Dog Friendly Cottages in Caldbeck

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Lucy - Verified booking

  While the cottage was mainly as advertised several issues became evident throughout our stay: -Firstly the cleanliness of the property was awful.

  While surface level tasks such as clean surfaces and fresh sheets had been provided there was an evident lack of deep clean for a very long time. To ensure we left the property as advertised we used the hoover. Whilst hoovering the downstairs hall area, the cylinder of the hoover was completely filled and some areas of the carpet were so dirty they changed colour when cleaned. This small area is only around 5m2! - This accumulation of dust and debris meant there were huge numbers of different insects. There was cobwebs present in practically every room of the house and large numbers of spiders throughout the property. Uncountable numbers of flies were present in the cottage, and while it was a warm weekend a large proportion of these were in the property upon arrival. We organised an afternoon tea and unfortunately had to dispose of the leftovers because the flies were so numerous over the food. Sharing food was made difficult as flies would land on any plate of food after seconds. Huge numbers of moths were present in the property to the point that one member of the party opened their luggage once home and found a live moth within! There were clearly issues with pests before our stay as there was a fly zapper (though this didnt work!) at the property. - there were key maintenance issues throughout the property including a toilet that broke on 2 occasions and had to be fixed, and a shower that did not work. These were all in the double ensuite upstairs. When we used the washing machine there was a horrendous smell in the kitchen which wafted through the property. And while we couldn't see any obvious blocked drains or leakages it was evident the drainage had not been maintained in some time. - One of the key reasons we selected the cottage was it's inclusion of use of a local spa. I had to email prior to arrival to check how this could be arranged, and even within this conversation there was no mention of additional discounts on food and treatments. If we had known this in advance we would have made use of the spa more and we only found out while looking for information in the pack. This information also said that to access the spa we would require the spa pass attached to the property keys. As the keys were barely attached together at all it's unsurprising that the spa access card was missing. Luckily for us, we have used this spa before and were willing to try and discuss this access upon arrival. The spa were very understanding but many people would have missed out on this inclusion in the cottage. - The property advertised as having zip link beds, and there was no way of communicating when booked how you required the beds set up. Therefore I sent a separate request for how we required the rooms fo be set up. We asked for 2 singles in the 2 zip link bedrooms and both were made up as king size. Ultimately we could use these beds as was however if we had had particular requirements for the rooms these would not have been met. The bedding provided was unseasonal and as such was very warm overnight! - we also had issues disposing of our rubbish as the instructions in the pack were very limited and indeed non-existent when it came to recycling. We had gathered for a special occasion and unfortunately this stay put a real strain on the enjoyment of the weekend. The odd path to direct communication with the owner created by Sykes meant resolving simple issues was impractical. The cumulative effect of the lackluster property maintenance led to a several key issues.

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• Lydia - Verified booking

  This was a lovely holiday destination.

  We were 8 of us including 2 children and 3 dogs. Originally only 2 dogs a booking, but the host was kind enough to allow 3 dogs. We were greeted to a lovely welcome bowl with snacks, tea and a bottle of Prosecco. The house was very spacious and we were really happy that each room had its own bathroom facilities. The games, tv and speakers were a great touch and we were pleasantly surprised to have internet as it said they will be none. The beds were so comfortable and cosy. It was located not too far from the beautiful sights and everything was quite easy to get too. Unfortunately on the first day we had no hot water. We noticed the boiler hadn't been turned on, but once we turned it on there was hot water the next day. No hot water ran in the first room on the first floor during our stay. The house was cleaned well, but cob webs were everywhere. Other than this we had a beautiful family holiday and everyone loved staying in this cottage including our 3 shih tzus. Thank you for making our holiday with this spacious lovely cottage.

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• Duncan - Verified booking

  This is both the best holiday accommodation and most dog friendly accommodation we have stayed in.

  The property was beautifully appointed and had so many great dog friendly facilities. As owners of a large dog, we were delighted that the garden was properly secure (high fences) and spacious. There were also a selection of dog bowls, a hamper of dog towels and a hamper of dog blankets for the furniture, if you have a sofa dwelling dog. The kitchen was very well equipped, with excellent quality kitchen ware. A great bonus is the upstairs entertainment room, with a massive TV, XBox, DVDs,CDs, books and a computer desk with monitors. The beds were comfortable, the showers were large with good water pressure, the towels were soft and there were even slippers and robes. Having stayed out of season, we were glad it was nice and warm in the house. I can imagine, it would be lovely to sit out in the garden in the summer. It is also in a great location; Wigton, nearby has good facilities, Carlisle is only 20 minutes or so up the road, or head south for the Lakes, north for Hadrian’s Wall, or west for the coast.

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• Elaine - Verified booking

  This was a last minute booking as the accommodations we originally had booked was cancelled 24 hours before we were due to travel due to Covid so we were very pleased to find this accommodation at short notice.

  The cottage is very nice and in a good location. Nice local pub less than a minute walk away. Lovely little village market stall just opposite the pub on a Saturday morning selling fresh bread etc. We were a party of 7 and there is plenty of space to accommodate several families such as ours. Kitchen facilities were plentiful. Our only criticism we have is the place could have been cleaner, there were lots of cobwebs and the sills and staircase banisters didn’t appear to have been cleaned in a while. There was a problem with flies, particularly in the kitchen which was a nuisance when try to prepare food. We appreciate this problem has tried to be addressed with a plug in electric fly machine and fly spray was readily available in the cupboard under the sink so obviously the owners are aware of the problem. We were not sure how the flies were getting in as we deliberately tried to keep the door closed whilst we were preparing/cooking food. Overall we enjoyed our stay.

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• Tim - Verified booking

  This house was in a lovely location in a beautiful little village, with two very good pubs within 5 minutes.

  Upon first arriving at the house, it was clear there was a fly problem. Also, the fridge was very smelly (I had to clean this before we put anything in it), there was a pile of post for the owner that no-one had passed on; the kitchen floor was filthy; everything felt like it could do with a good dusting; the instructions regarding use of bins was out of date and the outdoor bin was already full of rubbish - on top of that the membership card for the leisure centre was not where the instructions had said. We felt that there were a couple of essential items missing from the kitchen - pint glasses; flutes, and replacement oven trays required! I had to call Heart of the Lakes with a couple of the issues whilst we were away, some of which were resolved. This didn’t deter us from enjoying our holidays at all, and despite these, the house was very spacious, with comfortable bedrooms and a cosy little snug lounge.

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