Dog Friendly Villas In The North West

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• John - Verified booking

  I really don't want to sound negative about Poppy Cottage as regular users of Sykes cottages this was the lowest quality one we have stayed in, I will explain my reasoning around this though.

  The good points are its a lovely location and lovely and quiet and the accommodation is spacious. However this really needs some TLC and a bit more effort on the cleaning front we only used the ground floor double bedroom and found the following issues. Lamp shade above the bed covered in dust and lots of cobwebs, the bed linin whilst clean was of poor quality and and sounded like you were lying on a plastic bag which made it difficult to sleep because of the noise everytime one of you moved. The adjacent bathroom is in need of some maintenance its dated and at the head of the bath it looks like the shower screen is leaking and water has leaking down the wall and has had poor attempts at fixing so smells of damp and signs of mildew, cleaning not great either again lots of cobwebs. Kitchen area whilst reasonably well appointed the fridge cabinet is clearly broken as the door doesn't fit flush with the rest of the cabinets and feels like its falling forward, other cupboard doors do not shut properly either some of the upstands around the worktops are loose and not secured.Kick plinths do't fit properly. Oven not as clean as it could be and would benifit from a deep clean, the dishwasher basket is broken and rusty in places and needs some attention. The wall behind the hob could do with a much larger cleanable splashback as there is lots of cooking stains on the wall. There are under cabinet lights either side of the cooker hob we never did find out how to turn them on. The General living area was comfortable but again attention to detail lots of cobwebs not very well cleaned. There were DVD's on the shelf but NO dvd player. No visitors book or instruction manuals for any appliances. Very little information of where to go or local attractions no information about local restaurants or pubs etc. No hand soap in any bathrooms or kitchen space. All other sykes cottages we have stayed at have also included a small welcome pack ie milk, teabags, possibly some bread etc but there was nothing here. Limited cleaning products available. Also on the day of our arrival we had a thunder storm and the rain was hammering against the front of the property so we closed the window in the ground floor bedroom and the water flooded through the frame onto the windowsill opening the window allowed the water to run down the inside of the frame but not into the interior of the property which I feel is a bit counter intuitive. My personal opinion is that all these issues could be easily resolved with a bit more attention to detail and better maintenance between clients.

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• Kim - Verified booking

  I rented Roa Island House to host a women's wellness retreat weekend.

  It was perfect. It's a HUGE house with plenty of space and comfortable furniture to relax in. The breakfast room that links to the kitchen and utility room is a fantastic space with it's own fridge and dishwasher which enabled us to keep the kitchen as our Chef's domain and allow the breakfast room for guests to access freely when getting hot or cold drinks. There's loads of storage space in the utility room too which was very helpful. The living spaces are large, comfortable and well lit, and the conservatory is a real sun trap. The bedrooms are all a good size and the beds are really comfortable - between them and the peace of the island, everybody slept really soundly. The tower room is a real treat to watch the sunset from, and there is access from the front door to three ways down to the beach (one east facing, one south and one west) in less than a minute if you like to watch the sun rise and set. We also really enjoyed the garden, sauna and hot tub, and the large selection of benches were well used across the weekend! My negatives are all very minor. It's not as pristine as some houses in terms of decor, but it is a very old building! Most of the house was spotless, but unfortunately my first impression when I walked in was that the hallway floor was a bit gritty (there may have been a workman in after the cleaners though?), but there was a "guests cleaning cupboard" with a mop and a broom, so I was able to sort this out before my guests arrived. Also, the vast majority of the glassware is plastic, which I completely understand from a breakages and safety point of view, particularly if being used outside or around the hot tub, but it would have been nice to have glass options as well for drinks being consumed in the house. Finally, and also a symptom of an older building, there are not many plug sockets in the bedrooms, and the ones there are are not always in very convenient places. An extension tower has been put in the main living room, but if you need to use your phone as an alarm, it's worth charging it up before bed rather than overnight! Overall, the house provided an excellent home for us all for the weekend and I was very happy with my choice of venue. I would return here without hesitation, it's a really lovely spot.

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• Peter - Verified booking

  Fantastic location and a great house with an interesting history, some of which is documented in a folder in the entrance hall.

  We visited in the week of the three named February storms and encountered problems with the fit of three windows but have been assured by the owner that these have now been resolved. The house, nevertheless, has an excellent and effective heating system and, despite its size, it felt very warm and cosy. The youngsters really enjoyed the hot tub outside in its own enclosure although we did not make use of the wood-fired free-standing sauna in the garden. The house is well-furnished with quality furniture and the kitchen and breakfast room are well-equipped while even in February it was very pleasant to sit on the enclosed verandah which also has table tennis, air hockey, table football and quoits to entertain visitors. DVD and books are also available to borrow and, for the musical visitor, there is a piano. Despite storms, we were able to enjoy good, sunny weather as well to explore the Barrow area and, with appropriate clothing, enjoyed kite-flying, exploring and other beach activities on Walney Island, the Coast Road and Roanhead ('Sandscale Haws'). The Dock Museum (Wed to Sun) and its playground were popular, the children enjoyed looking at 'Anson', an Astute-class submarine in Devonshire Dock from the High Level Bridge and we visited the Lifeboat Station adjacent to the house, by arrangement. (The RNLI volunteers do such good work and appreciate donations from visitors.) One daughter called at the Barrow AFC shop with her two young boys and a great fuss was made of them by a kind employee when they asked if it was possible to look at the pitch. We didn't have chance to visit the North Walney and South Walney Nature Reserves on this occasion but can recommend them from previous knowledge of the area. On the island, the adjacent Bosun's Locker Cafe (Thurs to Mon) is excellent in both quality and value - book an afternoon tea for a treat, go for breakfast/lunch or order a tray pie to cook/heat in the house while at the other end of the island (400m) the Roa Island Boating Club offers access for drinks (including beers brewed on site and local real ales) from Thursday to Sunday and great value home-cooked food from Friday to Sunday. (The Sunday lunch is excellent!) A great house and area for family reunions and friendship groups!

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• Beth - Verified booking

  We had a wonderful week at the beautiful Roa House.

  From the moment we walked into the large entrance hall we knew we'd found somewhere special to stay. The house is big, with tall ceilings and impressive rooms, as well as the lovely garden with gorgeous views over the water. We stayed during a heatwave and were very pleased that the inside of the house remained cool despite this. The hot tub, games tables, comfy lounge and long dining tables were all fab, and it was only due to the heatwave that we didn't have a go at starting the sauna up! Our only tiny niggle was that the kitchen could do with a few improvements - the lighting was rather dim on an evening, and we couldn't find a grill pan or measuring jug to use despite the otherwise impressive array of kitchen utensils on offer. A draining board next to the sink to aid in washing up pots and pans would also be an asset - cooking for 13 does create a fair bit of washing up and we were very grateful for the two dishwashers! It's also worth noting that there was a little confusion with the beds - the info received beforehand stated that if we wanted the zip lock twin beds made up as doubles, we should email two weeks beforehand. Since we wanted them as individual beds, we didn't message - but although this worked fine for the triple room downstairs, we found the upstairs room had been made up as a double alongside the small half bed. We were able to separate the double and use the spare bedding from the triple room downstairs and the small bed to fix it, since we only had two people staying in each room, but it was a bit of a hassle. Usually with a Sykes stay the host texts before arrival so we have a contact for things like this, but oddly we hadn't received anything other than the standard Sykes emails for this holiday so couldn't ask about it. These were really only tiny niggles in an otherwise idyllic holiday though, hence my five star review rating. Thank you for a fabulous stay!

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• Alan - Verified booking

  It would have been helpful if the floor plans (as provided at Roa Island House) had been included on the website as this would have assisted sorting out accommodation among our multi-family group.

  As the owner clearly has them it is a pity they were not visible on the Sykes Cottages website at the time of booking. Overall, very spacious house which is let down by a number of issues, such as the size of kitchen - which could get very crowded. The cleaning being done between lettings is clearly very limited as dust and lost belongings (e.g. sock, perfume bottle), from previous holidaymakers, were found under beds, sofas, etc. All a bit ironic when you keep reading notices about how you will be charged extra if things like the hot tub are not left in a pristine condition. Not surprised therefore when we had an extra guest one evening in the kitchen in the form of a live mouse. We showed the mouse the door but guess he had his own access route back in somewhere. Had to report a blocked drain just outside the front door which had clearly not been maintained, and caused the effluent from the laundry room blocked drain in the car park and not great when you have small children in the group. Mobile reception was patchy on certain networks. The third party maintainer seemed to have to be instructed to clear the drain and it appeared that it was up to renters to spot these issues. House related, the mechanism which controlled the cover for the hot tub was broken. Instructions for various unfamiliar appliances were scattered through drawers and cupboards, which we found eventually, but that was all really unhelpfully disorganised. The lack of recycling bins was a very very odd feature, which we agree with the comments of previous occupants needs addressing. So, interesting location, very quiet, lovely views and garden for the children to play in and great to unwind and relax but the cleaning and pest control both need attention. Some aspects of the house are now looking very tired and need addressing at Roa Island House.

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