Stroud Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Lorraine - Verified booking

  We had the most fabulous stay at Under Catswood.

  The situation of the property is stunning and to be able to walk from the house and enjoy the beautiful Laurie Lee countryside was a bonus. The property was spacious enough for us 3 couples to be together but never on top of each other and we were able to take ourselves off to another part of the house if needs be for some quiet time- such as completing a jigsaw! The garden is perfect for dogs. We chose this place to escape the noise of fireworks and that worked perfectly. At night the only sound we heard was the hooting of an owl. I've given the property 4stars as a few improvements would elevate it to complete perfection! The windows in the bedrooms and bathrooms being locked shut. Why? To open and ventilate would mean less condensation which was beginning to rot the seals. Also to sleep with the window open would be better as it felt a bit stuffy. We were there in November but can imagine this being a problem in the summer. We also didn't have instructions for recycling and rubbish. We sorted our recycling in the bins provided in the kitchen drawer but had to leave it for the cleaners to deal with as we didn't have any instructions on where to put it from there. We also had to leave our rubbish in the kitchen too through lack of instructions. The weather was mild and so heating was not a huge issue but the right hand part of the house was quite cold at times. In the cold weather this could be an issue especially in the bedrooms. These are minor improvements. In no way did any of this hamper our enjoyment of our stay. We were all very sad to leave and would definitely book to return. Highly recommended.

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• Sharon - Verified booking

  The property did not list if there was an iron, ironing board and hoover which would be useful for service users.

  Also, lovely amount of kitchen cookware, crockery, cutlery and utensils which would be good to know the kitchen is well equipped. There were numerous signs with a lot of information, making one feel stressed, not at all relaxed. These could be displayed more appropriately such as by the rubbish bin for recycling or a note to read a ‘Welcome pack’ to ensure to feel welcome. As makes one feel quite unwelcome (despite signs saying ‘Be our guest’ and ‘Relax and forget your worries at the door’) to have so this and that everywhere like a hostel or student digs. The key box is also very fiddly to manage to open. The car parking space is adequate for two medium cars which would be useful to know. We had an estate and a large hatchback and both fitted easily. This would assist people not worrying about parking etc. The sofa and chairs are not very comfortable to sit on, but the beanbags and footstools are useful. The dining table seats 6, but the house sleeps 8 it’d be if to have a couple of fold up chairs or dining chairs at side to add, rather than others sit in kitchen on stools. Thank you for allowing us to stay in your home, these are only our thoughts which we hope are helpful as the house was clean and comfortable, but the signs made us anxious and isn’t something we’ve experienced before so we assume you have had a bad experience from previous guests.

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• Ben - Verified booking

  A beautiful house, in an absolutely magical setting, right in the epicentre of Cider With Rosie country.

  We spent a wonderfully relaxing week at Under Catswood with our older dog in early December. The location is magnificent with spectacular views over the Slad valley, and south towards Stroud and Selsley Common; ending somewhere near the bridges over the River Severn. The Midcentury Modern house is equally spectacular. It is warm, well equipped and superbly laid out. Even though we are fussy people with high standards, we immediately felt at home. At night it is silent, except for the occasional Tawny Owls, by day the valley is peaceful and quiet. Perfect to get away from it all. I grew up in Painswick as a kid, just in the next valley, and it was a treat to be back in the hills and valleys of Stroud. It was particularly magical to be able to re-read Cider With Rosie in the sunroom and glance up from the pages and see the places Laurie Lee describes in the book. A truly unique experience - thankfully we saw no two-headed sheep in Catswood! Stroud is a very short drive down the valley and has all the amenities you might need if civilisation is required for any reason. The odd thing about Under Catswood is that while you are in the property, civilisation feels much, much further away than it actually is. Our break was over way too quickly and we really hope to return again soon. I would recommend this property without hesitation. Thanks for a great stay.

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• Georgia - Verified booking

  Whilst the cottage is in a stunning location and could be a very desireable property it was the dirtiest we have ever stayed in and we have stayed in a lot!

  Given the current situation we expected great care would have been taken to prepare holiday cottages for guests at this time, in-line with your cleaning guidelines. This was certainly not the case. All kitchen surfaces were covered in layer of grease, taps had fingerprints, bins filthy, layers of dust on appliances, crockery dirty and stained, bedding Unironed, bathrooms in a similar condition. We complained to Manor cottages who arranged for a ‘reclean’ to take place. Two ladies turned up who were extremely rude and unhappy at being called back. They stayed for 20 minutes. There was some improvement but not much. Given the rudeness of the women we didn’t want to call them back again so spent the rest of the day shopping for cleaning articles and cleaning the property ourselves and washing all of the cutlery, crockery, land and utensils. The ladies said the previous guests had left the property in a bad state and they had run out of time to clean the property properly for our stay. This was not out fault and should not have impacted on our stay. We certainly lost one whole day of our much needed ‘holiday’ due to this. Having paid for what we thought was a luxury property at luxury prices we feel deeply disappointed.

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• Alan - Verified booking

  On the face of it this property was satisfactory in that it had the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms, had a magnificent outlook across the valley and provided plenty of space for 6 adults to move around and socialise.

  However, it was totally let down by the condition we found it in. The BBQ was full of dirty used coals and a greasy grill. Two glasses were chipped and dangerously sharp. Surfaces were not clean. Bags of rubbish were still inside the property. The twin beds that we had requested (and had confirmed in writing) to be made up into a double, had not been done. A chair was broken and unusable. The lounge area chair and sofa were covered in hairs (animal and human) and looked like they had never been vacuumed. The vacuum cleaner was so full it stopped working until we emptied it. The dishwasher still had mugs and cutlery inside. One of the bedrooms had no towels and we had to go looking for some. The patio chairs and tables were not provided with a sun umbrella so we could not sit outside comfortably. For the sake of not interrupting our holiday, and because we are all resourceful people, we rectified everything we were able to and got on with things. All of the above have been reported through e-mail to, and seen by, Sykes, but no action has been taken and nothing heard from them for more tha 3 weeks now. Hence the need for this unsatisfactory feedback.

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