Half Term Holiday Cottages in the UK

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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• William - Verified booking

  Buzzards Breg is in a beautiful, but very remote location.

  The cottage itself has been sensitively & creatively refurbished after the rebuild from barn to cosy cottage. It was very comfortable. But it was a shame the woodburner had not been cleared out of ash & subsequently relaid , ready for us. ( as promised in information ) We are both touching 80 years & had recent serious health issues & stress over many months related to this. The ow ners knew this.There is no freezer in the property & we would suggest this is a neccessity due to its location, much preferable to the dishwasher which we did not use. The lobby & utility area ( with large sink ) by front door was a most useful feature where one could leave wet boots , waterproofs etc & gather our belongings together, making arrival & departure much easier, rather than continually walking back inside with outside shoes on. The listing was not accurate as there WAS a shaving point & there WAS a hairdryer provided, the former not obvious. We had not expected to provide our own toilet rolls or to strip the bed on departure. Neither of these requisites have ever been required before in s/c accommodation & friends were amazed that this was expected. A welcome pack or even just milk would have been much appreciated . In the past owners had actually asked us if there were any food items they could provide for us on our arrival. We , of course, wished to pay for these but that offer was always refused !!! The most aggravating feature of Sykes is that one cannot reach the owners until 48 hours before departure. This has NEVER been our experience before & owners have consistently wanted to be as helpful as possible prior to the holiday, always going the extra mile, even to the extent of texting us while they have been on holiday abroad themselves ! Nothing has been too much trouble. My wife was made to feel an inconvenience by Steve when she contacted Sykes re delay in owners contacting us. She had many concerns to make the holiday as easy as possible due to the huge pressures we had been under since early 2022. We are 'easy ' folk, not the troublesome variety (!) & initial communications were definitely not helpful or particularly kind. That was a shame. She was told that consumable items like bin bags , loo rolls etc must be brought by us & that personal items like a hairdryer should be brought too !!! Extraordinary ! She was told we were renting the building & that was all. It was not a good introduction & she was rather shocked, as was I . However, we give thanks for the peace & beauty of the environment, once there. It is most appropriate for walkers who have little desire to venture further than the immediate landscape.

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• Juliette - Verified booking

  We think Meadow View is in a great location, we've stayed at Sedgeford Hall in the past and wanted to revisit the area so your cottage fitted the bill.

  In all honesty the pictures on line were obviously taken a while ago and the cottage is looking a little tired. The paintwork downstairs could do with a refresh, the sofa in the dining area is not very comfortable, the one in the lounge is a bit better. The tv in the lounge was unpredictable, and turned itself off midst viewing several times and often the screen would just go blank for 10 or 15 seconds and then come back on again. We had an issue with the side door being difficult to unlock, which we did report, and the owners are going to get it sorted and were very approachable about the issue. We used the patio door instead but the gate is very difficult to close from the drive side as it needs to be lifted and that's not easy as there's no handle. We found the cottage well equipped, loads of towels supplied which was good, the beds were comfortable. Bizarrely no hand soap, despite supplying so many other things like salt, pepper, oil, oxo cubes, fairy liquid, loo roll, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel.................! The information folder was very useful and we really enjoyed the local walks and were thrilled that the local pub The King William has been upgraded and now serves lovely food! Absolutely great and a lovely walk via a footpath to get there. We have had a lovely holiday, and don't wish to sound negative, but that was our honest assessment.

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• Katie - Verified booking

  Meadow View was perfect for our family stay in Norfolk.

  It had the most fantastic garden, not only terrier proof but it backed onto fields where you could see hawks and owls. The quiet was the best thing. Very few cars and the view at night with the sunset from our bedroom across the fields was amazing. We'd open up both windows and look out before going to sleep. The rooms were great, facilities good, plenty of space in the kitchen to put things, fab pantry. The second bedroom is small but ideal for our 10 year old. Plenty of wildlife around the area, we rescued a baby hedgehog in the road and we saw stoats darting about. Plenty to do - we didn't get everything done. The General Store was outstanding with so much on offer. The cottage was so close to everything, Hunstanton, Castle Rising, Sandringham, Holme-next-the-sea, Holkham Hall etc. The big bonus was the AllDogs Meadow a 2-minute drive from the cottage, a field for dogs to run around in, our reactive rescues absolutely loved it! Whether you have dogs, kids, neither or both you will have a great stay, thanks Helen for having us.

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• Alan - Verified booking

  This was our third visit to Laal Field House.

  We hope to get back again next year unless it is (as usual) fully booked. We love the house, its size, garden, location ... everything. A couple of comments / negatives from this year. The house does need a tidy up in a couple of places - Small patch of wallpaper hanging off the ceiling in the living room, mould spots on the ceiling of the main bathroom. The refuse bin. We were five adults, one toddler and one baby. The bin was almost entirely full when we arrived on Friday. It was emptied on Tuesday but we had almost entirely filled it with refuse and nappies by the time we left on the following Friday. Could really do with a larger refuse bin. Only one front door key this year - to be used by the two families at the house ! - Contacted Sykes, somewhat unhelpful and possibly patronising (in my opinion) response. And no high chair this year (we were provided with a high chair on previous visits) The house really does have every facility ... except a high chair.

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