School Holidays 2017 Cottages In New Forest

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Catherine - Verified booking

  The barn is well equipped, tranquil, remote and the bluebell woods are lovely and the owner explained how to get to them.

  I did have a mixture of emails from Sykes Cottage that said towels and linen were included and then that they weren't included so I called the owner and she confirmed that towels were not included but bath mats were included - this did make me laugh as I don't think I have ever had to take bath mats to a cottage stay?! T Towels and linen were included too. If you are concerned with security I would advise you to check first that the warped back door has been replaced. Firstly, I understand that there is an energy/food crisis. We paid £1193 which £1126 was the cost of the rental which was for a 3 night stay. When we stayed at a converted barn back in 2021 (via Sykes Cottages) when we arrived there was a bottle of prosecco in an ice bucket and a welcome note, along with 6 fresh farm eggs (as they had chickens just as Breaches Barn did too), a freshly baked loaf and cooked brownies & we still tell everyone about this! This welcome was such a joyful one and really appreciated by us all! When we arrived at Breaches Barn there was nothing. We had to take our own towels. I understand they are running a business and we would have used electric/gas whilst we were there (we were out every day and out on Saturday evening to see a show in Southampton) and linen would have to washed after we left but a 'welcome 6 fresh farm eggs/note' would have been a nice gesture out of their £1126 earnings. The dishwasher has an intermittent problem. We saw the owner about this on Saturday morning. The owner did explain he knew nothing about dishwashers and kindly sent his son over to look at the dishwasher but by this time we had googled the make/model and it advised to run the cold water tap for 20 seconds in the kitchen sink once the dishwasher had been put on and the first time we did this it worked - happy days! However on the Sunday evening we had to mess around doing this for around an hour before we could get it to work. So the dishwasher needs to be looked at. My main gripe was the security of the property. We are 3 mature women who were having a break from our busy lives. Yes we all live in towns and we are aware that country folk have different ideas about locking up their properties. But this barn is a let property that has to be insured. The door from the lounge area that leads out to the rear garden/patio area has no lock and key slot and it had a bolt at the base of the door that was broken and the door has warped. We saw the owner about the back door at the same time we told him about the dishwasher. He explained that he never locks his own house and knows about the back door. He has paid a carpenter to get the wood back in January to make a new door but this still hasn't been done. One of my friends has an anxiety problem about being burgled. So she slept upstairs. We had to barricade the back door with furniture and also upstairs where she was sleeping each evening to reassure her that we were safe but her reply was 'things do happen in the countryside with intruders/burglary'. So my friend had 3 bad nights sleep. I think the advertising of the property should advise there is no lock on the back door as we would NOT have booked this cottage if we had known due to our friends issue. I did wonder that if the property had been burgled in the time when we were out that how our valuables would have been covered by the insurance? Basically the door needs to be replaced and secured. One of my friends said that if the back door was replaced and secured they would in the future rebook this property.

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• Sharon - Verified booking

  We had a 3 night stay at Breaches Barn, it was as described on the website, it was comfortable and well equipped.

  We were a family of 8 with an age range from 30 to 81, everyone was very pleased with their rooms and slept well. The enclosed garden was lovely, our two dogs loved the outside area and surrounding walks. The garden is adjacent to fields with sheep and cows. The owner of the property, advised where we could walk the dogs around the working farm. THE FOLLOWING IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION Some suggestions that we would like to put forward to enhance the guest experience: ● spare bin liners in the kitchen ● more than 1 toilet roll per bathroom ● shower gel ● one garden gate needs a bit of maintenance at the bottom. If you had a small dog it would be able to get out. However, none of the above detracted from our stay at the property. Feedback for Sykes: ● the website states towels are provided at the start of the details, then further down says you need to provide your own. We took them but some people might not. ● the website says take your own tea towels. The owner had provided them.

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• Robert - Verified booking

  We have just spent 7 wonderful nights at swallow lodge .

  From the moment we walked in to the time we left it was amazing. There was a welcome hamper for us when we arrived for which we were very grateful. The fit and Finnish and cleanliness is first class.the amount of equipment they have in there leaves you wanting for nothing as they have thought of everything you need for a lovely break .when we met nicky and roger they made us feel very welcome and are lovely people was really nice to meet them .knowing they are just next door should you need anything. Milford is a lovely place and was central for all the places we visited ,we ate out at smugglers and the lazy lion both very good ,a shop, fish and chip shop within a 5 min walk .we would definitely recommend swallow lodge for a nice relaxing break book with confidence its amazing.we have booked many places with Sykes over the years and never had a bad one yet but this one is up there with the best . Bob and Michele

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• Edward - Verified booking

  We had a great time celebrating a joint 80th birthday.

  The spaciousness of the open plan conversion was excellent for a family get together and it was a warm and cosy place. The big table was much appreciated and we really liked there being some racquets to borrow so we could make use of the tennis court. Given the mobility issues of my elderly parents we really liked the ground floor bedrooms. Some minor improvements could be made to make it even more disability friendly. The ramp at the back had a step at the bottom which was difficult for a wheel chair. Smoothing this out would be an easy improvement. Also my mother found the step from the bedrooms to the main living area very difficult which somewhere negated the ground floor benefits. A ramp of some sort would help. Similarly grab rails in the ground floor bedroom shower would be helpful for mobility impaired people. In total though Breaches Barn was great and I'd happily recommend it.

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• Dawn - Verified booking

  Our stay was lovely.

  We hired Breaches Barn for a family birthday and it easily accommodated three generations of our extended family. The extension in particular was lovely, a real up market feel and contrast to the beamed barn (which was also lovely). The facilities easily accommodated a large number of people (plenty of crockery etc), cleaning products/tea towels/dishwasher/washing machine all perfectly functional. There is good dog walking around the farm with access to some pretty woods. I think one of the best things was that the Barn is on a farm; there were cows and sheep in the next field when we stayed; they seemed very used to people and wandered over when we came out of the Barn. The Barn feels peaceful and a bit isolated while having easy access to local villages (and great pubs), Fordingbridge and the New Forest. All in all we had a perfect weeks' break.

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