Dog Friendly Cottages in Pooley Bridge

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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• Caroline - Verified booking

  Stayed with 4 girlfriends for a 50th birthday.

  Not far from Penrith, Lovely picturesque village. Great views. There's a well stocked kitchen, Large dining area, the bedrooms were clean & beds comfortable. Lovely big garden, great place for kids to run around in. Hot tub is fabulous, clean & well maintained. However there were some issues that spoilt our holiday. No external aerial for TV. an inadequate indoor one that we couldn't get a signal on all weekend!! Despite a phone call to owners a difficult conversation due to very bad phone signal! Asked if someone could come out & sort this. No one arrived at all. So a basic TV was not available. The WIFI was non existent! The Hub stated could not be found! & I tried every room! There's a blue ray player but the remote left would not work in the TV to get to correct channel. changed batteries (our own) still didn't work. Unable to use that also. Bulbs were missing from 2 lamps looked for spares as stated in welcome folder none were found! We swapped one from lounge area. The small toilet on ground floor had a sink on top of cistern this was full of water on arrival so unable to wash your hands in this bathroom. Old bar of soap, a soggy tissue & 2 disposable razers found on shelf in large shower on the first floor. Upon arrival we checked out the Hot Tub thankfully this worked great. Sadly we had to clean up the patio area. The previous occupants had left a few items of wet clothes, cans, & rubbish littered around! (Unbelievable how people leave property) however this should have been picked up by the cleaners. They must not have gone outside at all! Chairs all array table not cleaned. Extremely disappointed with this & find that totally unacceptable. Such a shame as the location is perfect, barn a great size. reported to sykes when I returned . Owners need to visit this property for themselves as I do blame the quality of the cleaners! for most of it. My advice to owners ... invest in a good broadband & get an outdoor aerial fitted.... Our saving grace... The local pub The Sun inn a few minutes walk away! Fabulous. Worth a visit & a great restaurant. Lowther Castle 15 minute drive away also worth a visit. There's a Morrisons & shopping area 10 min drive away too. These complaints were made in May by other people. But nothing has changed.

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• Joan - Verified booking

  The key safe was very difficult to open.

  We eventually walked in to be greeted by several houseflies, which continued to be a nuisance throughout our stay - where are they breeding? I soon found that the hob was filthy and no hob cleaner was supplied - I had to buy some & clean it before using it. The windows were dirty, both kitchen and back room, as was the tiled splashback behind the cooker. The kitchen bin lid was dirty - good job it's foot-operated. I had to clean out the fabric softener compartment before I could use the washing machine - it was completely clogged with gunk and washing powder - and empty the fluff filter in the tumble dryer. The cutlery drawer had crumbs in and some of the cutlery was dirty, as were some of the place mats. The dining room floor had breakfast cereal on it and a load of dust from where the stone wall is crumbling! The downstairs loo was badly stained - I left it cleaner than it was, but it clearly hasn't been properly clean for many weeks. The bathroom sanitary bin was left half full - yuck! There were light bulbs missing in the kitchen (1) and the single bedroom bedside light, and the light in the extractor over the hob wasn't working either. The microwave was too small for most of the dinner plates supplied - they couldn't turn. TV reception was poor, as were the wi-fi and phone. The low ceiling and huge beam over the bed in the mezzanine rendered it unusable, even for little me! Lucky only five of us were able to come on the holiday as it turned out. We were surprised to find no welcome pack - not so much as a pint of milk - no leaflets about local attractions, no information about the local recycling scheme (i.e. take it all to Morrisons car park), and no notes on how to operate the central heating system. On the plus side, the hot tub was ace - the best we've found anywhere - and the towels supplied were very good quality. The location was very convenient - just a few minutes' drive from Morrisons and handy for Ullswater, Derwentwater and plenty of other lovely places. We enjoyed a good meal with our grandchildren at Gianni's Italian restaurant in Penrith. We had lovely weather all week, so we didn't have to spend much time in the Barn, and actually had a really good holiday.

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• Vicki - Verified booking

  When we arrived the cleaning lady was still there finishing up next door, just as well she was as we couldn't gain entry as the key was not in the lockbox but in the door on the inside of cottage.

  She had no knowledge of us arriving as said it had not been cleaned! When she gained entry with her keys it was a left in right mess by previous customers. She told us to come back in couple hours (by this time it would be 6pm+) not her fault but a break down communication either with booking agent & owner. When we finally get in on first glances the ladies did a fab job in a short space of time to clean and prepair it for our stay. It was during the stay we started to find little bits not so perfect, the cottage could do with a little TLC and money being put back into it and bring up to date with current times. The kettle could do with replacing as has rather alot scalling init. The TV Ariel is no use at all, everytime you want watch TV you have to retune and lucky dip what channels you pick up. There is an outdoor ariel socket on wall why there's no extension into this instead the crappy plug in ariel?? Luckily the TV is a smart TV so can use your Netflix/prime accounts if you have these. The WiFi is shocking slow, the router is next door and you piggy back off that, it was hit and miss alot the times. The bathroom door handle needs attention, no one dared locked the door incase it came off and you got stuck in there! The shower in main bathroom is a cheap of the cheapest ones going and pointless for double shower that size, plus there's not alot hot water it runs cold and tepid, so don't think if having a bath. Cheap plastic toilet seats. The hottub man comes Friday & Mondays. We noticed He doesn't empty them at each change over but simply wipes the seats, fish out the bugs, cleans the filters and replaces the chlorine tabs. So not sure how many guests have used same water before us? (He was there just finishing when we arrived Friday- the tub was 40° so obviously not been emptied and refilled) These may seem little things but when your paying £1200++ these little things do go a long way to making your stay more comfortable. The garden is good size, enclosed so dog friendly. Overall its a lovely cottage, ideal place as base while you explore the beautiful lakes have to offer.

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• Ruth - Verified booking

  Ust as lovely as it looks in the pictures!

  Luxurious cottage in stunning village with incredible views! Thankyou for allowing us to stay, even though only 2 nights were available in this peak time. Garden secure & beautiful. Cottage excellent standard, lovely waterfall shower, clean & tidy. Had couple of maintenance things to report but Sykes / caretakers were quick to respond, so assume was sorted for the next people? These were that the wooden door covering the fridge door was hanging off and dangerous ( very heavy and ready to fall from a height). No tools available or we could have unscrewed the remaining hinge and at least made it safe. The kettle had a slow leak so sat in a puddle of water! Only other comment is that there were a few cobwebs ( handfuls when plugging things in!) and the towels were tiny/ thin. Have since visited 2 more Sykes cottages with thick large fluffy towels which emphasised the contrast. A note about the ‘short’ driveway might alsobe helpful to some - our average 4WD was a squeeze to close the gate, so had to unpack and let the dogs in/out with the gate open. A truck or van would not fit. Shap village very friendly & gorgeous abbey cafe on the high street. Greyhound inn great food again very friendly .Swimming pool was very cold. Nice to explore a different part of the lakes.

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