Last Minute Cottages in Hexham

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Michael - Verified booking

  We spent 4 nights at East Farm Cottage but unfortunately it wasn’t a very comfortable stay for me and my partner.

  On arriving at East Farm Cottage we were first met with a nice smell, unfortunately that was short lived as we then noticed how dirty the kitchen floor was, bits of food or dirt and food splatter on the floor, the freezer had food left inside from the last guests and was dirty, the fridge was really dirty with remnants of bits of food and hairs inside it, it didn’t look like it had been wiped down for a while. All the floors in the cottage upstairs and downstairs had human hairs and fluff all over them in every room, plus the sofa had hairs all over it too so it didn’t look like it had been vacuumed between guests. I then had the misfortune of walking into the bathroom and noticing all the grime and mould on them and in the grout of the tiles, I was so grossed out by all of it, without thinking of taking photos I just decided to clean it. Also i understand the house is in the country and it’s normal to get spiders but they were literally everywhere and webs all over the place, although I understand spiders are resistant my opinion is that no effort is made to dust and remove the webs or spiders, we have stayed in numerous country properties and yes Its normal to get flies and spiders but East Farm Cottage had so many, we spent a lot of time removing spiders from the house. Me and my family spent the first 2 hours of arriving at East Farm cottage vacuuming /cleaning all the floors in the cottage, wiping the kitchen worktops and doors and handles, cleaning and wiping out kitchen cupboards that had crumbs and sticky residue on it, I also scrubbed the bathroom tiles and grout, I also cleaned the shower screen because it looked smoggy where it hadn’t been cleaned properly. Unfortunately it didn’t get better, that evening I went to bed earlier than my partner, I kept a feeling itchy and really irritated and tossed and turned for around 3 hours, I woke up and got up as I just couldn’t feel comfortable in the bed, I noticed I’d been bitten on my arm, forehead and in my scalp, it was then at that point I told my partner I didn’t want to sleep in the bed, we slept downstairs on the sofa. The next morning my partner decided to check over the bed to see what might have been irritating me, and he was shocked to find large blood stains on the bed and very large urine marks all over the bed, (we did take photos of this)it was at that point we should have decided to leave but we had two very excited girls so we decided we would grin and bare it for them but sleep downstairs and not make them aware of any problems because we didn’t want to spoil it for them, if it wasn’t for the girls we would have left. I contacted the cottage manager and although she was very friendly she was very dismissive about the uncleanliness of the cottage, we soon realised the reason she was being so dismissive is because it was herself that had actually supposed to have done the cleaning. Unfortunately as I said to her myself, the cottage and the village is beautiful, but it is unfortunately let down with the uncleanliness, which is a real shame. We also had a problem with the electric shower, to which the repair was fixed that day while we were out, which was good. The manager while we were out also left us two mattresses protectors and some essential oils for the bed to keep away any pests and a big bunch of flowers, although I could see the insensitive it wasn’t enough for me and my partner to want to sleep in that bed, we slept the whole of our stay on the sofa, which was very uncomfortable. This house does have so much potential but the owners need a better cleaner, yes we all do have different standards of cleanliness ( which is something the cottage manager repeated a few times) but surely expecting the fridge and freezer, and floors and shower tiles to be cleaned, and to be able to sleep on a clean mattress is a pretty standard practice of cleanliness? Even though me and my partner were exhausted because of the lack of sleep due to the sleeping arrangement, the girls had an amazing time and loved the cottage, garden and Northumberland.

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• Sheila - Verified booking

  The welcome pack of chocolates and wine was a really nice surprise and I enjoyed them, but recommend basics are up to scratch.

  Cottage is in a pleasant and quiet location, pretty from the outside, and well situated for exploring the area, however in my experience unfortunately does not currently deserve a 4-star rating. On arrival I had great difficulty opening key press – black plastic button is stuck, and I had to ring the agent before leaving to ask what to do about returning keys as I couldn’t open the press at all. Tiles on kitchen floor are cracked (at least 5), which give a very poor first impression. I did not find the property to be particularly clean on arrival – a basic requirement. Dirty and sticky finger prints covered all light switches, which I wiped off; fridge hadn’t been properly cleaned inside, or insides of drawers where utensils etc are stored; fluff/grit had not been vacuumed off some areas on floors; and there were blood stains on white duvet cover and pillow case, and some of white towels were stained. Radiator in sitting room needs bleeding – sitting room is the coldest in the house, and without adequate central heating in there, using the log burner is currently essential All blinds downstairs need replacing – difficult to lower and particularly to raise, and they are all worn (small holes in them). There is also no blind for the bathroom window despite the WC being installed next to the window and I don’t think textured glass provides enough privacy particularly at night! Stool cover in sitting room is stained. I didn’t find cottage well equipped: only one small pan (2-handled pots with lids are not the same as a pan), and no frying pan; only one chopping board; no hair dryer Only 5 logs were provided for the stove (the small log basket was not even half full), no coal, less than half a pack of fire lighters, no kindling, and only a few matches. I chose the cottage because I wanted to use the stove so had to buy fuel etc. Personally, I’d rather have had a basket of logs as a welcome pack, and for logs to have been provided on-site that I could pay extra for when required. No information was provided in the cottage about how equipment works, or about the local area, walks etc which would have been useful, just bins and check-out time.

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• Nicolas - Verified booking

  Absolutely STUNNING!

  !!! This is definitely the crème de la crème of Sykes holiday cottages - and it's definitely THE BEST one we have EVER stayed in!!!!! The cottage has absolutely everything - very well equipped kitchen, washing machine, upright fridge freezer and soooo much storage space with big bright windows, with STUNNING views across the River Tyne! The shower is AWESOME - nice set of fluffy towels, and the beds are just sooooo comfortable you can hear nothing but the babbling river over the stones and the ducks laughing in the night all leads to a beautiful peaceful night's sleep! Two huge sofas in the lounge, fantastic parking space just outside the kitchen door. The village and the folk who live there are the FRIENDLIEST people you could ever wish to meet, and the walks that we did everyday across the river are absolutely spell bounding! Peacefulness and tranquility beyond comprehension - we even saw a family of Kingfishers on the river and a pair of Great crested grebes too!!! If it would be at all possible, I would have no hesitation in giving this AMAZING cottage and it's surroundings one hundred million percent out of ten, because it is VERY well deserved! Not often you can say in this day and age, but it is just soooooo absolutely PERFECT in EVERY way! The only downside was our time there went just too quick - we could stay there FOREVER!!!!!!

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• Nicola - Verified booking

  We loved staying at East Farm Cottage.

  Inside was immaculate and extremely comfortable, clean, cosy and very well equipped. The bedrooms were bright and spacious, the bathroom modern and kitchen and sitting room excellent. The building is an attractive stone farmhouse with its own courtyard parking area and small garden. The other buildings connected to it and part of the original farm have also been converted to holiday accommodation, but have their own entrance and garden so we felt that our space was completely private. On warm evenings we enjoyed sitting at the outside table in the corner of the gravel yard with a glass of wine. The location is excellent - a quiet back road in a pretty village. The road is great to walk or cycle along and it links up with a network of small country roads. We brought our bikes and enjoyed cycling along these roads, the Sandstone Way and at Kielder Forest, plus an atmospheric walk along Hadrian's wall.

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• Emma - Verified booking

  We absolutely had a wonderful stay.

  Such a beautiful cottage and wonderful location with everything needed for an incredible break from work and home....just thoroughly disappointed with the cleanliness of the property. We arrived and the downstairs floors had clearly not been cleaned for some time and with baby girls twins that were picking up a number of small bits from the floor, meant my husband needed to, before unloading the van, hoover the whole of downstairs. This also included windowsills, the fireplace, the sofas, etc. Completely understand propertys get dusty and have cobwebs appear but this just appeared to have not been cleaned for a fair period. Apart from this it was amazing!! And just perfect location for exploring with a wonderful pub just at the end of the road ❤️ we would most definitely want to stay again x

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