Sandown Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Lucy - Verified booking

  We enjoyed our stay at wee cot, the cottage is lovely, clean & cozy & had everything we needed.

  We had been to the island before, but not for many years… I used to holiday here as a child with my family & it holds special memories. The cottage is in a good position for travelling around the island. We visited Shanklin several times (the ice-creams & dog ice creams on the beachfront are very good) Sandown, Ryde, Cowes & Yarmouth. We ate at The Garlic Farm (excellent breakfast) and The Yarbridge Arms (nice lunch) We loved “Off The Rails” at Yarmouth, if you are eating out with dogs, this is the place for you. We used the chip shop & the convenience store and sat outside at the pub. We were blessed with some lovely weather and travelled with our 2 spaniels who are used to accompanying us. We use Sykes cottages a lot & this is our 4th one in the past year, since lock down restrictions began to ease. There is a lot of traffic noise but did not really bother us. We used the driveway next door to unload & load the car & then the parking pass for the car-park next to the church… no problems at all. The owner quickly dealt with a maintenance issue we had. We were very disappointed with the garden, as others have said it is overgrown. I can understand the owners are probably going for the “shabby chic cottage look” but the garden has some beautiful plants & could be so pretty if tidied up. My husband is a very keen gardener & despite working long hours in a stressful job, keeps ours immaculate. The owner very politely contacted us on our last day to ask if she could cut the grass, which made it much better… although a bit late in our stay for us. If I wanted to be “picky” I could mention a few other small issues, although not really a problem for us. The bathroom sink plug (push down mechanism, not plug, we have the same one at home) did not work, so my husband could not fill the sink & had to keep the water running when shaving. We mainly used the shower & bath so not a problem. The “stable door” at the back seemed to have a mind of its own, it would of been very useful with the dogs. The light in the fridge did not work, neither did the lamp next to it. The hot water seemed a bit hit & miss. There are no curtains as such in the second bedroom (except net) could be an issue if children sleep there, waking early with the light streaming through. My husband knows… he slept in there for snoring… The carriage clock on the mantelpiece did not work and had a very old corroding looking battery in it…I guess if it’s there it might as well work! All very minor issues although not something we’ve experienced in any other Sykes cottage we have had & the cottage could be so much better with a little TLC. All in all though, a lovely few days away. The island is still as beautiful as I remembered it

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• Mike - Verified booking

  We have been visiting the Isle of Wight for more than twenty years, and most years, we try to stop somewhere different.

  Consequently, we have stopped in a great many properties all over the island so far. Unfortunately, I must say that this particular property is, by far, the worst that we have ever used. Firstly, the booking page needs to clearly indicate acceptable arrival or departure times. For many properties, the arrival time is 3 pm, so we arrived on Saturday at around 2:50 pm. However, the so-called "cleaners" were still on site and informed us that the arrival time was, in fact, 4 pm. They did offer to allow us to leave our belongings, but we declined and came back an hour later. I say "so-called cleaners" because the property was far from acceptable when we finally arrived. The kitchen table had a vinyl tablecloth with bits of food stuck to it in several places, and the toilet was in a deplorable state, with a dirty seat and unmentionable substances stuck to the tiles just next to the toilet cleaning brush. The TV screen and kitchen windows were filthy. We rented the property for two weeks, but to our surprise, there was only one hand towel and two bath towels for the entire period to supposedly serve two people. There was also no tea towel at all, so we had to go out and buy our own. On Saturday morning, at the end of the first week of our stay, the cleaners turned up at 10 am on the dot. We answered the door and asked them what they wanted, and they said that they had come to do the changeover. They were utterly oblivious to the fact that we were renting the property for two weeks. Additionally, there were no spare bin bags or floor mats in the bathroom, and the shower screen leaked so badly when we took a shower that we had to mop the floor every time we used it. The paint around the bathroom window is peeling off. In addition to all of the above, the property itself is generally very shabby and seriously needs a makeover. We shall not return to this property and certainly would not recommend it to others.

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• Malcolm - Verified booking

  The Shingles is in a nice location just a few yards from the coastal path with lovely views of Sandown.

  However the property wasn't as we had hoped for. Positive points were the comfortable bed, good wifi signal and plenty of hot water but the overall cleanliness of the cottage left a lot to be desired and it could also do with some modernisation. The main issue though was the fact that we were unaware that we were not hiring the entire property and we were quite alarmed on the first night when we heard footsteps in the roof space above. The next day we noticed the skylights in the roof which confirmed this and it would appear that the owners live in the adjoining property and the roof space of the Shingles is part of their living space. Other potential guests need to be made aware of this as it isn't made clear in the property description. Also, although 'Things to do' booklets were provided there was a complete lack of any personal welcome pack from the owners, a guest book and something simple like a pint of milk left in the fridge would've been nice. All of these things are usual practice with such cottages that we have stayed in before. The metal patio chairs were starting to rust and could do with painting and / or the provision of cushions, and another thing that I would like to draw potential guests attention to, especially those with children is the deep uncovered open well in the garden. Despite the issues with the property we had a nice week on the Isle of Wight. We would like to recommend the Ocean Deck bar & restaurant on Sandown esplanade for an excellent Sunday carvery. This was our go to place for enjoying a drink after a day exploring the island.

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• Karla - Verified booking

  My dog and I spent 2 weeks at Wee Cot.

  The dog loved the garden, it has interesting corners to explore and was secure enough for a Jack Russell. A very relaxing space for a coffee too. The house is 400 years old, and very special, with double glazing, so visitors need to open windows occasionally to keep it ventilated. The whole place was perfect, warm, quirky, and very accessible. The sofa is ideal for afternoon naps. The kitchen has all I needed, and the frying pan is one of the best. If you really must have an air fryer or waffle maker, then bring your own! I would also bring slippers, as the bathroom floor is chilly at night. The shop opposite has everything you need, but I also got a Tesco home delivery which worked perfectly. The Hungry Bear does a fine dinner as does the Bugle, and both welcome dogs. Lots of easy walks, but you might need wellies. The church was very welcoming and I enjoyed the bell ringing. We travelled by train and found it a simple 10 minute walk to the house. Crossing one road at the traffic lights. The bus services are so reliable and close by. Travel from Portsmouth harbour was simple and stress free. This makes Wee Cot an ideal location to enjoy the immediate surroundings and the island. I hope you enjoy your stay as much as we did.

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• Sally - Verified booking

  The cottage was absolutely lovely.

  The decor was beautiful. Spotless. All the essentials available with some little extras which made our stay a pleasure. Travelled with my partner, 15yo son and dog. Just as advertised. Situated in the perfect spot for us. Brading high street is charming, so the little walks up the hill to the car park were a pleasure. Theres a playing field with a good track for a dog walk just up the hill off of The Mall. Private fenced/gated garden which was great. We only found Bembridge Beach (highly recommended) on our way home as we would have loved to of spent the whole day on this dog friendly beach. 15mins away from Weecot. Parked at the Tollgate Cafe and treated ourselves to coffee and cake after exploring in the rock pools and skimming stones. Wherever we travelled was not far from Weecot, although we didn’t mind the journeys as the scenery is stunning. My only two criticisms would be; although it didn’t bother me, my partner couldn’t seem to get used to the noise of the traffic on the high street. And secondly we had to hang a towel over the window in the bedroom as not to woken up with the 5am sunrise

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