School Holidays 2017 Cottages In Barnstaple

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Julie - Verified booking

  Lovely house and garden, as described but pleasantly larger than expected inside for the 4 of us.

  Especially enjoyed the pavilion to sit out in the evenings - a good addition to the facilities. Welcome gifts of tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits, milk, dog treats and bottle of wine were appreciated. Only slight negatives would be rather uncomfortable beds and overly-soft sofas although we understand this is personal preference. Location good: Heaton Punchardon is a small village not too far down narrow Devon lanes with an historic church and thatched houses. Pub (The Williams Arms) possibly walkable but very steep hill on the way back! Large portions :) Braunton also has essential shops, Squires chippy and there are plenty of petrol stations nearby. Barnstaple great for a day in town and its excellent local-history museum and medieval bridge. Saunton Sands very busy on a weekend and carpark rubbly. Woolacombe a good seaside location with brilliant beach and plenty of cafes (main carpark pricey at £12 so be aware). Both dog-friendly. Proper cider from Indicknowle farm towards Ilfracombe was a highlight of our stay on such a hot week. Dog had a great time too, especially the local walk (see route in info folder in property) and all the rabbits in the big garden. Overall, would recommend Pillars for a week in North Devon and would book through Helpful Holidays/Sykes again.

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• Adele - Verified booking

  Pillars is an exceptional holiday property, gorgeous House and fabulous gardens in incredible setting with views over open countryside.

  All needs are catered for, from the interior fixtures and fittings, to the most comfortable beds and bedding I’ve ever found in any holiday rental. Added extras such as flowers left and the most sumptuous artisan treats left for us on arrival all made us feel incredibly welcome, including our dogs, who loved the size and safety of the vast gardens to run and play in. The information left for us said that the gardens were not dog proof, but we had no issues at all - fences all around, that only the most determined escapees would get out through - but why would they want to?? Our boys loved it. Obviously, as this was the first time away from home since lockdown, we were a little concerned, but the House was spotless and additional sanitiser left for us to use during our stay. We were reassured to be told that the property had been fully sanitised before our stay, and we duly scanned in using the NHS track and trace app. We had originally booked to stay in April but had to postpone to the end of September- and we were so glad we were able to rebook Pillars with no problems at all. Vicky, the caretaker, was lovely upon first contact, and was so helpful when we wanted to take some of the delicious treats back for friends

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• Sarah - Verified booking

  We had a fantastic long weekend at Priory House.

  The house is beautiful & the facilities amazing! The bedrooms are really comfortable as are the lounge areas. Once we got the sound system working it was brilliant to have to create atmosphere for our weekend. The games room was a brilliant even for an all adult party! We had some good completion going on our final night. The only slight negatives we found were the size of the oven for the size of the house. It would benefit from 2 ovens particularly when the property can sleep up to 20 with the cottage. We were also expecting a hot tub but after 4 hours of tending to it we only managed luke warm. That said I did realise the paper work described it as a wood fired Dutch bath (no mention of hot) it would also benefit from steps up to it. We did use the small step ladder in the utility but I’m not sure if that was what we were supposed to do? Finally Phil the Estate Manager communicated brilliantly both prior to our stay and during our stay. He was really responsive to any questions we had and nothing was to much trouble! Thank you…I hope we will be back

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• Carole - Verified booking

  Pillars is a very well appointed house, and is a lovely spacious property with extensive grounds.

  We made use of all the downstairs rooms especially the conservatory ( weather wasn’t always good!). The Williams Arms provided exceptional value and quality food - we recommend it. The location is good for numerous points of interest - beaches, NT, small towns. The instructions to reach the property were accurate but not the easiest route to follow - we discovered better during our time there. It was difficult to contact the caretaker to find out the details about key collection (5 messages were left before a callback was received). Unfortunately there was a problem with the cistern in the ensuite - it was very slow to fill - which we reported but didn’t hear back. Also, the skylight window in one of the twin bedrooms couldn’t be fully closed. We felt the ‘Heath Robinson’ arrangement for the extremely small television in the lounge spoilt the room and wasn’t a suitable size for that room. Although there were negatives we did enjoy our stay.

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• Michelle - Verified booking

  We visited as a family of six in August.

  The cottage is beautiful with amazing grounds. The cottage was very clean and had everything you needed. It was also a great location and all the places we visited were around a half an hour drive. Mark and Alison were very welcoming and Mark took the time to show us around the farm and see all the animals. The girls loved the cows and the dogs, especially Buster and loved riding on the ride on tractors. The only criticism is the showers. There is an amazing wet room downstairs, however the shower doesn’t provide enough water, it was a struggle to get clean and my Aunty and Uncle had the same problem with the shower in their en-suite. There is nothing else I could fault about the property and if the showers were improved we would definitely return again. We all had an amazing stay. Thank you :)

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