School Holidays 2017 Cottages In Bigbury On Sea

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Lisa - Verified booking

  No frills cottage in a great location.

  We were concerned about previous reviews and as is clear in the photos, Highdown is an older cottage which still feels more like a residential than a rental property. The owner had worked hard to make the place clean and fresh for our arrival, even down to a new coat of paint in the utility room. Good points - the house was generally comfortable (although the mattress in the master bedroom should be replaced), the kitchen was well equipped (though no pantry provisions except salt and pepper) - it was not at all spacious, as stated in the description but certainly adequate, there is a large fridge freezer in the utility which is useful, the wifi and TV were excellent, the conservatory when sunny was delightful, the fire was cozy and the garden a nice size (although not completely dog-proof - a tenacious terrier would squeeze through the front gate in a second). The driveway was tight, but we managed to get our Landrover 4x4 in with a bit of skilful manoeuvring (on my part). Less positively, we arrived in a wet and windy Easter week and storage heaters hadn't been turned up so the house was very chilly. On colder days I think the heaters struggled to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the day and into the evening. The bathroom needs some storage (shelves, a bathroom cabinet?) as there was nothing to accommodate the smellies of 6 people and the provision of towels were a disappointment. Not sure why they state they are provided when all you get is one thin medium sized towel to last a week and no hand towels. I suggest you take your own. The owner however was responsive and did provide an extra electric radiator and a couple of hand towels on request. All in all we had a nice stay as Bigbury on Sea is a heavenly location for kids of all ages and dogs - The Journeys End pub has superb food. I wouldn't rent this cottage again as I think its rather basic and overpriced, but if you have realistic expectations it is a nice base from which to explore the area.

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• Tracey - Verified booking

  Wow...

  Bigbury-on-Sea is beautiful. Highdown is situated at the top of a very steep hill. Beautiful views to Burgh Island, which is worth a walk over, even just to have a drink at the Pilchard Inn. Little cafe/takeaway down on the beach car park which is pretty basic but lovely food. There is a food store within walking distance on a caravan park along with Fryer Tucks fish and chips (also very nice) but it is along quite a narrow cliff path. WiFi was very hit and miss but kind of expected that to be honest. Make sure you visit Pickwick Inn (pub) which is so lovely. Great food, lovely atmosphere and very dog friendly. Beware of the narrow lanes in the area, cars go pretty fast round them and although there are pull in places it does get a bit scary at times. Highview itself is a lovely bungalow. Pretty dated but we quite liked that. Could have been a bit cleaner but very cosy and warm. Loved sitting in the little dining area looking out to the sea even when it was raining. The garden is lovely too, wraps around the whole bungalow and is very safe for dogs. On two occasions we did have a chap come right through the garden to the shed at the back apparently to collect laundry? If he’d of knocked and said he was about then we would have been happier but to suddenly see a man walking around outside was a bit unnerving. The patio area again is lovely but not for small children. There’s quite a drop down a grass bank at the front of it. All in all we went away as a family of four (2 grown up children) after having an illness for most of the year to have some quality time together and a well earned rest and that’s exactly what we did. Would we go back there again? Yes definitely

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• Tim - Verified booking

  We have stayed at several of the Burgh Island Causeway apartments - this was the first time at no.

  23. Generally speaking, we had a lovely time in our favourite part of the world. Helpful Holidays as usual lived up to their name. The following are hopefully constructive comments about the apartment. * Broadband. This is woefully inadequate... we know from other apartments stays that a perfectly usable broadband service is available. It costs no more than the older services as in place at no.23. * Washer-drier. When in drying mode the unit makes a clunk every 14s that resonates around the apartment, making it unusable whilst we were there. * The fridges both have doors that do not shut properly without a firm shove - including the freezer compartment door. This meant a number of items of food had to be discarded. * There are at least two flickering bulbs around the flat - these need replacing. * There was no hand soap in the property. * The second bathroom has no towel rail - the towels at the end of the week were fairly unusable as a result. * Cleanliness - we found bits of sweetcorn on the floor of the 2nd bedroom. This doesn't bode well for how well the place had been cleaned before our arrival - a worry given the current emphasis on keeping things clean. A final note was that the cleaner turned up at around 9:15 on our day of departure and lingered in the hallway. She was also disparaging to my wife. We have always left the apartments we have stayed in as clean and orderly as we found them. We didn't need this rudeness on our final day. We had to ask her to stand outside until we left at 9:50.

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• Jeffrey - Verified booking

  Things people look for in their holiday accommodation include comfortable beds, plenty of hot water for showers and baths, and fast and reliable wifi.

  This apartment didn’t offer any of these. As most other reviews have mentioned the apartment does offer an amazing front row seat to views of the sea and Burgh Island and is just steps away from the beach. The kitchen is well appointed with modern appliances and all the “stuff” that’s needed to self cater. But, for us, good views didn’t compensate for the fact that the beds were uncomfortably soft, we were not able to take a hot shower, and the internet was abysmal. The mattress and bedding made sleeping unpleasant. The mattresses and pillows felt very used and the fitted sheets were “piled” and quite uncomfortable to sleep on. No matter what we tried with using the hot water “boost” button, the shower went cold just after a few seconds, as such we had to resort to taking showers in the pool changing room. The internet speed varied from an extremely slow 500 kbps to a very slow 1.3 mbps. As there is little to no cell service for Three or O2 in that area, the slow internet impacted communication with family via WhatsApp or wifi calling. It also made watching shows on Netflix or freeview frustrating by periodically having to wait for the TV catch-up downloading a programme . (I would recommend downloading any shows you want to watch on your laptop before you arrive.) I have read other reviews dating back to early last year that mention the issues with the beds and Internet and, for the money it costs to stay there, I would expect something to have been done about them.

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• Patricia - Verified booking

  We have been fortunate to have stayed in a few Sykes holiday lets, and have never been disappointed.

  However, we would not have booked Highdown last year if we had read the recent reviews written. But here is an update - Highdown is old and tired looking, but we felt the owner had read the same reviews and had made an effort to make changes. The property was clean, thick soft white medium size fluffy towels (no hand towels), tea towels, hand soap, and washing up liquid was provided, and the kitchen was well equipt. We found the master bedroom's mattress to be comfortable, and also there were two radiators to use if you found the property not warm enough. The only complaints we would make are, the little utility room with the large fridge freezer has a funny smell and this problem needs investigating, and there was no shower curtain / screen. Meaning that every time we used the shower, we had to mop the bathroom floor. (We must admit that we did not contact the owner regarding these problems, because we could not get a signal on our mobile). The welcome tea / coffee / sugar / milk and biscuits after along journey was very much appreciated. Thankyou. Bigbury on Sea is a beautiful location.

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