Group Accommodation Cottages in the UK

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Sarah - Verified booking

  Before reading this review, please note, we are not people who complain often and like to give fair and honesy reviews.

  We want to provide honest feedback to the owner, so that guests can continue staying in this beautiful location. The owner has a pure gem of a property to rent out and we would love for them to continue to benefit from this. Winster Fields is set in a beautiful and peaceful location. It is a spacious, and has all the amenities you will need for a comfortable stay. We stayed in this accommodation 4 years ago and were really looking forward to returning for our holiday this year. Unfortunately, when we entered the property, it smelt 'fusty', like it had been shut up for weeks. There were wasps and flies all over the surfaces and the kitchen was filthy! The cutlery and crockery were dirty in the cupboards, the bin smelt, there were food stains up the walls, the cooker hood and tiles were covered in grease, as well as the lights in the kitchen. It was clear that the property had not been cleaned properly before our arrival. If cleaners had been in, then they really didn't clean it properly. There were public hairs in the bathroom sinks, and urine splattered on the toilet brushes. We were less that impressed in arrival. Such a shame as we couldn't fault the property four years ago. We contacted Sykes straight away, who were very apologetic and contacted the owner in a timely fashion. We were informed that the cleaners would be in the day after our arrival, but nobody appeared. I then contacted sykes again and they arranged cleaners for the following day. They did come this time, but again, it was clear they only did the bare minimum and only dealt with the issues I had provided pictorial evidence for. In my opinion, the owner needs to liaise with the cleaning company regularly and discuss non negotiatiables for weekly, fortnightly and monthly cleans to ensure everything is cleaned regularly. In addition to this, there are maintenance jobs that need to be reported to the owner, who lives away. Light bulbs were out, damp patches on the ceiling and a broken chair. These all should be addressed quickly to ensure a comfortable stay. There needs to be some investment into thsi property now, as it is looking worn. Decorating needs to be done, new frying pans and utensils in th kitchens and new sofas and cushions as they are worn and smell. I am disappointed to be writing such a negative review as we love the location and had such a lovely stay 4 years ago. We enjoyed our holiday in the lakes, however didn't feel as comfortable as we should have done in our accommodation, due to the cleanliness.

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• Carol - Verified booking

  It would be really useful when properties say they are dog friendly to know what, if any restrictions there are, because at this property as with some others dogs are not allowed upstairs which creates a big problem if your dog has anxiety issues.

  We always have our own dog bed and he is never allowed on the bed but because he had to be downstairs he kept us awake. We only knew that dogs were not allowed upstairs when i telephoned the owner for the keysafe number. The garden was not dog friendly at all because it was not fenced which meant we had to keep him on a lead in the garden at all times so he couldn't escape . I chose this cottage because someone had said how soft the mattresses were but when we stayed the mattressess must have been changed because i found them uncomfortable because they were really hard, memory foam which played havoc with our backs as we are used to a soft mattress at home. Also, the water pressure in the area means that the showers are very weak and slow. We had some cold nights when we were away and found that the only way of controling the central heating was to texed the owner which when the phone signal is poor is more than irritating. I would prefer to be able to control the thermostat as and when we need to. There was a log burner which we had to use every day to warm the house in the evening. The setting for the house is lovely and the property was clean and the gardens well kept. There was a bottle of wine, eggs and milk in the fridge which i thank the owner for. There were plenty of cleaning products which was useful, one piece of advise i would say take some extra toilet rolls as there are not enough provided.

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• Sue - Verified booking

  This was the 2nd time that we had been to this property and we still think it is a lovely house and would consider returning.

  However, we think in order to make it a definite potential 3rd stay for us, the following would possibly need to be addressed: 1/ The beds seem a little old and hard and some of the bedding (pillows and pillow cases in particular) is also uncomfortable and render sleep difficult. 2/ The owner's insistence on controlling the heating and guests' inability to access the central heating controls (cupboard locked) and fact that have to keep phoning the owner to adjust heating if weather changes could annoy a lot of potential guests as is quite tiresome and also means house is unnecessarily at the wrong temperature a lot of the time. We were only there for 3 days and the weather really varied in that time and at 1 point house was too hot and at other times far too cold. We have never stayed in another holiday house in which we cannot control the heating ourselves. We do understand, to a certain extent why this being done(current prohibitive energy costs etc). However, think this could prove a false economy for the owner as will stop some guests from returning. However, we still love this house, these comments are meant to be constructive suggestions and we would still consider returning.

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• Brian - Verified booking

  Abbott’s Retreat is a handsome spacious property in a lovely corner of Shropshire.

  Friendly and solicitous owner, good welcome provisions. Facility for a real fire which would have been welcome were it not for the mild weather and very effective central heating that made lighting afire seem a tad wasteful. The house is well equipped and generally very comfortable, with only one qualification.. three of four in our party found the beds to be too soft. In one case this resulted in choosing to sleep on the floor. Normally I would not comment on this.. since bed softness is generally an issue of personal preference.. but for three of us to feel this is unusual (and we have been doing these trips for over 20 years). I did not get any sense that this softness resulted from excessively worn mattresses.. in fact they felt like quality items.. rather that they are naturally very soft. Some people may well love them and I should point out that the fourth member of our party was perfectly content, so “your mileage may vary”. In spite of this we would still consider rebooking this property, because in every other respect it worked very well for us, but would come better equipped for floor sleeping!

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• Vera - Verified booking

  Negative stuff: Some issues with the ground floor shower - lack of pressure/cold water - which we think might have been to both showers being in use at the same time.

  Fridge could have been bigger. Noisy cooker fan and first floor bathroom extraction fan. Place didn’t have any signs of damp but there was a slight humidity/dampness that made it impossible to dry any washing and we couldn’t get the drier to work (might have been user error didn’t check instructions and managed to dry most stuff outside). Outdoor furniture was old greyed teak passed its best but useable. 6 chairs - one broken chair (unuseable) and one broken, but repaired. We did sit out a lot as there was a great view. BBQ looked new, but wasn’t clean so didn’t use it. Positive stuff: Lovely quiet location and possible to walk along footpath (1 mile) to Mason’s Arms pub for a pint. Everything work (except for intermittent water issues in shower). Lots of kitchen equipment, pans, crockery etc. Place was clean and all beds made with fresh linen and towels available. Good location for south Lakes - off the beaten track but all the better for it if you want to avoid the crowds at Bowness etc. and have walks that aren’t full of other people.

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