Sleeps 12 Bed And Breakfasts In The United Kingdom

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Pauline - Verified booking

  We have just spent a week at this property which initially looks great - the outdoor facilities are fantastic however we encountered a number of issues during our stay.

  The hot tub was not ready for our arrival - the temperature was only 30 degrees and strangely had a soft cover - the towels were still wet in the dryer. At 1pm the following day it was still only 32 degrees and a few of the younger guests , fed up of waiting to use the facilities, got in shivering! I was made aware of exactly what time they got in by the owner who has cctv all over - it’s more than a little disconcerting especially for my 16 year old niece to realise we were all being watched even in the hot tub! This seems a complete breach of one’s privacy. The hot tub didn’t reach the required temperature until after 11pm on our second day. We reported this and the maintenance chap with the help of my nephew brought the hard cover from the side of the property - it was ripped and broken. Be aware there is a curfew of 8 am to 10 pm on the use of these outdoor facilities which is not highlighted anywhere on Sykes site. The fun police have been let loose outside with nearly 30 notices most of which are along the lines of ‘be quiet’ ‘no music’ . Perhaps the most vulgar and disrespectful to guests was the notice ‘do not pee in our hot tub.’ Sykes were made aware early on of issues like this and of the dishwasher which wasn’t initially working - we were advised on being initially shown round the property to put it on the hottest pot wash setting which seems odd unless they knew of an issue. There were numerous disappointing aspects such as a leak in the main upstairs bathroom, blocked drain in shower cubicle, no oven gloves to safely remove food, a dangerous oven not secured in. Sykes asked us to keep photos and video evidence of all of the above however it seems they have happily taken their commission and have done nothing to ensure we are compensated for what they agreed in my initial call to them had been lack of advertised facilities. The only contact we had with the owner was at 11pm on the penultimate evening asking us to turn the music down which we did - I foolishly thought he might be contacting us to discuss the above - he followed up the call with a huge WhatsApp message in which he complained to me how little money he makes on his property letting after Sykes have taken their commission. Having paid just shy of £3,000 I had little time for his message. He’s also forwarded photos of fake tan on some of his towels and a bit of food on his new oven gloves! I found him most unprofessional. If you are looking for a luxury property to enjoy with family and friends……keep looking……this isn’t it!!!

  Read more less >

• Amy - Verified booking

  Lovely house in perfect location for accessing the coast and the many wonderful coves and sights in this area.

  The house is spacious and modern with great amenities. The beds were very comfy and the bedding was to die for, all guests commented that the bedding was so nice and soft, clean and of good quality. Owners were attentive and on hand via WhatsApp if we needed! I rated 4* on cleanliness as we found a mouldy banana in a drawer, a full cooked pizza in the oven and a whole tray of baked jacket potatoes that had been cooked and left in there, so assuming no one Checked the cooking appliances. The hot tub also had lots of bits in it, and there wasn’t a net to clear it. But the rest of the facilities were really clean and tidy. The only real negative (it’s not really negative but the only comment from all guests) about this whole property is a lack of bathrooms, there were 4 double bedrooms upstairs without en-suite so only one bathroom / toilet for those rooms / 8 people, and no toilet downstairs apart from in the downstairs bedroom, so not accessible to others who aren’t sleeping in there. This caused some queuing for morning bathroom requirements and meant we were all a bit late out for our planned daytime activities. The 10am check out is quite early for such a large house with so many people in, especially when check in is 4pm, but as long as everyone gets organised the night before it’s not so bad, just a rush on a Sunday morning and no one wanted to get out of those comfy beds so early, plus the bathroom queues also made this a stretch! Maybe if there was an option to pay extra for late checkout at 12 this would have eliminated this. If this was an option we would 100% have paid this. I would have liked to have hoovered up, put the towels in the washer etc for the cleaners / stripped the beds etc but there just wasn’t time. On the whole this is a really nice characterful property with a stunning kitchen-diner which is perfect for large family gatherings. 2 living rooms so kids in one and those seeking peace in the other! The views are lovely, garden is huge and location is perfect. We had an amazing time for a special occasion weekend and all guests said they would book again. If we were there for a week, we may have struggled with just the one fridge for all of us (15 of us) but the bathroom situation would have been sorted with a timetable or routine if we were there longer. Oh, almost forgot, this property is super child friendly with toys, colouring table, outdoor toys, TVs and even potty’s!

  Read more less >

• Helen - Verified booking

  We stayed at Freshwinds in July.

  Lovely location and really quiet. Very comfortable rooms and plenty of room to spread out! We unfortunately arrived later than expected as the journey was AWFUL and took us nearly eight hours to get there and as Stephen was going on holiday the next day, he couldn’t wait for us (totally understandable) and so we had no ‘handover’ of the house and nobody checked in to see if all was ok during the week. We saw the pool guys twice, so felt a bit abandoned but it wasn’t really a problem! We all thoroughly enjoyed the games room, table tennis, table football, karaoke and hot tub etc. Unfortunately, although the pool was warm for the first few days, towards the end of our stay the pool was very cold and not able to be enjoyed. Very disappointing as this was the main reason we booked Freshwinds and definitely dampened the mood but the hot tub was a hit because of this! Several towels and pillowcases had marks on but they were ok and the cleanliness was generally very good. I was surprised that there wasn’t a welcome tray/pack on arrival. I usually love sitting down with a drink and reading info and looking at leaflets of the surrounding area etc. Simple things like nearest hospital/medical centre, nearby pubs, takeaways, supermarkets, instructions for appliances, when the pool guys/gardener are due etc but Google was our friend re pubs etc. (I’m old school though!) I think my biggest bug bear was the sheer amount of SILENCE/BE QUIET notices around the garden! I understand there are properties close by and I totally understand the 8am - 10pm curfew on noise in the garden but it was literally everywhere you looked! It made us quite conscious of even sitting out and talking! Despite the gripes, we all had a lovely relaxing, comfortable week away and on the whole, we enjoyed our stay.

  Read more less >

• David - Verified booking

  £10,000 for a 2 week cottage holiday in Market Drayton.

  This was four times as much as we normally pay but it was to be our last holiday with the extended family and we thought we'd really push the boat out. The children and grandchildren would love the outdoor heated pool. So we booked Freshwinds. It was dreadful. The pool was unheated so could only be braved by some of the party and then only for a very short time, as with open water swimming. Only for the last 3 days of the fortnight did the temperature reach an acceptable level - after a replacement pool heater had been installed. The stonework around the pool was unsafe, as was one of the pool ladders, there were weeds around the swimming pool which was directly overlooked by CCTV cameras in the trees. The property was dirty and not as described by Sykes in many respects, the garden was overgrown, the outdoor furniture was filthy and the pond looked like Shrek's swamp. There were dangerous broken and smashed floor tiles in the utility room and bathrooms, the washing machine did not work, the ceiling fan could not be switched off and had to be disconnected after 3 days, the floors of the balconies were covered in moss falling from the overflowing gutters, a cupboard was full of old batteries which were corroding and the house had an awful smell which we could not get rid of. There was blood on the bed sheets. I could go on and on. I emailed Sykes and sent photos and on the Tuesday of week 2 the manager and two staff turned up to 'put things right'. I asked them to leave as the pool was now usable and we wished to try to make the most of what remained of our holiday.

  Read more less >

• Paul - Verified booking

  The property was booked for a family group of 10 adults to celebrate my wife's birthday and it is certainly an ideal location for such an event.

  The dining kitchen is very spacious and the lounge is huge and very impressive - all offering plenty of room for large groups. The bathrooms are nicely appointed. These are all the positives. In terms of things that could be improved, the cooker and dishwasher are at the end of their life with one oven door not closing correctly and the dishwasher only working effectively if half loaded. The owner was easily contactable to answer some initial questions we had regarding the heating and the WiFi, the latter of which doesn't work on the ground floor. Better details of these points in the information book, particularly regarding the WiFi, would be helpful. Unfortunately the hot tub, whilst hot, was not bubbling and the control panel was not working at the beginning of the holiday but the owner was responsive to our raising these concerns and came out to look at it. He was unable to fix it so called an engineer out and it was working extremely well for the last four days of our holiday. The bed linen and towels are quite old and some would benefit from being replaced. There is an eclectic mixture of cooking utensils with many mis-matched pans and lids and tins that didn't fit the oven, however, just about every cooking item you need is available. The cleanliness on arrival was overall very good, however, there were a number of crumbs under small appliances in the kitchen. Bedrooms and bathrooms were all very well presented. In summary I would give an overall 4.5 rating and would definitely stay in this property again.

  Read more less >