Dog Friendly Villas In Alnmouth

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Richard - Verified booking

  Whilst the cottage met our requirements and we enjoyed our stay in Alnmouth several key points let this cottage down.

  It has become noticeably unloved since our first visit. The furniture has become uncomfortable- mattressess and one of the sofas are very saggy/lumpy. The downstairs bathroom is constantly freezing as the window is locked open and constantly lets in a draft even with the heating on full blast. It makes for a rather chilly and fast shower which is not pleasant! The fan in the en-suite upstairs doesn't work and I'm sure we reported it broken on our last visit in 2022 and has still not been repaired. At the moment there is significant building work immediately opposite the cottage and this has removed most of the available parking for this cottage and the one immediately in front. The builders turn up at 08:00 and have the radio blaring so there is no chance of a lie in or quiet breakfast. Getting a vehicle in and turned around is very difficult, not helped by builders and indeed random people from other cottages coming and stealing the space often means you are relegated to finding a space on the road - which is infuriating when you specifically choose a property with a parking space as parking in Alnmouth is scarce at times. This information should be stated in a more prominent place on the listing as it significantly impacts the leisure and quiet time of our holiday. The listing says the building work will finish in March 2024 but during our week in mid-April they were only just fitting the roof. Cleanliness of the property is poor - cobwebs in numerous places and under the mattresses when you move them to adjust the sheets etc are filthy with dust and fluff. Spilled tea (I hope) stains on the back of upstairs bedroom door. Windows are absolutely filthy. Kitchen has broken utensils, inside the draws are grubby at the bottom and generally needs a restock of glasses etc - there wasn't even a frying pan provided! The welcome pack consists of 2 tea bags and some cartons of UHT milk. There was no soap in either of the bathrooms and only a dribble of washing up liquid left. When you arrive the clocks weren't even showing the right time and/or battery flat, the internet wasn't working as it had been unplugged and it took us ages to find the router - it just makes it feel like no one cares about the place or first impressions for your visit. We booked this cottage on the hope some of the previous feedback has been actioned but sadly no improvements have been made to the property in 2 years. We will not be returning to this property again, which is very sad as we have had some lovely trips there in the past.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Robert - Verified booking

  Could have been cleaner.

  Underneath the chairs in lounge was filthy. Kids hand prints all over windows and TV. Dirty skirting boards. Empty loo rolls left in toilet. Shower head in bathroom was broken so water comes out of the side rather than the holes. Cobwebs up high. We had to rescue two birds from the wood burner as there is no cowl on the chimney. We’ve been to a property before in Alnmouth and both this and the other are maintained by Northumbria Cottages. The level of cleaning was poor with both. A mirror in the shower room was cracked, which we reported to Northumbria Cottages. They said they would contact us to sort but no one called or turned up. We were there two weeks. On a positive note, the house is great. Plenty of room, very comfy and ideally located for the beach. It’s just lacking a utility room where you can put shoes and clean dogs after a day on the beach. If the house was cleaner it would get 5 stars all day long.

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• Andrew - Verified booking

  The property would have been perfect but for: 1.

  Work at No 5 made it impossible to enjoy the sunshine in the patio 2. The waste bin was full when we arrived. Unable to take the bin behind No 5 to join the other bins. We were recommended to take the bin out to the lane at the back. I cut two huge 1/2 inch thick briers which and one of the workmen very kindly took the bin out for us. The bin was not collected on Thursday. Contacted Jill on one of your supplied numbers and she arranged for the owner to contact the council. A special uplift was made - thank you Jill. 3. We met the cleaning team as we were leaving at 10am on Friday. Jill took photographs of the mess in the back. 4. The in house EE wifi varied from weak to ok. We have been regular visitors to Alnmouth over the last 30 years. This experience will not put us off the town which is wonderful but we will be asking for assurances that the above problems are not waiting for us when we ARRIVE NEXT TIME.

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