South East Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Anne - Verified booking

  We did have a lovely family holiday at Abbots Wood, location fantastic, some great walks and wild life, Deer visited and we sat and watched the bats of an evening.

  There are a few things that you need to be aware of. Cleanliness was very below the usual standard we have had when holidaying with Sykes before, (cobwebs dead flies, dust under furniture, sinks needing some bleach, shower cubicle need a good clean ). Furniture needs to be up dated in the lounge, settees, very very used all the seat cushions are flat and looking very tied. Pans in the kitchen, loads of them but only a couple you could use on the hob as its a hob that needs specific pans. Pool is lovely, but we had to contact the owner to ask for the water temp to be turned up, which they told us how to do. Bedrooms, only have double beds which was a bit of an issue, but other reviews had stated this so we took camp beds, not ideal but it worked for us. The two bedrooms that shared the Jack and Jill bathroom were a nightmare, beautifully decorated but too hot to sleep in and the boilers kept coming on and off all night, they where very very noisy. We had to sleep with the balcony doors open all night which then let midges in. There was no cold water pressure in this bathroom which again was an issue, one of our guests is a plumber by trade and he said the whole plumbing water system needs an over haul. Garden furniture was dirty we had to wash it before using, the decking area needs some TLC, all doors on the rear and side of the house need some work doing to them as they where difficult to open and shut. The family room down stairs with two double beds was cold no heating in here, the quiet room at the end of the dinning room would make a lovely games room, snooker table, darts board etc. to us this was a waste of space but that's only our opinion. One of our main concerns was the balcony upstairs which you look down over onto the pool. This is very lose in places, if we had had small children with us it would have been a major issue, also the balustrade on the stairs from upstairs into the pool area this is lose as well, these need attention. It is a fantastic property in a lovely area and like I said we did have a fabulous time here but its crying out for some tender loving care.

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• Beverley - Verified booking

  The house is very large, beautiful and set in stunning surroundings with some lovely walks.

  However we felt that the property does need a little tlc in places. We got to the property and one of the curtains to one of the rooms were down which was soon addressed by the owners. The bedrooms are all great sizes with two having large dressing rooms and all having ensuites. As picked up by other residents the kitchen is very small with very little work surface however more or less everything you would need is in the kitchen including a lovely range cooker. However a new set of knives, a new can opener and some egg cups would be a great addition to what is already there. We marked the house down on cleaniness as we felt all the shower cubicles could do with a good scrub and bleach and was very disappointed that the glass to the windows and internal doors had not been cleaned from a previous visitor who had obviously had little children or dogs. To me this is part of a cleaning process from visitor to visitor. The chairs to the garden also hadn’t been cleaned and there were broken chairs around the lake which didn’t do the house justice. Having the pool was a real bonus and well used by all the visitors. It was lovely having some conservatory furniture and chairs to lay on a great addition to the area. If you do take a dog just a word of warning we were told by a neighbour that some of the residents down the lane are not keen on some of the wildlife visiting them and was told that a trap had been set to catch deer, foxes etc and it had caught their dog thank goodness we didn’t take our dog as this would have been a real worry for us. We had a lovely week and although the weather wasn’t great it just meant we used the pool more!

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• Amy - Verified booking

  This is a lovely property, ideally situated for exploring Dorset and the New Forest.

  Our boys and dog thoroughly enjoyed the spacious house and garden, in particular. The house was very comfortable & there was everything we needed & more in the kitchen. On our first day we found that the television in the snug didn’t work. It switched off intermittently & the next morning unfortunately did the same. The contact number given by Sykes was for a company that looks after the property on behalf of the owners. My husband left a message, but didn’t hear back so had to chase them up later in the day. We were told someone would go round to look at the television the following day. Having returned to the house we were unable to tell whether anyone had been in, so again rung that company. They said they spoke to the maintenance person who thought the tv probably needed replacing. They’d also spoken to the owners, who said they’d been there the previous week & it was working ok then. We were asked to video what happens to the television, which we did & this was emailed to that company again. We never heard back from them or the owners, so felt the duty of care was lacking. Having a second television wasn’t the end of the world, but it meant one room in the house couldn’t be used, as intended. Our biggest disappointment was in having to spend part of our holiday chasing up an issue & not getting it resolved. It would also have been nice to have heard from the owners at some point, even if only to apologise for the inconvenience. We understand that they aren’t local, so you lose an element of personal touch but at least this issue wasn’t anything major.

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• Philip - Verified booking

  Before I comment on Abbots Wood Hampshire, I'd just like to say we enjoyed our holiday because we won't let anything ruin it.

  It's supposed to be 5 star, no way, but it could be. Maintenance is none existent. Outside other than mow the lawn, nothing is done. The windows are dirty and desperate need of painting. The decking needs replacing, and the patio needs tidying up and repointing. There's old chairs and some other things stuck up the corner, needs removing and a good sweep. The balcony's have never been painted or cleaned it seems. The overhang from the roof over the patios in a bad state. The guttering has become detached in several places and is full of leaves, so when it rains it's like a waterfall. Inside the house again a lot needs doing, everything is well used which we expected as it's a rental property. In one room they had a job to get cold water in the sink, and when they pulled the plug out it really stank. It was also too hot in the room to sleep as there is a boiler in the wardrobe. Mind you the pool was lovely, as was the pond/lake if you like fishing. I know it sounds like I'm hard to please, I'm not. We didn't complain because we knew nothing would be done. There are lots faults with the place. We were not looking for a palace but it should be better. With the Coronavirus I don't think anyone would be using it. Why didn't they give it some TLC/maintenance. I don't think anythings been done for years. The house has a lot of potential, it's such a shame. I think properties need to be reviewed regularly to make sure of standards. Regards Mr Philip Higginson.

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• Tom - Verified booking

  This house exceeded all our expectations.

  It was the perfect house in the perfect setting and perfect location. The only negative points, that would potentially affect us rebooking were as follows; *There was 1 bedroom that was so hot due to a massive hot water tank in the cupboard. This room was unusable as a bedroom and we consequently had to create a bedroom for 2 children in one of the sitting rooms downstairs. * Also, the other bedroom adjacent to the one mentioned above had the boiler/pump for the hot water tank directly underneath it in the kitchen. This would start up at very regular intervals 24 hours a day. It would run for a few minutes then cut out. It would then start up a few minutes later. This happened all day and night. This made it impossible to be used by anyone except some children as they tend to sleep more heavily. Aside from these problems, the week we spent at Abbots Wood was amazing. The kids (and adults) loved the pool. There was plenty of room and social areas so it never seemed crowded. The bar area was brilliant for relaxing and having a few drinks once the kids were in bed. It was close to the beach which the dogs loved, and beautiful Netley Abbey. It was comfortable and well equipped for large groups.

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