Dog Friendly Cottages in East Midlands

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Carl - Verified booking

  A great holiday let in a small and lovely village, with loads of walking options and it's very dog friendly.

  If you already know Anderby Creek, rest assured this is in a prime location for everything you usually do here. If you don't know Anderby Creek, well, come and find out! It's a new let, recently refurbished. The only carpet in the entire house is on the stairs, so it's dog friendly and it's easy to mop up any little doggy footprints that may appear! There's a large kitchen/diner and a separate snug/living room with log burner (very efficient once it's up to temperature too!) to keep warm and cosy on cold nights. The kitchen is well-equipped, the pots and pans are properly non-stick, the knives are actually sharp as well, which is a really good thing to find in a holiday let. There's a good fridge/freezer (makes some quirky noises, but it's very effective!) and dishwasher and the owners leave a nice selection of tea/coffee and biscuits (for both humans and dogs) as well. Out of season, shopping opportunities are limited. Probably the nearest location is the Premier food shop in the Huttoft service station about 8 minutes drive away. Probably best to stock up on food in a big shop on the way in. The only place open at night was the creek tavern in the nearby caravan park, but we didn't venture in as we had brought things with us. Hot tub is brilliant, robes are provided but... DO bring flip-flops or slippers. There is a walk across some sharp stones and a long decking corridor to get to the hot tub. The gardens at the front proved to be dog-secure for our two, who are usually good at finding gaps. The one at the back is well secured, but it isn't a "kick out the back door" type garden, you need to walk across the shared driveway, through a couple of gates and then you're in a secure location with a picnic table. Upstairs there are 3 bedrooms and a small shower/loo, which is handy at night. The twin room is narrow but long, lots of room for kids (or even adults, I guess). The king/twin room is a larger room at the back of the house. We didn't try the bed, so can't comment on comfort. We used the front bedroom with a double - one minor criticism is that I think a king size bed would be better here, rather than just a double. It was comfortable enough, but a bit snug! It's a pretty quiet road so you don't get a lot of traffic noise. Off-season at least. Probably would be livelier in holiday season when the caravan park is busy. Loads of great walks nearby - both near the sea and inland. Footpaths all over the place. Lots of wetlands for birds, and endless stretches of sandy beach. Owners were very responsive and sorted out a couple of minor issues quickly. We thoroughly recommend Beach Haven as a holiday let.

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• Tim - Verified booking

  The Tack Room Cottage is a beautifully re-furbished out-building in an idyllic farmstead setting, in a small complex of stone buildings, courtyards and gardens, with an elegant small 'manor farmhouse' at its heart.

  The whole is surrounded by pastures and woodland belonging to the property, allowing a fair bit of walking whilst hardly leaving the grounds. This includes seven minutes to your very own 'Farm Shop and Cafe', extremely friendly and well-stocked with self-catering treats, liquid and otherwise, and a perfect place for 'brunch' made largely of home grown or very local fresh food. The local area, just outside the Peak District National Park, is classic, English countryside: deep valleys with woods and running streams, high moorland, unspoilt villages clustered round their churches and traditional pubs. If you want peace and quiet, you've got it! If you like a heritage site to visit, Chatsworth is unmissable: both the house and the gardens are worth every penny and every minute of a few hours at a time. We went twice, once for the gardens (with grandchildren) and once for the house (by ourselves). Coming back to the cottage itself, it can cope well enough with two couples and two children, accommodation-wise, though the kitchen - and especially the fridge - did struggle for space a bit (we arrived in a heatwave!) The only other thing we would have different (in an ideal world) is more daylight in the main living room - just one window to see out of would be nice. On the odd rainy day, being cooped up in the house felt a little claustrophobic. This was apparent from an earlier review, so we were happy to accept it as it was and not let it spoil the holiday. When the sun was shining, we used the small, pretty back lawn for meals and drinks. The outside table and chairs there were fine but there was nothing to lounge on, so bring your own loungers or a rug, if that's what you like! The owner, Lesley, was fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble. We were left to our own devices unless we asked for something - such as re-booting the wi-fi router, which there was quite a need of for a day or two. There were plans to address that, so it may no longer be an issue; and it worked well anyway, with good bandwidth, most of the time. We went away with a couple of bags of lovely fresh vegetables from the next door garden, too - very generous and very tasty! To cap all that, we left something quite precious behind (it had slipped under a wardrobe) and Lesley followed up on it assiduously. The cleaners found it, on looking again, and it was posted back to us without charge. You could not wish for warmer or better organised hospitality!

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• Kirsten - Verified booking

  The photos of the property on Sykes Cottages site make it appear larger than it is.

  There was a sharp broken tile in the kitchen, a door off its hinges up stairs which was just left leaning against the wall, loose bath panel, poorly repaired sofas which looked horrible, the wheelie bins were full upon our arrival meaning we had nowhere to dispose of rubbish, the chairs at the dining table were in a poor state, there were not 2 washing machines - 1 was a tumble dryer which is actually better, the property was full of left food from previous tenants in the cupboards and fridge, the washing machine had lots of hair in it, I got trapped in the side porch as there is no handle on the inside, the fan in the twin room was thick with dust, female sanitary items were left in the bathroom cabinet, the bottom of the fireplace was hanging off, dog food left in a cupboard, medication left in the kitchen drawer along with syringes (without needles). There was a torn sheet on one of the single beds. I had to wash some of the plates before I could use them as they were dirty, the frying pan was sticky with grease and still had remnants of oil in it. One of the security lights outside lit up the downstairs double bedroom making it difficult to sleep, there was the same problem upstairs in the balcony room as there was no curtain at the window. The hand rail on the steps outside was too big to grip and the rail the other side of the gate couldn't be used as it was all splintered. It was surprising that dogs were not allowed on the furniture as it was all already damaged. All in all, the property was not at the standard the photographs showed, in fact some of it was incredibly dangerous, I feel that I have paid far too much for the stay there and would welcome a partial refund. The property was very clean and comfortable but I will not go again.

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• James - Verified booking

  Overall a good stay.

  Positives, a great welcome pack and good selection of games, the hot tub is massive which is great. Good to have off-road parking and location right in the town centre is excellent. I agree with others that the pictures do make it look bigger than it is. Staying with a baby, we couldn’t get the pram in the front door as the corridor and baby gate made is so narrow. I used the washer - an essential staying with a baby - but then found the dryer wouldn’t work as the water tub was full but it was impossible to empty without taking the kitchen apart to get to it. The mattress in the first floor double room sinks in the middle and wasn’t comfortable. The bathroom on the first floor has been grouted not silicon sealed between the tiles and bath meaning it’s got gaps and the grout looking a bit dirty - you notice these things when bathing a baby! Staying with a parent who has mobility and sight issues, the floors are uneven throughout the property and the downstairs shower room is very small. Part of the reason of booking this property was it had a ground floor bathroom and bedroom. One of the jets in the hot tub doesn’t work as the grey dial that switches it on/off is stuck/broken in the off position. This is an honest review of what we found and feedback to the owners and we did have a good stay.

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• Dawn - Verified booking

  Newly refurbished holiday property, just along the road from vast beach.

  House is finished to high standard, and there is a fully secure grassed garden perfect for dogs, and also a fenced in private hot tub area, which is separated from house by a parking space. Hot tub brand new, very very gentle bubble jets. Kitchen well equipped. Lounge has lovely log burner which we didn't use but would be great on colder days. TV isn't connected to an aerial, just streaming services, so you need passwords to any services you subscribe to and remember to log out. Privacy blinds needed at landing and dining room windows which face shared driveway and house next door, owners said they will be installing blinds. Beds variable, we found master bedroom mattress too firm for comfort, we therefore only used rear bedrooms, but mattresses didn't really suit us. Bedroom 2 is the only one with blackout curtains, otherwise curtains thin. Downstairs bathroom large with bath and enclosed shower, lovely. Upstairs shower room, large walk in shower but no heating or towel rail, so we had to use bedroom radiators to dry towels, and would have preferred some heat in bathroom. Owners lovely, responsive and helpful. This is their first holiday let, and is almost perfect. We would recommend this property to anyone visiting this area.

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