New Year Cottages in Cornwall

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Susan - Verified booking

  My husband and I have visited Cornwall every year for the last 18 years.

  We have stayed in a variety of accommodation on each visit, so we generally have an idea of what to look for in a cottage. We were happy with the cleanliness of the cottage, however we did find that the grill pan still had fat in it and we were somewhat disappointed with the state of the outside space. There were lots of weeds (we're aware there has been a lot of rain) it was apparent that the outside areas hadn't been attended to for quite a while. The cottage is called Vi's Valley View, sadly the view was obscured as the double glazed windows in the lounge and the bedroom have blown along with two smaller windows, so looking out of them was a little dreary. In the welcome pack it stated there were dog bowls and treats in the study, neither were found. Not the end of the world I know. We had a query about the access to the outhouse where we could find fuel for the open fire, it said in the Information pack that the contact number for any queries was at the front of the Information pack, it wasn't. Thankfully I was able to find this on the email from our booking with Sykes. We made contact asking how we could access the outhouse and they got back to us 2-3 days later. In our experience the majority of holiday cottages leave a 'Welcome Pack', in these we have had items such as Milk, biscuits, and even a bottle of wine on a couple of occasions. At Vi's cottage we got a welcome pack but on opening it there was 2 dishwasher tab, 2 washing capsules, a cloth, sponge and washing up liquid. Sorry to say we were a little stunned the fact it was called a 'Welcome Pack'!! We found the bed in the main bedroom a too firm for us. On a positive note, we enjoyed our time in Cornwall. The cottage kitchen is well equipped, the lounge very comfortable, great location, good parking 'The Ship' served great food and the locals were very welcoming.

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• Kate - Verified booking

  The Old Dairy is in a lovely spot in terms of proximity to the coast and is very peaceful however I feel there are a number of areas to raise.

  When we booked we were told that there was limited wi-fi, this was then changed later to no wifi without the offer of changing our booking or a reduction in cost. When this is put alongside the fact that there is basically no signal there either, it leave you feeling quite vulnerable. The site itself also has a lot of derelict building and materials around which are not mentioned anywhere. If my children were younger, I would have very significant reservations about their safety. There is no outside/security light when returning at night to a pitch black site. The TV is much smaller than the one in the photos and there is a great deal of clutter around the place - too many pictures and bits on window sills. There is nowhere to hang coats and nowhere to wipe dirty or wet shoes. The shower head doesn't sit properly in either of the holders in the shower. I raised the issue of my very dirty duvet and the washing machine during our stay, these were both rectified. The bed linen provided was polyester and cotton when I would always expect it to be cotton and that has always been my experience. This leaves you feeling uncomfortable at night and worse for my younger daughter for whom it caused her eczema to flare up, bleed and be very sore. I realise that it isn't a more expensive property but I don't feel it was up to the standards of other Sykes properties and would make me cautious when booking in future. The owners are clearly very nice people but perhaps need more guidance on what would be expected. Thank you.

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• Liesbeth - Verified booking

  The location of the apartment is unbelievably beautiful.

  Overlooking the st Michael Mount and Cudden point. The apartment is spacious and wonderfully furnished. But the stay itself was not pleasant. The double bed was of deplorable quality. The mattress sagged so much that we put the mattress in the livingroom on the floor to prevent hernia. Also the shower was bad, cold and there was hardly any water power/pressure. 1 liter of lukewarm water per minute. There was also far too little cutlery. 1 knife, 2 forks and 5 spoons, 3 plates, 3 soft drink glasses. All week we needed our own plastic picnic cutlery to eat. In 20 years of holidays in England we have never had such a bad experience. We would like to recommend the apartment itself to everyone, so beautiful, but sleeping, eating and showering were far below par. A refund of part of the accommodation costs would be very appropriate, in addition to the return of the £100 deposit. We tried several times to contact your organization by phone or email, but that was impossible! Hence this review now. For 20 years we have been coming to England in the summer holidays. Definitely again next year. We hope that the handling of this review will make us so satisfied that we will book through your organization again next year with our two daughters. With kind regards, Ton and Liesbeth de Groot. tel 06-54206061 or by mail: de4grootjes@ziggo.nl

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• Margaret - Verified booking

  We were very disappointed with this dark dingy and scruffy cottage.

  It was due partly to its location, down a long unmade road, with o outside lighting at all. The house was seemingly in a scrapyard, surrounded by dilapidated, dangerous buildings, full of abandoned broken farm equipment and falling debris. These blocked the sea view. Indoors there was mould and rot in the bathroom skirting and pipework. The cooker was old and needed updating, and the hood was sticky with old grease, unpleasant to touch, and didn't work. The front door had no mat to the dirt yard, (hard to keep floor clean, just a broken brush and dustpan standing next to the open shelf cutlery area). The cottage was full of random fusty old ornaments crowding the shelves and storage areas with no other space to put things. The dark lounge had uncomfortable small sofas, and stank of mould. The towels provided had a fetid smell of mould. We didn't use them but the representative, Amber, brought some fresh ones. She also got the shaver light replaced during our holiday. Luckily we were able to go out each day on walks, and eat out sometimes, so avoiding too long in the fusty atmosphere. What a good job we had the Cornish coast to escape to. But it has detracted from our experience and I would not trust Sykes Cottages again.

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• Beth - Verified booking

  We had a wonderful stay at Penhaven and would highly recommend it as a base.

  It's very cosy, well equipped and in a great location- close to the beach, harbour and coast walks, right opposite the village store and a short walk to the always welcoming Paris pub. We were in Coverack with our 2 children for the 90th birthday party of a local family member at the beginning of January and we all loved seeing the colourful Christmas lights along the front, very festive! Things which would have been helpful - a hatchet/small axe for splitting firewood. Some of the logs were too big to be useful. We ended up borrowing one. - instructions for the Sky box, we couldn't work out how to use it! (We had our own devices, so wasn't a problem) - the kitchen table is very wobbly! We tried to stabilise it but couldn't. (also the chairs are extremely heavy - some people might struggle to lift them) - the oven could do with a clean. There was a strong greasy smell when it was turned on (possibly it was used to make a big Christmas dinner the week before?!) Anyway, all minor details - essentially it's a very lovely, comfortable cottage and we really enjoyed our time. Thank you!

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