Dog Friendly Cottages in South Hams District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Matt - Verified booking

  Woodlands is a huge and beautiful period property, and a lovely house and location for a family or group gathering.

  The facilities are excellent with a very well equipped, if quite small for the size of the property (period again), kitchen. There are three comfortable, communal seating and dining areas, all of the many bedrooms and bathrooms/ensuites are large, comfortable, modern and well appointed, and the "chill" room was great for the kids. Immediately outdoors there's a roughly East facing (so morning sun only) colonial style covered veranda and a patio with a vast table & chairs and 2 BBQs, all with superb views over the surrounding countryside and down to Warfleet Creek. There are also extensive and well-maintained gardens, though with steep steps/paths down to access most of them. Also at the bottom of the garden is a newly laid large, flat-ish area of lawn, which couldn't be accessed at the time of our stay but would be good for kids when established. The house is a 15ish minute walk from the centre of delightful Dartmouth, although it's along a tight and rolling (if reasonably quiet) road with no footpath for the 200m closest to the house. It's a very picturesque and quiet 10 minute walk round to the castle & beaches and straight on to the stunning SW Coast Path. As mentioned in other reviews, there is a steep, tight drive up to the house, which might be a test for some drivers and/or the less mobile. We rarely saw the owners who live in an adjoining cottage, though they were very pleasant when we did, and assuming you're not planning a rave I wouldn't let this put you off in any way. In summary, it's hard to fault Woodlands and we thoroughly enjoyed our week living as Lords of the Manor!

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• Rachel - Verified booking

  I was very nervous about booking this property as it clearly stated that it’s not suitable for those who are mobility impaired.

  5/7 of us fell into that category. Fortunately, it’s possible to drive up and unload directly outside the house which was a game changer. The most able of us enjoyed the top two bedrooms. The others were able to manage the stairs to the other 4 rooms. Each of which has a view to the river. Everyone was able to get to the veranda even though most are in their mid 80’s. The house is gorgeous, and even the piano is in tune. It’s extremely well equipped, although the Aga was a bit of a challenge as there are no temperature dials on the oven. Still, magnificent meals were prepared, and I enjoyed ringing the dinner bell. Alas, there is a road collapse, so vehicle access to town is via the long way. We coped, and it’s not a bad walk for people into their 60’s. For the more elderly, we drove them down to the road closed sign. My cousin did have slight difficulty driving his people mover up the steep driveway when it was wet. However, I had no problem in my mid sized, but powerful car. Grocery shopping is very handy. Lovely walk to the castle. During dinner one evening, we enjoyed watching deer bound up the opposite hill. The garden is gorgeous. Everything is well maintained. It was a real treat to stay in such a historic home, that has been clearly loved for almost 225 years.

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• John - Verified booking

  My wife and I paid a very brief visit to the area on a family matter, so not really a holiday, what a superb property, so comfortable, clean and well appointed.

  We met the owners (the rental property is attached to their home) they were very friendly and welcoming. As far as my wife and I could ascertain the description of the property on Sykes' website was spot on. The whole property is so well fitted out to a high, modern standard, stunningly clean and well decorated, we have stayed in very few better appointed holiday lets during the last 50-years, we thoroughly recommend it. There are just a couple of minor points that we felt were worth considering, they most certainly are not criticisms, but may help future visitors. Firstly, Rondeval is on quite a long road and all properties have names not house numbers, Sykes' documentation simply states that the Postcode will lead to the property, it did, but we had to look carefully at each house name as we drove along the road, so it may help if more detailed instructions are given to help find the house, especially after dark. Secondly, my wife and I are not in the first flush of youth and I have mobility problems so we were concerned about the shower, we felt that a non-slip mat in the shower could be advantageous, it would alleviate the worry of slipping for the more infirm guests. Superb, we wish that we could have extended our stay.

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• Nicki - Verified booking

  This was my first time booking a holiday via Helpful Holidays and we couldn't have been more thrilled with Woodlands.

  An imposing Georgian house, fully equipped, very luxurious, (especially the bedding), it was more than home from home. We were 3 family's totallying 12 people but the house is large enough to not feel on top of each other, with 3 living rooms and the kitchen on the ground floor as well as the outside terrace which we spent many hours sitting out looking at the amazing view. The games room on the top floor was a hit for the younger members of our party however as we were lucky enough to have such amazing weather we didn't really make the best use of the inside space, however if the weather had been more challanging then you could easily lose a few hours here. The area is lovely and quiet and took us around 10 minutes to walk into the main town, a pleasant walk but not for the fainthearted as it is quite steep on the walk home, but worth it for the views from both both the balcony and the main windows in the house. Am already looking at returning for our next large family get together in 18 months time as this really is a fantastic house and unusual as we have found that many houses that accommodate large numbers are often in rural areas, and Dartmouth really has everything you need for all ages.

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• Nadine - Verified booking

  We stayed at Woodlands as an extended family of 10 adults, a child and a toddler.

  Woodlands house gave us the space to spend a wonderful week together, but was also big enough to allow people to grab a quiet 10 minutes when needed. The multiple bathrooms/en suites were fabulous and we all enjoyed nice relaxing baths after days at the beach. The house itself is very impressive, decorated to a high standard with all the pots, pans and crockery needed for a big family - we cooked and ate in most nights and found everything we needed. Small maintenance issues such as the door knobs falling off, we also couldn't find the key for the connecting bedroom door lock. This didn't affect us too much but does need attention. The location of Woodlands is brilliant, the garden, patio and multiple windows offer beautiful views, many of the nearby cove. It was a gentle 15 min walk into town, which we all managed easily enough. The drive is steep as described. We hardly used our cars as there is so much to do in Dartmouth, we also took some boat and steam train trips. Blackpool Sands beach was a 5 min drive and we enjoyed a couple of days there doing watersports. In summary, a beautiful home that is big enough to accommodate a large family, great location and beautifully presented.

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