Dog Friendly Apartments in Dorset

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Roger - Verified booking

  On our first visit to The Old Garage a year ago, we arrived to find a stylish property, clearly well maintained and with a generous welcome pack awaiting us.

  Based largely on that pleasant experience, we booked to stay there again, but oh, what a difference a year can make! This time, there was no welcome pack at all. For the first time in 30 years of cottage holidays, there was not even a pint of milk in the fridge. Evidence of lack of proper maintenance soon followed. All the saucepans were covered in a brown grease and several items of cutlery were the found to have dried bits of food still on them. We therefore spent the first hour of our holiday cleaning all the cooking utensils. A precautionary wipe of table surfaces revealed they had also not been cleaned properly, and it later became evident that the floors were the same. After a long and tiring journey, all you want to do is sit down with a nice cup of tea and biscuit, not to have to roll your sleeves up to do the owner’s work for them. What do we pay for, after all? There were numerous further observations which included mould on several window frames, stains on cushions when they were turned over, decking rotting in places and the garden clearly overdue for some TLC. We later brought this to the attention of Lyme Bay Holidays who informed us that the property had changed hands since our first visit and the new owner had brought a different approach to its management. Lyme Bay Holidays offered to send a cleaning team in immediately, but by that time, we had settled in and did not want the upheaval this would create. We advised that in our opinion, the property was in need of a deep clean all round. We can only hope the new owner realises that you cannot trade on stylish looking images alone. There are plenty of other properties about whose owners understand the importance of cleanliness and of providing a welcome pack. Need we say more?

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• Sharon - Verified booking

  Lovely property.

  The pictures in the listing don’t do it justice. It’s a lot larger than expected. Quite quirky. Fabulous sea views. Nice seating area with a shelter which was ideal for shade and would also be good in light showers. Well stocked with everything needed. Especially in the kitchen. Nice welcome bag with some essentials. The property does have Wi-Fi. The listing suggested both it did and didn’t so probably needs updating. Good location. Short walk to the centre. A couple of small supermarkets nearby. Close to the Town Mill which is worth exploring. We didn’t appreciate how hilly Lyme is. My husband struggled to walk back as he’s injured his leg, but buses were regular and stopped nearby. Only slight negatives. We’d have liked more towels as one medium and one towel per person wasn’t ideal. Especially as we also needed hand towels for the en-suite and bathroom. As per other reviews many of the items in the kitchen could do with a wash. We put all the items we’d use in the dishwasher on arrival. The kitchen trays etc were also filthy as was the hidden drawer and oven gloves under the cooker. We washed the trays etc but left the gloves as we’d taken our own. The wall cupboards with plates and cups smelt, as mentioned in a previous review. We left the doors open to air but it didn’t help. We plumped up the cushions on the sofa and it was quite dirty under the cushions. Otherwise the property was clean. There were issues from the neighbouring property the first weekend. We wondered if the property was a rental, but fortunately the occupants were only there over the weekend. Key collection and drop off was easy and the office wasn’t far from the property. We’d be happy to stay again.

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• Julie - Verified booking

  The property itself was exactly as described, really spacious and really well stocked with everything we needed.

  The location was 10/10 being central to everything and within walking distance of the town, beaches, shops and pubs. The welcome hamper was a lovely touch and the items included much appreciated. Some feedback on just a few things that could do with some attention. The sofa has seen better days and the end two seats are broken, meaning that you gradually slide between the seats. Whenever anyone turned on a hot tap or the shower, the boiler in the loving space makes a loud rattling noise. Not sure what this was but again could maybe benefit from being looked at. Great that a garage is provided and we noted that dimensions were provided on the website but maybe just a note to add that it fits small to medium sized cars. We wouldn't have been able to fit our SUV and be able to get out the vehicle once parked in there. The garage was also blocked by a parked car when we arrived so we had to knock on doors to find the owner and ask them to move it. Just to add, none of the above dampened our stay and are just some suggestions for improvement. Overall, we had a great few days.

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• Jacqueline - Verified booking

  This is a lovely property, with a great location.

  It was very comfortable for six people. I would not wish to be there with eight. It is certainly big enough for eight people, and would not feel over-crowded. However, you can only (just) fit six to eat at the kitchen/dining table, and the seating in the sitting room only just suits six people - you certainly couldn't get eight people relaxing to watch a film in there, for example. All it would take is a bigger kitchen/dining table, and an extra large sofa and it would be perfect for eight. The listing is not accurate, in that none of the windows on the front open (so, that's three of the four bedrooms and the sitting room). I expect it's because of the (very efficient) secondary double-glazing as it is on the main road into Lyme, but we'd have preferred some noise, and the ability to open the windows. The dishwasher needs salt and rinse aid, which was not supplied. All that said, we would return. Everything else excellent - clean, comfortable, generally spacious and very close to beach and town.

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• Susan - Verified booking

  The flat smells badly of gas and damp.

  lt is much shabbier inside and out than it looks in the photos. Most of the furniture is cheap and aging and the carpet in the living room needs cleaning. This is the second property we have booked through Lyme Bay Holidays and will be the last as neither property lived up to the description or to the ratings of other guests. There is some kind of animal living in the roof above the last bedroom. It was impossible to sleep in there due to loud scratching at night. The washing machine had foul water lying in it and even after we ran an empty cycle, it still had a foul smell. We didn’t use it. We had to buy batteries to get the heating thermostat and the TV remote control to work. This was explained in the flat information file but should obviously be checked before new guests arrive! My husband had to remove the bodies of 2 dead rats lying in front of the garage. The neighbour removed a third. There appears to be a problem there. The only thing we enjoyed was the location.

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