Little Langdale Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Alyssa - Verified booking

  We have been holidaying in Chapel Stile every summer for some years now and absolutely love the area, unfortunately we will not be returning to Beck's Steps though.

  Upon arrival at the cottage, there was no hot water - not even lukewarm and the water pressure was just a tiny dribble from the tap. Due to the nature of the property, we were aware that there is sometimes low pressure and that the hot water can run out, however, we had just arrived and therefore expected there to be at least some hot water, at least enough to be able to wash our hands after a day of travelling, therefore we concluded that there was something was wrong with the water. We have a 5 month old daughter and therefore hot water was an absolute necessity for us, both for bathing her and for washing her bottles, so I contacted both Sykes and the number listed as the 'owner' to try and get this resolved. I appreciate that this was out of hours on a Friday evening (we arrived around 6pm after a full day of travelling) but I still expected to be able to get in contact with someone as this was an emergency, and after all, a holiday let is not in a lettable condition if there is no hot water and what cold water there was was coming out in drops! However, my attempts to contact Sykes on their 'emergency' contact details went unanswered and I discovered that the contact details for the 'owner' of the cottage took me through to a call centre for another holiday letting agency. Of course, this call centre was closed when we arrived, but there was a answer machine that gave another number to call for emergencies. I called this number but this was only an automated message box where I had to leave a message and they would get back to me. I left two messages and no-one responded. By this time it was getting very late, past our daughters bedtimes and we had to make a decision whether we could stay in the cottage that night. After having been travelling all day and not been able to wash our hands, clean my daughter's bottles or bathe her, we decided we needed to find alternative accommodation for the night. We felt very let down that we were unable to contact anyone on the evening to sort this. The next morning I called the 'owner' number again at 9am when their call centre opened as no-one had gotten back to me about the messages I had left on the emergency number overnight. I was told that someone would visit the cottage at some point today and to investigate. There was no apology and no sense of understanding of the disruption that was caused the previous evening, they wouldn't even confirm that it would be that day that they would visit. We had no idea whether or not we needed to check out of our hotel room or not so ended up having to pay for another night. I then had to call the 'owner' again at 4pm that day to confirm whether or not anyone had attended and whether the issue was fixed, which they were unsure of and didn't call me back to confirm they had fixed the issue until 5pm that day, when we could finally return to the cottage. I understand that sometimes things break and it wasn't Sykes' fault that something with the water supply needed to be replaced, but I do expect to be able to get in contact with someone when things go wrong! I also wondered how the cleaner was able to clean the cottage before our arrival without any hot water and the tiny amount of cold water that was coming out of the taps! We booked with Sykes and paid the premium of going through a holiday agency because of the piece of mind that it's supposed to give, especially travelling with our daughter for the first time. However we feel so disappointed by the service we received. The cottage was not in a lettable standard for the first day of our holiday and created such a lot of stress for us, not knowing when or even if someone would call us back or fix the issue! In terms of the cottage itself, the location was dreamy, we just love Chapel Stile and will continue to return to the area. However, the cottage was not clean in any sense of the word. The rugs in the living room were absolutely filthy, truly disgusting! There were three sheepskin rugs covering a larger carpeted rug but it was clear that previous canine guests had had an accident over them and had been hastily cleaned, if at all. They were stained yellow and hadn't ever seen a hoover! We of course thought we could just move these out of the way for our stay but realised they had been strategically placed to hide further stains under the the larger rug! One of the sofas also had stains all of it and the other still had crumbs on it from the previous guests. Normally we would have just gotten on with it and not grumbled as we like to be out of the house all day exploring, but because we had our baby with us (who of course crawls all over the floor!), we felt like we had no choice but to review this cottage and let the 'owners' know the state that it's in. Additionally, we went to use some of the pots and pans and the blender in the cupboard, only to find they have food stains from previous guests. The blender was particularly disgusting, it had obvisouly been used some time ago, hastily rinsed out and shoved back in the cupboard, it was full of black mould which I'm guessing was rotting food! We chose this cottage because it boasted how well equipped it was with these items and wanted to use it to make a few purees for my daughter, but there was no way I was going to use it, even after my husband had cleaned it! There were also stains over the bedding and holes in the duvet cover. The whole place just looked tired and like there was no-one really overseeing the condition of things, which is a shame because it had potential to be really lovely. In terms of the positives, the bed was comfy and it was a cosy cottage for the three of us with the most lovely fews over the fell. There was also dedicated parking which was a bonus, not something we've always had when staying in Chapel Stile. Hopefully the 'owner' will see this review and fix the issues because with the location, it could be so lovely! But we would certainly not stay again based on our experience. Luckily though the weather was glorious all week so we were able to spend most of our time out of the cottage and exploring beautiful Chapel Stile and surrounding areas! Additionally, I contacted Sykes when we returned home to share my concerns before posting this review, as I wanted to give them a chance to respond and put things right before potential guests read this review. However, unsurprisingly, a week has passed and no-one has responded to my emails and messages!

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• Mr Baran - Verified booking

  It's lovely located cottage with amazing views and its own character and please trust me, I'm not trying to be difficult, but I cannot justify the price we paid with this standard. I'm deeply disappointed with the lack of cleanliness starting from smelly and rooting rug in the bathroom wet from god knows how long (really disgusting). Next, smell of the fuel in one of the rooms with broken window and "notice not to open". I'm not sure if this is safe, but this should be looked by professional. Next, visit the place yourself and see if oven or kitchen hob are clean. During our stay, owen was very dirty (I mean not cleaned properly for a very long timel), and also drops of the very old oil hanging from the hood (it takes long time to build, so as there for wuite a bit). There is also a black sock under sofa in living room, which was quite disgusting to discover when I dropped something... Cleaning materials access to vacuum etc would be also a great benefit if you would like to improve the overall comfort. Waching machine capsules would also be handy for the cost customers pay so they don't need to think about it during their stay. I truly understand old cottage style and already visited many, I just belive it should be very clean and comfortable for the customers considering business character of the property and its cost to stay.

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• Miss Fox - Verified booking

  It's an absolutely stunning location, very close to Cathedral caves and Slaters bridge. There's quite a lot of people walking past as it leads to the Cumbrian Way. Very tight road down to the cottage - single lane. Pub about 10 mins walk. The cottage itself is very old so it's quite higgledy piggledy and amazingly thick walls. Lots of steps everywhere so not brilliant for people with mobility issues. Bathroom is downstairs and it's fine - decent space and decent electric shower. It was clean. Kitchen is a good size - underfloor heating works in a small area of it. It's equipped ok. The plates and glasses were dirty though so we had to rewash them. There's a small dishwasher. The downstairs bedroom smells strongly of oil which we notified Original Cottages about and they sent a handyman who said he's been out before due to the same issue. It needs fixing as it's not pleasant. The window is painted shut in the room apart from the small top one which can open a couple of inches. We left that open and the door and the windows in the adjacent rooms but it still smelt of oil. Upstairs theres a small single and a double room which were pretty comfortable. The sitting/dining room is cozy. Comfortable sofas. The internet is ok - not great signal. Could do with some boosters as the walls are so thick.

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• Paul - Verified booking

  Lovely old world cottage at a sensible price point.

  Great location in Chapel stile. All facilities were provided, large dishwasher etc. Decent size smart TV. The little village shop provided everything we needed for the stay. Would be happy to stay again if the opportunity arose. I think some of the negative reviews reflected things that have since been resolved. The garden was high up some steep steps, so not suitable for pets but there are other places to take the dog nearby. Parking was not available directly outside but it was possible about 20 seconds walk away so not an issue really. A couple of small points. When we arrived there was no hand soap in the property. I left some soap bars which I wonder if they threw away or left for the next resident. Maybe this point is more for Lakelovers. It is next to the church and oddly the Church bell next door rang out at all hours. Typically midnight and 6am so it was impossible to get more than 6 hours sleep. I may have imagined it but I think it also rang at 1am and 2am on one night. If it was my cottage I would definitely put in a complaint to the Council about noise at unsocial hours. I mean the bells are lovely on occasion but no way should they ring between 8pm and 8am. I suppose this applies to all accommodation in Chapel Stile.

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• Kirsty - Verified booking

  The cottage is beautiful and the owner clearly loves their property.

  The kitchen is well stocked with everything you need, the cottage has lots of space to store everything too. It’s very good for a family! However, the cottage clearly hadn’t had a deep clean for some time. We also had an issue where the cleaners were late which meant that we couldn’t get into our property at the specified time. Lakelovers did communicate this to the property owner who gave us compensation for having to leave the property. However, when we returned to the property, there was clear evidence that the property hadn’t had deep clean and I’m not sure the hoover had even been ran around. There were spider webs which had clearly been there for some time, which would have been caught by the hoover with ease. There was also dust on several pieces of furniture and under the beds in my daughters room. I also had to clean the shelves in a couple of the cupboards. Sadly, even though this was passed onto lakelovers, nothing was done and no other cleaners came out to property during in our stay. Overall, the property in a fabulous location, has great space and facilities for families. However, the cleaners are letting you down!

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