Kendal Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Gill - Verified booking

  There are lovely views from this cottage.

  Walk up on a nice day to take in the panorama (public footpath goes very close) but DON’T STAY HERE. The cottage is shabby, neglected and in dire need of some maintenance, sprucing up, replacement of many internal items and a deep clean. Some of contents appear to have come from a skip – you could get better on freegle or from a jumble sale/pound shop. Coupled with an apparent absence of even superficial cleaning before my arrival was the fact that much of the dirt was ingrained, not just recent. The utility/porch, in particular, was in an appallingly filthy state. (& light bulb didn’t work). The kitchen sink was dirty brown, embedded grime in kitchen caddy and washing up bowl. Empty soap container in kitchen. Food debris in kitchen cupboards. Filthy stained lampshades. Mould on bathroom ceiling, bathroom blind and a snail on the bathroom wall. Hairs on basin and on bath. Toilet brush bristles and holder had excrement in. Bedroom blind covered in mould. Dirty stained bedroom stool upholstery. Tatty threadbare ‘decorative’ cushions on bed. Accumulation of dirt along edges and in corners. Mass cobwebs throughout (not just an odd wispy recent one, clearly not been attended to in weeks/months). Sweet wrappers & other debris down side of sofa cushion. Of the three remotes for TV/DVD/VCR, one had no batteries, one had dead batteries, the other took a different size. No spare batteries in cottage. (unable to use TV until owner brought some batteries - he declined to leave any spares in the property). Told him there were corroded batteries in kitchen cupboard & queried why hadn’t cleaner removed them. Also relayed poor cleaning standard to him. He said you would know better than me what’s in here and said he’d ‘have a word’. He moaned about contract cleaners, difficulty getting seasonal staff. Made no apology and seemed pretty indifferent despite being told about various issues, including the snail in bathroom (which the cleaner could not have failed to see if they’d even gone in there). Other oddities/omissions/small gripes: No dustpan and brush. No bleach. “Bath” towels were small, thin & rough. Just 3 teaspoons yet over 30 side plates?! Provision of foil/cling film would have been useful, and has been in previous s/c I have stayed in. Apart from the dirt & neglect of the place, there was the issue of vehicles from the 4 adjoining lets; one a large building divided in 3 cottages, the other a large house taking around 16 people (that I counted). There was a minimum of 10 cars/vans during my entire stay, which turned round on, passed across and sometimes parked on, the area of tarmac directly in front of the cottage, meaning there was limited privacy and frequent engine noise/fumes. The cottage is anything but the idyllic, peaceful retreat it is made out to be. Having paid around £1,300 I made the best of my stay, but I was disgusted with it & to say it was disappointing is understatement of the century. I don’t think this property should even be let out again until cleanliness issues addressed & certain items replaced.

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• Sally - Verified booking

  The property is shown entirely on its own and we booked it because of that as we wanted to be isolated.

  In fact there are 2 large properties adjacent and there were children running around and dogs, one of which barked a lot. This wasn't what we'd expected or what we wanted. There should be a different photo. The property is listed as having TV, however this did not work during the whole week. The picture was so pixelated that it was impossible to watch on any channel. We rang the owner who did come and have a look at it and re-tuned it (which I had done already) but the picture was just as bad. We were looking forward to relaxing evenings watching our favourite programmes but this was impossible and spoiled much of the holiday for us. We did tell the owner (by text) that the TV still didn't work but nothing more was done. Additionally we had taken some DVDs but were unable to watch these as, although it worked fine, there was no remote control and so it was impossible to use subtitles which we need as my husband is hearing impaired. On the day we left, we found the remote which had been put (by previous occupants?) in a corner of the main bedroom - we hardly thought to look there! Perhaps the cleaner could ensure that all remotes are in the right place. There were no instructions for TV or DVD which would have been useful. A small point - but there was no bath mat. This would be useful. There was no casserole type dish (apart from a really tiny one) which would also have been useful. The screen for the shower round the side of the bath didn't stay put very well - could that be looked at? There were many good points, however: excellent supply of hot water; comfy beds and good decoration throughout.

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• Mark - Verified booking

  The good bits!

  Absolutely beautiful views, while the photos of Ghyll Bank are as has previously been stated misleading in that it’s very much sandwiched between two other large dwellings, nevertheless when we stayed we were not encroached by this with both properties being empty. With a full complement of guests present on site this would be far from isolated (I’d imagine) everything one would need is present though some attention to detail would help. It’s location offers easy access to a good proportion of beautiful lake land, without the need to travel vast distances & the local village of Staveley is well appointed with eating & shopping facilities. Ghyll Bank is certainly warm & dry & overall provides a lovely base. Not so good are the niggles. Attention to detail would have left us with the means to light the wood burner which, we felt we needed by the evening as the storage heat drops away a little by then & the electric bar fire is broken. The wood store leaks leaving a good proportion of wood soaking wet but there was enough dry to be able to cope. The shower screen is abysmal, it needs to be manually wedged in order to use it, but there is plenty of hot water. A drainer on the sink draining board would be useful too. Be warned clothes storage in the second bedroom is limited!

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• Amy - Verified booking

  Collective reviews from the 8 families sharing the accommodation: Check out time was too early, especially for very small children.

  Lack of basic sundries made it inconvenient For example. No salt, pepper and oil in the kitchen. We understand that it's self catering, but in previous establishments these basics have been supplied. There was also not a mop or broom available, nor a kitchen spray, despite this being expected. So we found it difficult to keep on top of the cleanliness (we had weaning children within our party). There was only 2 tea towels in the kitchen, when we expected towels to be supplied. 15 adults and 2 tea towels is not near enough. Only one wash cloth and one sponge for the kitchen sink, same issue as above. No fire lighters for the BBQ, again in the discription we anticipated for some to be supplied, same goes for the sauna (wood but no fire lighters). We didn't feel that the hot tub was in fully working order (you could only have bubbles on one side at any one time, not simulatiously around) Car parking allocated for 8 cars, however, one space was full of debris and unusable, someone had to park on the road.

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• Sue - Verified booking

  Everyone in our party had a fantastic holiday and the house was wonderful and spacious and felt really homely.

  We enjoyed all the facilities and especially loved the soothing stream running in the garden with the wonderful views of the surrounding countryside. Great time had by all. Only points to note but it did not spoil our holiday are the following: 1. Cooker - when lit the flames shot out very far, potentially dangerous. 2. Extractor fan needs a new filter as grease was leaking down when we used it. 3. Dishwasher in the main kitchen needs attention as the spray arm has dropped, therefore not spinning on the wash and dishes not being cleaned. Also, the pull out tray does not glide smoothly causing the breakage of 1 wine glass an cereal bowl. 4. In the bedroom on the top floor with the fire escape stairs one of the knobs was missing from the bed which is potentially dangerous as the exposed edge of the metal is quite sharp. 5. A few buttons were missing on the sofas

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