

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Philippa - Verified booking

  We had a lovely holiday exploring Northumbria and found Alnmouth a good base.

  Longshore was a comfortable property, but there were a few things that detracted from our stay in the house and really need addressing for future lets. - there are quite a lot of weeds and moss at the entrance to the property, which makes it look untidy and not very welcoming - I gashed my foot on a nail that was protruding through the floor board of one of the bedrooms, this was resolved quickly by Northumbrian Coast and Cottages, but nevertheless gave me a limp all week. - My husband was given a parking ticket on Saturday morning at 7am as he had not put the parking permit on display when he arrived late on the Friday night. Parking restrictions do not start until 8am, so we have appealed it, but not something we want to do whilst on holiday. A warning in the welcome email would have been helpful to advise guests to put this on no matter the time. - the shower tray does not drain quick enough. Only my mother in law used it after the first day as she couldn't get in the bath due to mobility issues. However she had to keep on turning it off to let it drain away during her shower. - There was no mirror in the shower room, this was in two halves resting behind the sink. - In the main bathroom the sink plug is broken and was left open. Although a little aggravating I didn't think it would cause us an issue until the toothpaste lid fell down it, I then spent 15 minutes trying the get it out of the plug, which I did manage, but this needs replacing. - We spent some lovely time outside in the patio area, however some of the chairs were broken, and the rail by the steps is loose and a bit dangerous. - The kitchen, whilst well equipped in some utensils, was very lacking in others. There are not enough mugs, knives and teaspoons. It could do with some more sharp knives, and I would have liked some small bowls or plastic bowls/plates for my two year old twins. The bowls were huge for children. Other things that would have been really useful would have been a fruit bowl, a butter dish, some serving dishes for the vege/salad etc. Also a dustpan and brush - As a word of caution we had two starlings in the log burner. We managed to get them out without any problems, but I daresay other guests may not have managed. It needs a bird guard over the chimney. I'm sorry to write such a long feedback, but I couldn't see where else to send this as there is no contact email. Overall, we had a lovely stay, but for the price I think these things need sorting.

  Read more less >

• Chris - Verified booking

  We were planning to make a formal complaint about the parking permit situation.

  We asked for 2 permits. When the first car load arrived at the house Friday evening they found one in-date permit. They phoned the emergency number to ask for a second permit and after a 15 minute wait for the call to be answered were told they needed the reference number for the property before anything could be done and the office closed at 7pm. This was about 6.30 and the our car was still en route with said reference number tucked somewhere in the luggage. We arrived just before 7pm and tried to phone but the office was now closed. Saturday morning we rang again and a helpful lady said she would contact the owner and get back to us, which she did. The owner had told her the permit was in a drawer in the hall unit. There was no such unit in the hall but we searched through the unit in the lounge where the first permit was found; there was no second permit (only old out-of-date permits and letters chasing up Council Tax payments). We rang again an spoke to the same lady who said she would contact the owner again and get back to us. She never did. We tried another call on Monday morning but couldn't get through so made the decision to drive the car to the beach car park and pay to park for the day (£3.50), rather than risk the constant niggle of receiving a fine. Our complaint is about the lack of concern on behalf of your agent and the owner. Even if the issue was not solvable at short notice a phone call back and apology would have been nice. It felt that the agent chose to believe the owner rather than us and it was left to us to find a solution. We loved the location of the house - A friendly welcoming village too. Gadgets were all in working order. Nice modern bathrooms and everything spotlessly clean. A few items needed topping up: more lightwieght mugs/teaspoons; the small bedroom lacked a table light and socket; sink plug missing in one of the bathrooms; a slip mat would be good in the walk-in shower; a bit more information about local services in the info folder, particularly bus services. The 2'6" beds were a little small for adults, were they intended for children? Hope these suggestions are helpful.

  Read more less >

• Vicki - Verified booking

  It was disappointing to arrive at 5pm (which is a very late check-in time) to find the house hadn't been cleaned.

  We then tried calling the numbers on our booking form - one of which was out of order and the other was to a lady who no longer serviced the house. We had to search for another number to contact somebody and then arrange for a cleaner to come urgently. This meant we could not unpack or go shopping, as had been planned. We were told to go out for a meal and charge this to Northumberland Coast and Country Cottages, which was helpful. However, we then had to use the Sunday morning to go shopping and felt we had lost a night and morning of our holiday time. The cleaners did a good job of making the beds and bathrooms clean and tidy, but the general cleanliness of the house was below standard. There was dust under beds, on the stairs, old socks and cloths behind bedside cabinets and furniture. The dishwasher needed a deep clean as the dishes smelled terrible so we had to handwash all of the dishes (which for 10 people was a lot of work). There were baby cots/highchairs/potties all over the house, with nowhere to store them out of the way. The wardrobes in the master bedroom were filled with boxes and bags so there was very little room to hang clothes, and most of the wardrobes in the bedrooms didn't have hangers so clothes had to folded and put wherever there was space. The outside area was full of cobwebs and the artificial grass had debris all over it - which considering this is the first impression of the house was really disappointing. We ended up sweeping and cleaning and hoovering so that the house was clean for our guests who we had invited to share the time with us. I am still waiting for the reimbursement of our meal and the housekeeping bond, so will need to take time today to contact the company again, as I would have thought this would have been dealt with by now. Overall, I have paid nearly £3,500 for a week that did not meet my expectations at all. A very disappointed customer.

  Read more less >

• Jacqui - Verified booking

  We loved the location of the Beach House.

  Here is our true and honest feedback, please note that the work in progress points would not stop us booking again and is to only highlight that if these issues were corrected it would enhance future guests experience. Good points Location - Amazing sea views from everywhere. Very warm and comfortable Lots of equipment Beds wonderfully comfortable and great quality duvets Work in progress points Flies- There was dead and live flies in the house everyday, considering it was December we had no idea where they were coming from. We did report this. Fire- The flame effect fire did not work. The house was wonderfully warm, so for heat this was not a problem, but it would have been lovely for ambiance. Cobwebs and attention to detail to housekeeping. The house was clean so this is just a comment to get the housekeeper to look up and under curtains as we found sweets on floor and many cobwebs on the ceiling, as well as about twenty dead flies on the floor by front door when we first arrived. No hand soap in the toilets This would have been really useful for cleanliness The curtains in the leaving room did not close. The bracket on the curtain rail stopped the curtains. No Christmas decorations - Whilst this was not advertised, everywhere else we have stayed in mid December put up a tree and this would be a lovely touch. Thank you for a lovely stay.

  Read more less >

• Stephen - Verified booking

  Fantastic property very clean and well equipped .

  We have stayed previously at nearby properties . lovely and light and well designed Loads of crockery, a few kitchen essentials missing, grater, scissors, larger serving/ stirring spoons and spatulas . lots of other stuff available Vacuum cleaner was broken, sorry usually we vacuum before we leave . Non recycling waste bin was full presumably had not been put out for collection the previous week, maybe needs checking at the end of each week as this was very full and smelly, not good Would benefit from the usual file of property information , emergency numbers, inventory, instructions all in one place in one grab file . We had to play hunt the instructions . This would mean that for example bin collection days are highlighted. No inventory means you cant check what's supposed to be there window cleaners appeared without notice one day, maybe emphasis they should speak to anyone in the property / ring the bell if someone is there not just let themselves in at the back and start work frankly that was not polite overall a brilliant stay and the above did not distract from an amazing property

  Read more less >