Dog Friendly Cottages in Criccieth

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Graham - Verified booking

  Despite all of the points below we really enjoyed our stay at Y Stabal and the cottage provided what we needed.

  If you book knowing these points in advance, adjust expectations, and go out of the prime cost period it can provide a warm dry base for a pleasant holiday. We were lucky and caught the week of summer, if it had been wet the lack of internet access and inability to stream movies would have been more irritating. Take an old laptop and some DVDs with you, they saved the day entertainment wise for us. Cottage has a WiFi hub but "no internet access", which would be a problem if bad weather kept you indoors. Mobile 4G signal was available but only outside the cottage, so again this is weather dependent. It is generally in need of a bit of TLC, but on the plus side you are not scared of accidentally scratching or chipping the walls or breaking one of the fittings. The door to the garden would only lock if door lifted as you close it. The picnic table in the garden had one of the 4 seats broken and tied/marked with pink washing line. The outdoor paving slabs are in places broken, uneven, and rock a bit when stepped on. There is comfortable parking for 2 cars, and 3 would be possible. There is only one set of keys though. The shower tray did not drain fast enough and you had to be careful to avoid overflows, but the shower was ok otherwise. There is only one small two slot toaster, the bread I brought did not fit in it and I had to toast each end of the slices separately. One of the kitchen dining table legs fell off by itself. Some of the kitchen chair assembly bolts were loose and rattly, but chairs ok once finger tightened. Owner was easy to contact via text and notified of some of these as we found them, he came mid week and fixed a curtain rail that had broken the week before, he said he would be up there again at the weekend to check some of the other items. We found the cottage to be missing things like extra toilet rolls, kitchen handwash (practically empty), washing up liquid, dish cloths/pads, dishwasher tabs, bin bags, and there were no extra blankets in case of cold weather. There was no property manual, just a single sheet with WiFi password and instructions for used linen at end of week. We had no idea how to adjust the heating, not that we really needed to, but the owner, Huw, did say text him any questions and he seemed quite approachable. There are no books/games/DVDs. There is no DVD player. The wall mounted LG TV (with one HDMI socket) is approx 32" and looks very small if you dont move the sofa nearer to it. We didnt need to use the washing machine in the shed so cannot advise on its condition/usability. The cottage has obviously been used a lot and is showing signs of wear/tear, and is in need of a complete refit to command top price, but it has provided us with a perfectly usable base for a week's cycling and walking in a very nice area. The view of the mountains and Moel Hebog from the garden is superb. If the people staying in the adjoining property are quiet and without young children the garden is a pleasant place to hang out. We could of done with some lounger chairs, and ended up taking kitchen/dining chairs outside to sit on. There is noise from the nearby main road, but you can still hear the sheep calling to each other and the birds twittering. With the roof vents open at night the traffic noise is a constant and noticeable drone however.

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• Gillian - Verified booking

  This a fabulous spacious holiday home, with lots of old world charm.

  All nine (5adults/4children) of us have loved staying there & our two family dogs have revelled in the spacious well kept lawns. Our boxer dog wandered safely at will in the grounds, but as stated in the literature, it is not totally enclosed for an inquisitive escape artist like our cocker poo (we simply kept him supervised at all times on a long lead as sheep & cows are in the adjacent fields). We were lucky with the weather & all sat out on the supplied patio sets under the parasol whilst the children played out. This was most of the time, & they could cross over the quiet single road from the main gate into a large playing area with goal posts. They also spent time at night in the glass windowed games room conservatory/annex playing table tennis; cards; watching tv; listening to music etc. (we brought our own card & board games). Everything you could ask for to cook large family meals is supplied in the joint large kitchen & breakfast room which we gathered & ate in when we stayed in. There is a bbq area outside but you need to bring your own coals etc. The freezer & two fridges (one is a large upright) were appreciated as were the large gas range cooker & dishwasher & laundry room facilities. There is a further large table & dining chair in a dining room off the kitchen & living room, which is very old world in its atmosphere with a beautiful tapestry hanging over the large fire place & it is central to all downstairs rooms & the living room. The living room, just off the welcoming large hallway, has three comfy chesterfield-3seater sofas for sitting in /watching terrestrial tv. The 7beds were all very comfortable - dressed with pretty fresh linen & fluffy bath towels supplied (the two double beds being huge). All rooms are old world furnished/ well worn-with lots of available wardrobe space. The twin downstairs bedroom is on the ‘cosy’ side size wide but was fine for the 11 & 13 year olds. The en suite is just lovely with the relaxing roll top bath & the family & downstairs bathrooms were very clean & fresh. As forewarned - we simply set up a rota for bathing/ using water because of the low water pressure. Overall this an amazing family week long stay venue, just five minutes drive from the charming sea side town of Criccieth with its castle overlooking the bay & 15 mins drive from two of the big supermarkets. Based in a gorgeous part of the world…….,, what’s not to love ❤️!

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• Megan - Verified booking

  The location is great, the beds are comfy and it was really warm.

  But there are some big issues which must be resolved before anyone else stays at the property. - The leaking shower which comes through the ceiling and caused electrical issues and a huge mess to be cleaned up every time. - The draining board sink leaks into the cabinet underneath and really really smells. - The oven is absolutely filthy and filled the kitchen with smoke when we went to use the grill. - The property is in need of a proper clean, there were cobwebs everywhere. The slate floor downstairs needs to be mopped, we cleaned it with a cloth on our hands and knees when we arrived and when we left and it was absolutely filthy. - The fridge really needs to be replaced as it is missing shelves and is mouldy and rusty. The dishwasher also did not drain properly and was filled with dirty water when we went to empty it. - The toilet seat in the downstairs toilet is broken and needs to be replaced. - There is no welcome book/instructions with the property at all, needs information on the bins and how to leave the property on check out, local information, how to use the heating etc. There was also no washing up liquid when we arrived or cloths to wash up with and no tea towels. There aren't toilet brushes in every loo and there is no mop to be able to clean the floor. - There aren't enough drinking glasses for the number of guests in the cottage, we had to have water out of a mug or random wine glass. Also the metal sheet pans for the oven are rusty and unusable. We did feedback most of this to the owner on our stay. The fence was broken on arrival due to the recent storm and this was fixed during our stay as we have a dog which we were grateful for. Also the shower tray was blocked and this had some unblocker put down it, but the rest of the issues stand and need to be resolved before the property is safe and comfortable for future guests.

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• Jason - Verified booking

  The house is magnificent, and the grounds are amazing.

  We did have a few issues with the maintenance of the property. We had a look around and documented things that were damaged before we unpacked. The list is as follows. There was a free-standing lamp in the games room which was broken at the join between the main pole and the top of the lamp, the top part was leaning against the glass of a window, we carefully laid the lamp down and re-arranged the two sofas to protect the lamp and our children. The Hoover was in a poor state of repair and fell to pieces every time we used it, it also smelled of wet dog. The log burners were a nice touch but no logs were supplied, just half a box of fire lighters and some kindling. One of the drawer fronts in the kitchen was broken and made the drawer unusable plus the kitchen could do with a facelift, the vinyl was coming off in some locations. The tiles behind the microwave were missing and some were loose. The shelving unit in the games room was broken (shelves were all collected at the bottom). The beautiful on-suite bathroom in the main bedroom was not practical, the roll-top bath has no shower curtain or screen so water would spray everywhere when you had a shower making the floor a slip hazard. The shower in the second bathroom had a broken handle (just a spike left). I would suggest that a hard copy handbook for arriving guests as in order to find out how to connect to the wifi, you needed to have access to the internet and with the three mobile companies we had access to (Smarty, Tesco mobile and Giff-Gaff) none could get a data connection. Also, the supplied new towels were nice but didn't appear to have been washed therefore leaving red fluff all over the person using them. We really did enjoy our week at the property, but these little niggles stopped it from being a five-star experience

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• Esther - Verified booking

  Overall our party of 8, and 2 dogs really enjoyed our stay.

  Lots of things can be done to improve future stays, please keep reading….. Positives - huge garden for our dogs; comfy beds; washing machine, tumble and dishwasher; doors to the garden from 3 different rooms; sun room / games room was great for the kids (some games and jigsaws in the cupboard too); washing line; dog bowls in the utility room; useful to read previous reviews, so we knew about low water pressure and the advice to use 1 shower at a time; large drive with plenty of space for multiple vehicles. Negatives - downstairs shower light is on a timer, requires shower door to open (mid shower!) to alert the sensor; upstairs bathroom floor is quite water damaged; there are only 8 forks in the kitchen, need many more; notices in the building and the website still refer to Covid conditions (we arrived to find there WAS an oven glove, and table tennis bats etc) so these notices really need updating; most of the seating in the kitchen and dining room is on wooden chairs / benches, with no cushion seats; checkin 6pm and checkout 9.30am felt harsh, considering a departure checklist included us to take all bedding off the beds, which felt a bit like we were doing some of the housekeeping; 2 linen bags for all the bedding and towels were not enough; bins and recycling are on the neighbouring campsite, except for glass. There was a box outside the back door, but no instructions on what to do when it’s full / when the glass collection is etc.

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