Villas In Rhayader

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Kate - Verified booking

  A week before we were due to check in I received an email to say that check in was now 5pm and check out was 9:30am due to Covid-19 and them needing to clean.

  I replied to that email because I found that extremely unreasonable as you practically loose a day by only being able to check in at 5pm and indeed we did after getting stuck in traffic and only arriving at 19:45pm and I stressed this in my email and i don’t know about anyone else but the excuse of Covid for every single thing is starting to become quite annoying. Having said that we arrived with an open mind, it was 3 friends going for a quiet weekend. Upon arrival “reception” is a tiny cubicle with an envelope with your name on as everyone else who booked a lodge all with their envelopes and names on too. We entered the lodge and it’s nice, looks quite open from the outside but when your inside or in the hot tub you actually don’t see anything which is nice. Very quiet again nice and exactly what we wanted. No information on local amenities and your literally in the middle of nowhere so that would have been good. We used the cooker and couldn’t turn it off, no instructions, missing light and no signs on the cooker to know what was on,grill or oven so that wasn’t great. The fly’s are unreal, take fly spray because it’s like they appear from nowhere (fly spray should be provided) No home touches at all, no welcome pack, coffee, tea, even a touch of milk just to carry you through a few hours of your day. Hot tub is amazing however, your bringing water into the lodge which is a slip hazard no mop to wash it up? A list of everything you need to do before you leave: 1. Strip the beds 2. Clean and put away your dishes 3. Separate your rubbish and put it in big bins provided on the way out. 4. Open all windows before you leave. What exactly are you doing with the extra time you have to clean for Covid?? I myself had to rewash dishes that had been put away dirty by previous customers so you are checking for cleanliness? There was dust all over the wardrobe shelves that again we had to clean before placing our clothes on. There is a memo to say staff will come around to clean the hot tub so keep social distancing...there was not one staff member in sight and the hot tub never got cleaned and we know that because when planning to go in for second night there was leaves and all sorts floating. Although I enjoyed the peace and quiet and it was nice for what it was the little touches and actually seeing someone to communicate with would have made things a lot better and don’t use Covid as an excuse for your cleaning expectations when there is very little evidence you are living upto what you are saying you are doing.

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• Gayle - Verified booking

  Just got back from a stay at Barn Owl Lodge and it was amazing.

  Very, very clean, comfy and well laid out. Comfortable beds and lots of space and enough storage and we take alot of things! A few niggles with WIFI connection mainly to the tv. It worked alot of the time with the laptop which was most important to us and especially our 16year old son..lol.. we could not get a signal on the tv long enough to be able to use Netflix etc. To be honest it wasn't something we needed so was not really a problem. The team tried their best to sort it and were very helpful and very apologetic. It was not their fault at all. They told us that the internet had just been improved there and it was obviously just a blip :) just one of those things which will be sorted. Obviously too the weather can play havoc with these things too.. We left before it could be looked at but to be honest we spent most of our days out before getting back in the evening and going in the hot tub. We were so shattered and so were our 2 dogs. The hot tub was a welcome treat and we used it alot. The garden around the lodge and the patio area was absolutely lovely and quite private and ideal for relaxing for us and our dogs. Beautifully planted with lovely shrubs and well kept grass and driveway..Very sunny and south facing, beautiful. There was no parasol but the team again were amazing and although could not get us a parasol at short notice they gave us a large gazebo for the second patio table which made the world of difference to us. I have to say that I feel that nothing was too much trouble for them and customer service was superb!! The maintenance man was constantly working and tidying up around the site, seemed like everyday and he was very polite. Very laid back site. Good for dogs, lots of little walks and paths on site with dog bins and water for them. We liked the wooded area on site too. We walked around it quite a few times and a lovely bonus for the dogs to sniff (and roll in things.. lol) and somewhere shady but it could do with a bit of fixing especially the two little bridges, usable but quite wobbly and clearing of a few of the paths. Am sure this is a work in progress and it did not deter us from using it at all. Bottom field was a lovely place to walk and sit.. I would recommend the lodges on Oakfield to anyone visiting Rhayadar and we would definately love to stay there again if we are in the area. It is a perfect home from home to return to after being out enjoying the area or for just for spending time.. Thank you for a fantastic holiday

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• Hannah - Verified booking

  The “get directions” feature did not get us to this property.

  Even the “what three words” did not get us where we needed to be which is absolutely daft as that’s meant to take you to within a square meter of a location. The written directions were also no good as they relied on you arriving from a specific direction and at the point we referred to them, we’d already been sent all over the place by the “get directions” and “what three words”. Fortunately the chap who lived at the property the directions were taking us to was kind enough to come out and provide directions. I would advise putting St Harmon Road, Rhayader into your maps - you’ll find this road is a hill and you want to be going up it. After a mile or so there’s a left turn to Gellilas - this is where the park is. It’s not signposted until you take the turn so is easy to miss. They are currently building more properties on site and whilst the disruption didn’t last long, I was woken up early by it one of the mornings - I’m not sure how long this will be going on for. The sheep were belting very loudly from early hours too so it’s not one for light sleepers who want a lie in! A fridge isn’t listed in the facilities etc but there is one. I would advise taking a wok as there are only pans and a frying pan for the hob and the frying pan isn’t great. Otherwise, the location and view from this property is incredible - we spent most of our time in the hut tub, toasting marshmallows on the fire pit and playing games at the dining table. We ventured out to Elan Valley one of the days which is well worth the visit and on a separate day, Devils Bridge Falls followed by Aberystwyth and Borth which are a reasonable distance for a day trip. I have visited many properties similar to this one and would definitely visit again because of the view and because it’s dog friendly. I would have benefited from some kind of instruction booklet - this would have been useful to capture how to turn the hobs on as I’d never used anything like it and it was a real trial and error job getting it on and also where to put bin bags when full. I would also advise taking a spare towel for the hot tub and a dressing gown to get you to and from it. It’s a short journey but a very cold one at night!

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• Maressa - Verified booking

  The lodge is in an amazing peaceful location, the views are to die for and has lots of different wonderful locations near by to keep you entertained.

  The lodge on arrival was clean but could do with a freshen up, some of the drawer doors fall off when you go to open them, the hand towel and toilet roll holder were wobbly, and the beds are the noisiest uncomfortable beds I’ve ever had the displeasure to sleep on we almost went home a night early (we only booked for 4 nights!) because we just didn’t want another horrendous nights sleep which is a shame because it really pulls the place down, everything creaked from the floorboards to the bed frames! There is a welcome pack on arrival which gives you all the instructions and it comes with pamphlets, take away menus and a book on what’s around in the area which was nice. The hot tub was cold on arrival which following the instructions left, it still wouldn’t get warm, because we’d not seen any members of staff checking in we were only given a telephone number to ring if any problems not wanting to call someone we’d not met, we ended up Googling how to get it to warm up to find out it was in rest mode! The hot tub had a floating chemical distributer in it however the lid wouldn’t screw on properly so kept falling off so all the tablets were getting exposed to the water. In the advert it says that there is a good connection but can be intermittent at times however it was the connection that was intermittent. It would be handy to have a mop to be able to clean up foot prints from the shower to the hot tub and vice versa. It would be nice to have facilities included such as a hair dryer given the nature of the lodge and complementary tea, coffee sachets so that if travelling from a long distance you can have a nice warm drink before getting any shopping/it being delivered. More toilet roll would have been nice as we had to go out and get more as we were only left what was on the holder and an extra roll which for four nights wasn’t enough. Luckily we booked this as a last minute deal so was on for cheaper than what it should have been, I wouldn’t pay full price to go back and unless the beds were changed we wouldn’t.

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• Hannah - Verified booking

  Having visited earlier in the year I was really disappointed to see how much this property has deteriorated in such a short space of time.

  The weather was appalling on the first night but regardless, I think it’s reasonable to expect the property to withstand such conditions. However, water leaked through the vent attached to the wall cupboard spoiling food and causing quite the inconvenience. Many of the kitchen appliances were not as clean as I would have expected, I suspect previous stayers did a poor job of cleaning them and this wasn’t checked before we arrived, between that and the empty hand sanitising station attached to the property I feel the efforts to meet Covid regulations were poor. Whilst ensuring that I picked up the waste of my own dog I found multiple piles of waste from other dogs from previous stays. Like the kitchen appliances, I would expect the cleaners to be checking this rather than relying on previous stayers to clean up their own mess because the sad reality is that they don’t. The rope detail surrounding the property was broken and covered in fungus which wasn’t just an eye sort but it meant that I had to constantly keep an eye on my dog to make sure she wasn’t eating them which was just an unnecessary burden. The hot tub lid was faulty which I appreciate is probably an expensive fix but others negligence should not be at the cost of the comfort of those staying in future. Getting the lid on and off was an awkward two man job and in cold weather is less than ideal. All of these niggles added up and made what was meant to be a short and restful break a week full of annoyances. Hours before check-out the cleaners began lurking about which natural made us feel like we had to leave as quickly as possible which was ironic given how neglected the property was. I was keen to come back after having such a lovely stay earlier in the year but it very much has that “maximum profit for as little input” feel to it and we won’t be returning. It’s a massive shame because it’s such a beautiful location but having stayed in many places that are comparable, I am certain that I can receive better value/experience for the same cost.

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