Gloucestershire Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Peter - Verified booking

  Not what we expected from description.

  It’s a lovely location, and the property looks nice, walking in it looked great. However, it lacked a lot when looking closer. It is advertised as no pets, great, as we have a pet fur allergy in the family, and that point made us pick it over another property. On arrival we were pestered by a cat, that was very familiar to the place, trying to get in as we were. It didn’t stop. Every-tine we came and went it tried to get in. As others have stated there are annex doors, locked, in the kitchen area. This was not mentioned in description. The owners reply acknowledged these doors. However we were aware somebody was in there, could hear them, lights on and off, as well as their rubbish in the bins, so clearly being lived in. It was very uncomfortable to know someone was just a door away, we wouldn’t have booked if we had known this. There is also an exterior door in the children’s bedroom, hidden behind the curtains. With our son being autistic with issues of doors being locked, security, he was not happy and didn’t sleep because of all of this. I would consider the property in breach of contract, it’s not what we thought we had booked. We were out for a couples of days so didn’t spend time sitting on the sofa, until Christmas Day. We noticed the removable sofas covers were very dirty. We also noticed after our daughter started with streaming eyes, itching skin and sneezing that there was cat fur on the arms of the chair and sofas. This for her made Christmas awful. The kitchen looked good until you looked closer. The kettle had a fur coat inside, desperately needs descaling. We couldn’t make a hot drink as the fur came out with the water. The toaster was pretty burned out and rusty inside, so not even a slice of toast could be done. The pots and pans in the drawers, what little there was of them, were mouldy. The fridge has issues as it is frosting up. We had planned to cook a good size roast for Christmas dinner, but we couldn’t as kitchen was poorly equipped. Christmas Day ruined. The washer dryer has an error, it wouldn’t allow anytime over 12 minutes drying time, so was useless to us. The property was generally unclean, not hoovered, dusted, questionable if bedding was changed as there were marks on them. Dirt and hair in the bath, dead bugs in the shower, conkers in with the 2 toilet rolls. Very poor. The description states fuel provided, which as the only fuel user is the fire,that should be logs etc, there was only 2 that were damp and small. Empty fire lighter packets. The property was cold as heating didn’t warm it at all. As others have said, there were no instructions for anything. The welcome pack lacked anything required. There was no means to contact owners, which could have helped ease some issues. The issues of cat fur on sofas, needed the change over clean to be much better, incase a guest let it in, as some from reviews suggest. Perhaps state the cat is not to be let in. Too late for us. our Christmas was cut short as we left on Boxing Day after trying to contact Sykes to report issues and try to resolve, but Sykes didn’t answer or respond, even to the emergency contact. We had no choice but to leave as our daughter’s allergy was getting worse. Since leaving Sykes has been useless, infact they are making it worse and pushing us to take legal action to resolve as they have been unreasonable. The property has great potential as it’s a nice location and building, but needs extra work to maintain it as a whole and concentrate on the details of being fully cleaned and providing full information, a welcome pack of maybe milk, bread, biscuits etc etc would have be nice.

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• Diane - Verified booking

  We stayed here in October 2020, getting in a week's holiday while we could in the current climate.

  October is usually wet, so we wanted somewhere cosy so we could curl up with a log fire if the weather turned cold... Elm View is in a small village, with a pub, a church, and not much else - perfect! It is also ideally situated for driving to the lovely local towns of Chipping Campden, Broadway, Stow-on-the-Wold etc., all within a short drive through beautiful countryside. The gravel driveway allows for spacious and safe off-road parking, with a decent sized garden at the rear. Be aware that the main photo shows one big house - it's actually a semi-detached house! Downstairs is a good-sized living room, with open fire, DVD player and CD/hi-fi unit, good sized Freeview TV and the BT router. The Onkyo CD/hifi player and the TV are both connected to the Q Acoustics speakers, which makes a huge difference. You can connect an iPod to the Onkyo too. The sofas are new-ish - the three seater is very comfortable, the two seater isn't. On the other side of the small lobby is the kitchen, and a separate larder with dishwasher, proper 50/50 fridge/freezer and washing machine (note: no tumble dryer). The kitchen has everything you need - oven, electric hob, microwave, table and sink. Up the fairly steep stairs to the first floor, where you'll find the main bedroom - large with a double bed, bedside tables, wardrobe and cot - and the second bedroom, smaller but with built-in wardrobe and chest of drawers, double bed and lovely views. There is also the bathroom, with separate shower enclosure, bath and sink. The second floor is accessed by steep stairs and a very low doorway, and comprises just the third bedroom. It's a bit awkward to get to, and I wouldn't fancy a nighttime trip down those stairs for a wee, but once in the room it is a large, comfortable room with a double bed. So, pluses and minuses time. Pluses: Very clean Good bed linen, towels etc. Lovely cosy log fire Comfortable sofa Excellent broadband / wifi - with a standard BT router if you need to connect an ethernet cable Great CD player/hifi, with quality Onkyo stereo and Q Acoustics 2020i speakers Good sized TV and a DVD player Minuses: The pillows - take your own, as they feel like they are filled with ball bearings The mugs - a truly horrible mix and match of novelty mugs, they need binning and replacing with a new set from Ikea! The water is foul - we ended up buying a couple of large still water bottles for drinking water. The tap water makes tea and coffee disgusting, with sludge and scum. Really would check it with Thames Water as it is awful. Double bed in the main bedroom - it is both uncomfortable and too small - the room is huge, so why not have a king? On arrival we also noticed no hot water, the shower trap was blocked, and the shower head knackered. Called Manor Cottages (on a Sunday morning!) and within an hour and a half the maintenance man was there to fix all three problems, which was exceptional. After that, lovely hot water, new shower head, clear draining shower - I really don't understand why the previous reviewer didn't simply make a call to have the issues resolved. To be fair, I would have expected the cleaners to have noticed the tepid water, and certainly the blocked shower trap, but fair play to Manor for sorting it out so quickly and efficiently. With just a few adjustments (and not terribly expensive ones) this would be a 5 star review - as it is, I would definitely return (just remembering to take my own pillows, a Brita filter and mugs!). Would you recommend this hotel to a friend? Yes.

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• Emily - Verified booking

  Unfortunately, very mixed feelings.

  After a long journey we just wanted to get in and get our evening meal on. Went to put the oven on and get out a roasting dish. Both dishes we found were not just dirty, they looked like they had been left after the last meal had been served from them. We had to start our holiday by washing up someone else’s roast / grilled leftovers. The first couple of plates and mugs we took out to use were dirty. There were several chipped plates and bowls and a glass. In the utility area there was an overflowing pile of recycling. To be fair we guess the previous guests hadn’t put it out for collection as the recycling schedule was out of date, it was last year's. It said collection day was Tuesday, we were going to put it out on Tuesday hoping it would go but we were disturbed by the van arriving on Monday morning, so missed it. We contacted the letting agent to complain. They said they would send housekeeping round to sort the dirty items and a maintenance person to take the rubbish away. (Neither arrived). Very poor customer service. No follow up. We had also asked where we had to put our dog poo bags as that wasn’t mentioned anywhere. They said in the bin. So if the out of date schedule is right about the frequency of the collections some are only fortnightly which means the next guests will have our dog’s poo bags still in the bin. As a business shouldn’t the waste be collected differently to the domestic council system, at the end of each booking? We ended up taking some of our recycling with us on a day out to get rid of some of it! We had to leave the food waste bin dirty as there were no liners as mentioned in the guest information folder. The folder needs reviewing. We left some dirty items we found, the out of date recycling schedule and the food bin on the table so hopefully housekeeping will deal with them before the next guests arrive. Such a shame as the owners have a nice cottage in a good location, it will be even better when the village pub reopens. Good off road parking. Nice to find the wine, orange juice, milk and biscuits after finding the dirty items. We were aware of the honest description about steep stairs and low beams and were happy to work round that. Several of the photos do not represent the cottage as we found it. We do agree with some of the other reviews. It should be advertised for 4. Technically it does sleep 6, bedrooms are a good size, but we found it very uncomfortable to sit 5 adults around the dining table so not sure how 6 would manage. The sitting room only has 5 seats, unless the pouffe is supposed to be a seat. Unfortunately the way the feedback questions are worded we will have to give low scores. Overall cleanliness was ok but dirty kitchen items and rubbish is not ok. The photos don’t represent the layout of the kitchen and seating in the sitting room. Photos need updating. Sorry to sound so disappointed but happy to send you photos of our concerns if that would be helpful to the owners. We’re sorry to bring down your ratings but feel it’s important to give you honest feedback.

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• Emily - Verified booking

  Unfortunately, very mixed feelings.

  After a long journey we just wanted to get in and get our evening meal on. Went to put the oven on and get out a roasting dish. Both dishes we found were not just dirty, they looked like they had been left after the last meal had been served from them. We had to start our holiday by washing up someone else’s roast / grilled leftovers. The first couple of plates and mugs we took out to use were dirty. There were several chipped plates and bowls and a glass. In the utility area there was an overflowing pile of recycling. To be fair we guess the previous guests hadn’t put it out for collection as the recycling schedule was out of date, it was last year's. It said collection day was Tuesday, we were going to put it out on Tuesday hoping it would go but we were disturbed by the van arriving on Monday morning, so missed it. We contacted the letting agent to complain. They said they would send housekeeping round to sort the dirty items and a maintenance person to take the rubbish away. (Neither arrived). Very poor customer service. No follow up. We had also asked where we had to put our dog poo bags as that wasn’t mentioned anywhere. They said in the bin. So if the out of date schedule is right about the frequency of the collections some are only fortnightly which means the next guests will have our dog’s poo bags still in the bin. As a business shouldn’t the waste be collected differently to the domestic council system, at the end of each booking? We ended up taking some of our recycling with us on a day out to get rid of some of it! We had to leave the food waste bin dirty as there were no liners as mentioned in the guest information folder. The folder needs reviewing. We left some dirty items we found, the out of date recycling schedule and the food bin on the table so hopefully housekeeping will deal with them before the next guests arrive. Such a shame as the owners have a nice cottage in a good location, it will be even better when the village pub reopens. Good off road parking. Nice to find the wine, orange juice, milk and biscuits after finding the dirty items. We were aware of the honest description about steep stairs and low beams and were happy to work round that. Several of the photos do not represent the cottage as we found it. We do agree with some of the other reviews. It should be advertised for 4. Technically it does sleep 6, bedrooms are a good size, but we found it very uncomfortable to sit 5 adults around the dining table so not sure how 6 would manage. The sitting room only has 5 seats, unless the pouffe is supposed to be a seat. Unfortunately the way the feedback questions are worded we will have to give low scores. Overall cleanliness was ok but dirty kitchen items and rubbish is not ok. The photos don’t represent the layout of the kitchen and seating in the sitting room. Photos need updating. Sorry to sound so disappointed but happy to send you photos of our concerns if that would be helpful to the owners. We’re sorry to bring down your ratings but feel it’s important to give you honest feedback.

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• Cathy - Verified booking

  Elm View was a lovely surprise after reading some of the previous poor reviews.

  Beds, pillows, kitchen ware and lounge were all perfect. Clearly the owner has listened as there was nothing wrong with the bed or pillows and I’m most certainly a critical individual if sleeping facilities are poor! A couple of slight issues were the road outside the property does have a fair amount of traffic passing by at ALL hours of the day and the issue with next doors pooches is definitely an bug bare but my dogs definitely gave them a run for their money which seemed to shut them up as the owner clearly didn’t care how much they barked! Finally the only issue was the lack of sunshine after 3pm in the back garden due to the large trees. As a family we spend most of our time outdoors it would have been much more pleasant had the sun not been hidden. All in all we had a great time and would definitely recommend to others. Finally I would like to say that we have always left properties in a clean and tidy state on departure (often better than we found them). Elm view was no exception but to be honest the list of requirements re, How to leave the property was exceptionally long and demanding and regardless of Covid there was definitely not 8 hours work to prepare the accommodation for next guests. Therefore I believe the 6pm arrival time is totally unnecessary and looses everyone that stays here a full day of their holiday Which I might add for over £1500 isn’t very good.

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