Helmsley Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Catherine - Verified booking

  We alerted the property owner and booking.

  Com of the time of arrival . Received an email suggesting they would be there to hand over the key.I had no other information given to me at this time. When we arrived at the property there was no one there. We hung about for an hour then went to the local pub to try and phone for help as we had no signal on our phones. We waited on the phone to Booking.com on the pubs land line for nearly an hour with no answer. At this point we were very hungry and tired (also aware of using the pubs phone)and went to another local pub to get some food. I did go on chat at booking .com for advise and also emailed sykes holidays , booking.com several times. I could not get a signal. On chat they said they would get back to me within half and hour. I had told them that I had no signal. At 9pm we went back to the property hoping someone would have come or left a note etc. On looking around outside we realised there was a key in the key lock but at no point have I been given a code. My son tried for nearly an hour to get into the code and eventually cracked the code and got the key. I am unsure what we would have done as I expect everywhere was booked. We would probably have had to drive all the way home. You can check the emails and chat and at no point did anyone give us the code. When I eventually got in we had access to wifi and noticed that Booking .com had tried to phone us at 8:30pm. This was useless as we had no signal and I had clearly told them that on the chat . Very stressful and annoying start to the holiday. We were not expecting to go out for a meal due to covid and had brought all our meals to cook. I would like some compensation for this awful start to our holiday!

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• Pam - Verified booking

  The cottage is in a lovely position with wonderful views across Rosedale and a very pleasant garden.

  There was, however, an issue around space. The ground floor open-plan living/dining/kitchen area was tiny and smaller than it appeared in the photographs. Even with only two guests and a dog, we were cramped for space and we certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in a party of four. We felt that we would have had more room to move on a narrowboat. There are some small inaccuracies in the cottage description. The first floor bedroom does not contain a standard sized double bed and fuel for the wood-burning stove is not included as implied. There was enough for the first night but the expectation was that guests would provide the rest. Most cottages state this explicitly but this cottage did not. It is also not made clear that neighbours have access through the garden. The cottage was clean and well presented but evidence of a previous canine visitor was clearly evident on the lawn when we arrived and had not been cleaned up. We do not have satnav and were concerned that directions to the cottage were very poor, being both confusing and contradictory and bearing no relation to either a standard road atlas or an OS map. Sadly, the two requests made for further clarification from the owners went unanswered. We were greatly helped by the Phillips Street Guide to North Yorkshire which enabled us to make some sense of otherwise incoherent instructions.

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• Danielle - Verified booking

  Sykes Staff have been nothing but friendly and accommodating, they were not to fault for our unsatisfactory stay.

  The property however had dust webs left in corners (despite cleaners) and offered no QR code/Covid guidelines, no antibacterial hand wash or sanitiser (good job we took our own). We were greeted by a wasps nest by the front door obviously using the property’s roof. The door with its large double glass windows offered no privacy from passers by using the shared drive and communal laundry room given the fact the shower and toilet were right behind it which resulted in us having to hang a towel over the door. The pictures of the garden were misleading. It clearly shows a grass area which had been cordoned off and belonged to another property which only left the stoned area you see in the pictures which would have been fantastic if it weren’t for the fact they are not friendly to the paws of our fury friends which meant our pet friendly get away wasn’t in fact so pet friendly at all and his off lead play time went out the window. The directions to the property are not clear, even using ‘what four words’ we had difficulty. In the end we were forced to contact Sykes which then had to contact the owners who added another couple of steps to the directions. Frankly if it weren’t for the fact we had to rely on a family member for travel and our signal was so spotty we never would have stayed.

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• Adam - Verified booking

  Never left a review before but this cottage really exceeded our expectations.

  Firstly, really grateful for having a decent king sized mattress so we could get comfortable night's rest. A basic requirement that for the sake of an extra couple of £100, baffles me as to why owners in other properties don't get right (I would never return to a holiday cottage with a rubbish mattress no matter how nice everything else was). If I was really picky, twin beds rather than a double in the second room would have suited us better though my teenaged son enjoyed hogging the double and our youngest was happy to sleep into the very comfy guest bed in the master bedroom with us. My wife was very taken by how tastefully decorated it was, l loved the woodburner and the owner has obviously put a lot of thought into the practicalities of the stay. Kids were happy with the WiFi and smart TV plus other little extras. It was in a fantastic location with easy access to lovely walks, Dalby Forest and the coast. The local pub was lovely and had really nice pub grub. You could buy all you needed from either the local shop or the camp/ caravan site. We got a last minute deal to make the stay even sweeter. It really was the best holiday we've had in a while! Couldn't fault this cottage and would happily recommend to anyone.

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• Lorna - Verified booking

  The description doesn't do this cottage justice.

  It's a perfect location for walking the Cleveland Way and visiting the gems that are dotted across the west of the North Yorkshire Moors all the way to the East Coast. The cottage itself is on a farm run by delightful and welcoming people who were very understanding about our pet number mix-up, and allowed us to take two dogs. If you're looking for 'away from it all' and spectacular views, this is the place to go. It's a very warm and comfortable cottage with every possible need covered. We tried very hard to think what else we might want, but could only come up with a second lavatory and a slotted spoon! There was even a collection of OS maps with walks highlighted. Helmsley is a few miles away and is a lovely little town which welcomes dogs in almost every shop and eatery, with 3 lovely pubs. The castle and it's surrounding area is well worth visiting, and the walk to Rivaulx is wonderful. The Abbey is another incredible site to visit. Going in the opposite direction from the cottage, the Cleveland Way has a good stopping point at East Paradise Farm's tea rooms which has fabulous home made cakes and serves savoury meals too. We can't wait to go back and have already booked to go in 4 months' time.

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