Sidmouth Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• James - Verified booking

  My wife and I stayed at the Old Kennels Cottage Accommodation for 6 nights at the end of July 2023.

  We payed over £1300 for our stay. One of the main reasons we chose this cottage, was because it had a washing machine. We had traveled from Switzerland via France and had already been on the road for 9 days. Upon our arrival, and to our surprise, there was no washing machine. The booklet in the cottage said it had a washing machine as well as on the Website of Sykes Cottages, who we booked through. After contacting the Site Manager, we were informed that the washing machine was broken. The Site Manager said that they would return the next day to discuss the matter. We never saw that person again for the duration of our stay and no message was left for us to say that they had stopped by and that we should contact them. Had we had not contacted the Site Manager, no one would have told us that there was no washing machine available. There was ZERO communication prior to our arrival that the washing machine was broken and not available at the property. This was a huge inconvenience to us and certainly was not the nicest experience to start our holiday with. We were offered to have our washing done by the site manger at the farm. Which was a nice gesture. But after seeing how dirty (particular the bed sheets and towels) the cottage was when we arrived, we did not accept this offer. Also, this was certainly not a sufficient solution to having no washing machine at the property. We certainly did not pay £1300 for a stranger to do our washing on another property. On our departure day, we asked the owner that we be refunded accordingly as they did not provide us with a washing machine that we could use, at our own convenience, in the cottage. The owner refused to refund us. In addition, upon our arrival, the property was not cleaned properly, not even to a minimal standard of cleanliness. In the Kitchen all the door handles and appliances were sticky and dirty to touch. The drawers where the cutlery and toaster were kept had not been cleaned. There were still ALOT of left over crumbs in the toaster from the previous week. The tea towel provided had a huge stain on it, and the dish sponge was black and smelly. It certainly didn’t give us much confidence that the rest of the utensils and kitchen were cleaned properly?! In the Bathroom the bath mat had stains on it and didn’t look clean. There were a number (more than should be tolerated) of hairs around the toilet, sink, floor and shower area. In the main double bedroom the sheets had a stain in the middle of the bed, and the mattress protector was covered in stains, and looked liked it hadn’t been washed in a long time. It was disgusting! There were cobwebs everywhere and no sign that any had tried to be cleaned. Dog hairs were also evident on the sofa and floor of the lounge area. There were left over pieces of litter in the small bin of the main bedroom. The bin had not been emptied. The Hoover (a Dyson) had not been emptied, it was full and we had to empty it our selves to use it the first night, because there were dead insects everywhere. Therefore, I would highly recommend that you DO NOT BOOK AND STAY HERE. For the price you pay, it does not equate to the the service and quality you expect to receive. You will find much better accommodations and hotels with a much higher level of cleanliness and standard of service in the nearby area. Lastly, there are similar feedback comments on the Sykes website dating from Oct 2022. Therefore, the owner has not dealt with these issues sufficiently and the management of this property has some serious problems.

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• Sue - Verified booking

  The setting was lovely but spoilt by a few niggles.

  The keycode safe was very fiddly and hard to open. The listed fridge/freezer was anything but as was only a very small fridge with an ice box that wouldnt even hold a small tub of icecream. The village shop was closed each day just after lunch due to staff shortages and had hardly any stock so we had to travel to the larger stores further away and then had no space to store items so had to do a limited shop each time. The salad box was only big enough for 2 items! We tried to use the dishwasher on day 3 when we had built up enough crockery to make it worthwhile using but unfortunately it did not work due to no salt and there was none in the cupboard! There was no control on the hot tub to turn the water temperature down as it was too hot for us to use. The area around the building needed a good tidy up, lots of weeds growing and a very dirty door mat to greet you. The TV only worked on a few of the days holiday as it kept saying no signal and as we dont subscribe to NETFLIX it was a little disappointing. The area around the house was lovely and we enjoyed going for long walks each day. All in all we enjoyed our holiday but a shame it was spoilt by a few small niggles.

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• Emma - Verified booking

  We stayed at the Old Kennels in August 2023 as a family group of 4 adults and our dog and couldn’t have had a better holiday.

  Accurate listing, very clean, beautiful setting and really well equipped holiday home. Having stayed in a few holiday cottages like this over the years we were really impressed by the range of kitchen equipment available, enough to cook a big roast and multiple barbecues for a group of 4. Tea and coffee also provided, which was not expected and above and beyond. Lots of parking. Fast, friendly responses from owners when needed - really lovely people. The hot tub and garden furniture were brilliant as we happened to be lucky with the weather after a very wet July! Location was beautiful and secluded which was wonderful, lots of space for the dog to safely run around, walking distance from the byes, lovely pubs and sidmouth - perfect for a relaxed and pooch-friendly holiday. Would 100% recommend to anyone and my partner and I are coming back in November with the pooch for another week! Couldn’t have asked for any more. Had a really lovely week of quality time with family.

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• Sarah - Verified booking

  Whilst the property was nice enough, it does really need a good clean - we walked into the property with over 20 large flies buzzing at the main bedroom window (which doesn't open!

  ), dead bugs, cobwebs and too many spiders hanging from the ceilings that suggests that a proper clean hasn't happened. The shaving plug doesn't work. You have a TV listed in the property but it's only internet-enabled/streaming only (which should be noted). The kitchen also lacked same basic products such as a bottle opener. Also it gets very cold in the kitchen and hallway without any heating available. This was sadly made worse from ill-fitting windows and front door (water actually pooled when weather was particularly bad). The property Also lists a fridge freezer which is inaccurate given only a fridge is available with a small freezer compartment-there is a huge difference especially when staying for a week. Also no welcome provided which felt most odd and when we did make contact the response felt very cold and standoffish. Overall it made for a very disappointing stay.

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• Sarah - Verified booking

  We have had a wonderful break away at Burrows.

  While there the Owner showed us their other property, ‘Applemill’ - both properties rivalled ones we have stayed in on the Chatsworth estate. A welcome of milk, teabags, coffee and chocolate cake on arrival. High quality towels, china, bedding provided. Plenty of hot water and heating available. We chose not to use the hot tub this time but would next time due to the rigorous maintenance testing schedule by the owners to ensure levels were correct. Dressing gowns provided for hot tub too! Property very comfortable throughout and open plan layout meant we all felt connected and joined in with meal preparation. Quiet location with beautiful views and sunset. Great night sky! Would definitely stay again and would like to stay at Applemill too! Sarah

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