Holiday Cottages In Port Isaac

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Jim - Verified booking

  Starting positively, the cottage was lovely, a little quirky which we liked but everything we kind of expected from a typical seaside cottage.

  It was clean, the beds were comfy and everything we needed was supplied. Location is perfect and the fact that you get a parking space was a bonus. We arrived on the Saturday in torrential rain but on Sunday morning the weather had improved so we could go and have breakfast on the decking, it was lovely. I had received a phone call on the Friday telling me about the scaffolding next door and they were hoping it would be taken down during the week, I said as long as it doesn’t spoil the view then it’s not a problem, it most certainly did but as it turned out it would be the last time we used it. The sun comes over lovely in the morning, perfect for breakfast alfresco unless you’ve got builders within 10 feet of you banging and drilling from 8.30. We felt confined in our property looking out at the nice weather rather than being able to make the most of it. There were a couple of times after that we could have used it as the builders weren’t there, unfortunately the reason they weren’t there was because it was absolutely chucking it down with rain. We feel disappointed that we weren’t informed earlier about this when we booked and the impact it would have. The scaffolding is going to be up for a good few weeks looking at how the work is going so people need to be told beforehand that the decking will potentially be out of bounds during the day unless you like sharing your tea and toast or afternoon tea with a couple or so workmen! My son was in the attic room and was woken up most mornings by the noise which he wasn’t happy about (he is 18 and isn’t happy about a lot of things to be fair!!). I visited your office to mention our concern and report the fact that the carbon monoxide detector went off at 4am, it seems this probably should have been swapped in the last few years for a new one as it hadn’t been changed since being fitted in 2013. We were told maintenance would come out that day to fit new batteries, by 4.45 no one had been so my wife popped back to the office to inform them, they were literally just closing the door. Obviously carbon monoxide is the secret killer so felt more comfortable with a working alarm and eventually a man turned up to put new batteries in and confirm my view that indeed it did need a new one fitted which he did the following day. As I said at the office, I don’t honestly know what you can do about the building work and the scaffolding but it does have a massive impact on peoples holiday stopping at April Cottage which is a shame as everything else was great. I would be interested to hear if anyone else shares our views whilst staying there in the last few weeks or coming weeks.

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• Helen - Verified booking

  Unfortunately, we felt very disappointed with the stay and left after 5 nights in the property, having paid for 7.

  We drove 7hours to get to the property and having stayed in many local self-catering homes within Port Issac, found it a shame that a welcome package was not offered, as all of the other properties we had stayed in offered one, that were also self-catering. On arrival, we were shocked to find that the cul-de-sac, the property dwelled within, was not as aesthetically pleasing, as we'd been led to believe and realised now, this is why you cannot see pictures of the front of the property. For us, it felt like a set of caravan esc homes than many other homes listed within the area. For the extremely high cost to rent the property for a week (July), we were not informed that this particular cul-de-sac housed a large collection of seagulls, which are protected animals. Thus realising during our stay that they housed themselves on the roof of the property. The noise of the constant squawk (day and night) along with the movement on the roof meant we managed very little sleep and therefore decided to vacate the property earlier than we had planned. Not forgetting, your car will be destroyed by the seagulls excrement. Positives for this property are that it has been done up well inside by the owner and was mostly clean throughout. The car parking space was small and directly outside the property, meaning that you saw your car outside the front windows but this did not bother us as much as the seagulls did. We therefore would not recommend this property and would not stay ourselves in this property again.

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• Peter - Verified booking

  The cottage is very well fitted out and has good facilities - especially if it is for two people visiting.

  It is decorated to a very high standard. Its position makes access to the centre of Port Isaac very easy. Parking is not that easy unless you have a very small car. Some thoughts for improvements: a recycling bin in the kitchen - There is only one bin, which means that everything goes into it. Whilst there is a recycling bin outside, it makes life too difficult to separate and keep piles of rubbish in the kitchen ; Despite there being comments on the listing previously about the lack of information with regards the heating and water heating, there is still no information available. When we were on our break, it was cold and we needed to turn heating on and up. This proved very frustrating. Also, the hot water tank is quite small, especially if there were four people staying in the cottage ; No Cafetière - This would be a useful addition ; The time of access and departure does make it quite frustrating. Only being allowed into the cottage at 4 o’clock on the day of booking means that you cannot make best use of the facilities and area. And having to leave at 9 am makes it a very rushed departure. Given that these conditions were probably brought in during Covid, as a holiday management team, you should look at these timings. We would not book a cottage again with such restrictive access. Thank you.

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• Caroline - Verified booking

  Overall a lovely cosy little cottage in a nice location, and only a few miles from Polzeath, Wadebridge, Rock (and ferry) to Padstow.

  The cottage was clean throughout, with upstairs nicer than downstairs which was rather tired looking and some of the furnishings were chipped and worn. The lounge and kitchen is separate, not at all like the bright open plan kitchen diner which is portrayed in the pictures, but once we got our heads round this it was ok. The wifi password is still not correct (as mentioned previously), so basically just use the one on the router. The written directions from Port Isaac need looking at as these are pretty confusing particularly in terms of finding the allocated parking - which is behind a 5 bar gate half way down Trewethan Lane (the small steep one), and situated on the left where the lane forks. It could do with having the name of the cottage clearly visible on the gate itself as you can't see the one inside. The SatNav tries to take you right to the cottage which isn't possible as the lanes are too narrow and steep, which we found out too late and nearly got stuck! There was no mention of steep steps up to little garden at the top which could be a problem for an elderly person, but after staying in Port Isaac we realised we were probably quite lucky to have a garden at all. All in all though we enjoyed our stay.

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• Simon - Verified booking

  Nice cottage, full of character and a short stroll to the harbour, but unfortunately let down by the lounge/dining room.

  Whilst the bedrooms and bathroom are clean and well presented, the lounge is very tired. The chairs are stained and worn, and the settee has a broken zip and the springs have sagged making it very uncomfortable. The carpet is stained and the room has a stale smell. The dining room chairs are similarly worn, as is all the garden furniture. The photograph in the advertisement is clearly an old one, showing new furniture in and outside, so is misleading (as is the statement that there is a sea view). It also felt that the cottage wasn't equipped for, what could be, five guests, with minimal cutlery, a few small glasses but no medium sized and only one pint sized, together with just one black bin liner. On a positive note, the welcome pack was a nice gesture, and it is a bonus to have an allocated parking space in Port Isaac, although it should be emphasised more that the path down to the cottage from the parking space is very steep, which makes transporting luggage difficult. We have used Sykes Holiday Cottages many times and have never written a negative review before. This just didn't feel up to the usual standard, which is a shame because it's a lovely little cottage, just lacking in some TLC.

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