Last Minute Cottages in Lancaster

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Cathryn - Verified booking

  The cottage feels quite private and there was room for 6 large cars to service the 3 cottages.

  It was very quiet except for the odd few woofs from the neighboring cottages and there are 3 caravan club pitches at the end of the paddock but we never heard a peep from them. Plenty of space in the living area which feels a little bare with slightly less furniture than on the photos at the time of booking. Kitchen/diner was well equipped with a whole host of stuff that I am sure other people use.......only 6 forks though and with only two pint glasses, any drinkers would need to share! We ended up getting more forks, glasses and buying a new frying pan too as though they did supply 2, neither were very "non-stick" any more. The instructions for the electric hob are in the cupboard - you will need them - the hob is a classic case of tech over complicating things. We would have liked to read up on Ashton Hall and some of the other interesting buildings too but we didn't find any guest book or visitor information on the surrounding area. You can walk to the estuary but we had to work out how to get there from satellite photos and google maps. A map would have been great, especially for the less tech savvy again but there wasn't one that we found. The WIFI was OK most of the time. I think we have been spoilt by our own super fast broadband as theirs did drop out quite a bit which was a pain for casting our Oculus to the TV. We chose the cottage because it had a paddock at the back which was supposed to be shared between the 3 cottages but there was no gate access to the paddock from our cottage. As there were two very old ponies and 2 sheep in there our Border Collie didn't get the space to run that we thought she would. Cottage info needs updating so that it doesn't say you can access the paddock but rather you can look out into it. Extractor hood above the hob lit up but didnt seem to extract any moisture which seemed to make its way upstairs hence why the upstairs bathroom door is so warped it doesnt shut. Toilet seat in downstairs bathroom was a little loose. We advised the person that knocked on our door at 9.54am on leaving day of both of these issues. Washing machine is shared for the property with the other cottages, there was a drying machine in there too without a plug on it but they had supplied a washing hanging rack in our cottage which probably adds to that warped door issue again. Drying clothes in solid brick structures just leads to moisture issues. I am always a bit concerned leaving expensive walking kit in shared facilities but it was all ok. TV was not tuned into any TV channels when we arrived and the TV antennae was unplugged. Ideally we would put our kid in front of the TV whilst we unloaded the car and put stuff away but that wasnt an option as it wasnt set up. I presume it was unplugged and wiped by the last guests to unlink their accounts - some less tech savvy guests may struggle to re-tune with no TV instructions to hand. High ceilings meant that sound travelled up to the upstairs bedroom so we had to be quiet till our kid was asleep. Bring fly spray - we had to buy some - being in the country near horses and sheep meant we had to use quite a lot during our August 22 stay. Overall, it was a good location, nice ambiance and a good holiday. It wouldn't have taken much to move "good" to "great" - buy some more forks and bigger glasses :-)

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• John - Verified booking

  I really don't want to sound negative about Poppy Cottage as regular users of Sykes cottages this was the lowest quality one we have stayed in, I will explain my reasoning around this though.

  The good points are its a lovely location and lovely and quiet and the accommodation is spacious. However this really needs some TLC and a bit more effort on the cleaning front we only used the ground floor double bedroom and found the following issues. Lamp shade above the bed covered in dust and lots of cobwebs, the bed linin whilst clean was of poor quality and and sounded like you were lying on a plastic bag which made it difficult to sleep because of the noise everytime one of you moved. The adjacent bathroom is in need of some maintenance its dated and at the head of the bath it looks like the shower screen is leaking and water has leaking down the wall and has had poor attempts at fixing so smells of damp and signs of mildew, cleaning not great either again lots of cobwebs. Kitchen area whilst reasonably well appointed the fridge cabinet is clearly broken as the door doesn't fit flush with the rest of the cabinets and feels like its falling forward, other cupboard doors do not shut properly either some of the upstands around the worktops are loose and not secured.Kick plinths do't fit properly. Oven not as clean as it could be and would benifit from a deep clean, the dishwasher basket is broken and rusty in places and needs some attention. The wall behind the hob could do with a much larger cleanable splashback as there is lots of cooking stains on the wall. There are under cabinet lights either side of the cooker hob we never did find out how to turn them on. The General living area was comfortable but again attention to detail lots of cobwebs not very well cleaned. There were DVD's on the shelf but NO dvd player. No visitors book or instruction manuals for any appliances. Very little information of where to go or local attractions no information about local restaurants or pubs etc. No hand soap in any bathrooms or kitchen space. All other sykes cottages we have stayed at have also included a small welcome pack ie milk, teabags, possibly some bread etc but there was nothing here. Limited cleaning products available. Also on the day of our arrival we had a thunder storm and the rain was hammering against the front of the property so we closed the window in the ground floor bedroom and the water flooded through the frame onto the windowsill opening the window allowed the water to run down the inside of the frame but not into the interior of the property which I feel is a bit counter intuitive. My personal opinion is that all these issues could be easily resolved with a bit more attention to detail and better maintenance between clients.

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• Pauline - Verified booking

  I cannot believe the feedback on the other 2 cottages, how clean they are.

  The feedback on parsley cottage is not so good. Soon after I booked the cottage I read some bad reviews and rang Sykes to voice my concern. After speaking with the owners Sykes rang me back and assured me everything would be ok, the owners knew when we were going and the cottage would be clean. The cottage appeared clean when we arrived and I started to unpack. I then started to notice the cobwebs hanging from walls and ceilings all through the cottage. The bottom of the wardrobe inside was like a carpet of dust, I have photographs to prove it. We cleaned every part of the cottage except the upstairs that we did not use. staircase which was filthy and the chimney and vaulted ceiling which we could not reach. All the doors were thick with dust and also the pictures, heavily coated in dust. This was not just weeks but years. The fan in the bathroom was so dirty it could not work properly. This was not just dirty it was a health hazard. The windows were filthy inside and out, everything needed painting and TLC. The approach to the cottage was difficult with overhanging bushes catching on the car and it all needed a good sweep also the doormat outside was disgusting. The cottage itself was roomy and in a wonderful location, it's a tragedy it is in this state. This is the first time I have complained about a cottage, but this was so bad. I have rung Sykes who promised to ring me back, but I have had no phone call. I won't be booking again.

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• Sue - Verified booking

  We have three holidays a year with Sykes Cottages and have never had cause for complaint.

  However, Parsley Cottage was such a let down! First night, the fire wouldn't start, it was choked with ashes and hadn't been cleaned out, the clock didn't work, a tie back was missing the other curtains wouldn't draw together as not enough material in them. In the kitchen, the extractor fan didn't work, the hob was temperamental, the oven was dirty, some dinner plates and dessert bowls chipped. Not a welcome pack in sight, the first time we have ever been to a cottage without a welcome pack, not even a teabag! We went upstairs to the bedroom and the velux window blind wouldn't pull down, the other window blind pulled down but the material came loose, out of six coat-hangers -two were broken, the hooks on the door 'flew off' when we tried to hang anything on them, what really ruined our holiday were the beds, they were so uncomfortable, after one night we moved to the downstairs bedroom and the bed was just as bad, so much so, we came home one day early as we just didn't want to spend another night on these uncomfortable mattresses! Such a shame, the cottage (which is an end of three) was spacious and in a lovely location, it just needs to have that holiday feel, a few repairs and some T.L.C.

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• Christine - Verified booking

  I have never had to write a negative review for one of Sykes properties before but here goes.

  Parsley Cottage is a lovely cottage well equipped and reasonably comfortable.I might not be writing this review if the owners or managers of the cottage had read previous reviews.The cooker hood/ extractor fan does not work,also mentioned in a previous review.The oven bulb does not work which makes it difficult to see when using the oven. The fridge door is still broken so you can not put milk etc in there.The freezer seems to have difficulty with its door due to badly fitting cupboard and kick boards next to it. The sink it the upstairs bedroom is still cracked and there is also no towel rail in there. You have to fight with almost every room door to get them to close properly which must be very noisy for our neighbours. There is no bath mat or shower mats in the downstairs bathroom which makes it slippery. There is no information on recycling glass paper etc, maybe Lancaster does not recycle! It’s such a shame to say all these negative things about the cottage but with a little bit of care and maintenance it would make the property a 5* instead of a 3*. After saying all this we did enjoy our holiday in Lancaster but no so much the cottage.

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