Group Accommodation Villas In The Lake District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Richard - Verified booking

  Scandale Bridge Cottage - Overpriced I wanted to take my Son on holiday to the Lake District and Scandale Bridge Cottage looked like the perfect base, great location and safe, exclusive, off-road parking for my car.

  We paid £697 for 4 nights for 2 people. We needed to turn on the heating and this was straightforward, just turn the thermostat. We didn’t need access to the boiler controls as a previous guest had to. There was clean bedding and towels. The WiFi works well and reaches bedrooms. The TV is a little dated but we were able to connect a phone via HDMI which was good. But here is the down side. First impression, there’s no hand soap for the hand basins. I know a minority of guests will take away items from a holiday stay, but that shouldn’t discourage the owners from providing a few essentials. During the week we found other things lacking: No tea towel No dishcloths No washing up liquid No cleaning products (You’re meant to leave the cottage clean on departure, which we managed to do in spite of this, apart from the fridge which was long overdue for a proper clean around the vents - see photos). We didn’t use the oven or hob and only a few items of crockery and glassware, the rest remained unused though some of those were a little grubby. There was one dishwasher tablet and one water blown tablet, maybe left by a previous guest? - see photo. I have stayed in some places where there are complementary toiletries and at the very least, some soap for the hand basins, some go as far as to provide a bottle of wine, chocolates or a mini hamper. I don’t expect any of these but the basics would be nice. Looking at the reviews on the website, back in August 2023, Gavin reported a blind was broken and inoperative, we found the same blind still with no chain or cords - see photos. The ensuite bedroom door doesn’t close and it is presumably a fire door as there is an automatic closer and a fire action notice attached (see photo). The ensuite bathroom door doesn’t fit well either but can close with a heave. The clocks didn’t work (no big deal). When we started encountering problems, I read back through other reviews and noted the response of the owners. The responses seem to be quite dismissive so I may be wasting my time giving further feedback, which is intended to be constructive and helpful. Standard excuse seems to be “if you had phoned…”, well no, guests should not have to disrupt their holiday to report maintenance issues that have previously been ignored. Response to “M” from July 2023 “you should have reported it via the telephone number in the information file in the Cottage” and “cannot understand why you would give a 50 % rating based on the two adverse points you have erroneously raised” Guest Nigel in January 2023 reported some issues which have since been fixed, thankfully. He said “Only 5 plates in house for 8 people”, to which the response was “We do not advertise the house to sleep 8 guests hence we provide the necessary amount of utensils and crockery for the number of guests the house is advertised to provide for” The cottage is advertised for 6 guests so should one go hungry or wait for 2nd sitting? I’d love to know Nigel! The availability of utensils was fine but the quality and cleanliness, less so. We had no such problem as there was plenty of crockery, but we chose to eat out. Nigel also said “Bath / sink leaked through to the lounge”. More on this later. The ensuite shower is badly designed. Granted there’s not much that can be done about this other than replacing the shower tray. The problem is that the rim of the shower tray is flat, so any water running down the walls of the cubicle then run along the top of the rim and out onto the floor. I found a way around this is to direct the monsoon shower head to the opposite corner and lay a piece of toilet paper across the rim of the shower tray to direct the run-off into the tray. There was nevertheless a lot of condensation on the walls outside the cubicle as the extractor fan is inadequate and the ensuite is not heated. The ensuite is not heated as the small towel rail doesn’t work, it’s currently switched off, but if you try to open the valves to turn it on, one of them leaks (see photo). There is nowhere to put toiletries in the ensuite shower cubicle, a small shelf and/or soapdish would be good. Our biggest concern was the leaks, one from the main bathroom down to the lounge. It’s obviously a long-standing issue as it was reported by Nigel in January 2023. You can see the damage to the ceiling and you can see the attempt to paint over that damage as there’s a subtle difference in the shade of white (you may be able to pick it up from some of the photos). When we noticed we also looked under the ensuite and there was a leak there too (See photos and video). Neither leak produced torrents (yet) and we placed containers under to catch the water, reported it to maintenance and decided not to use the bathrooms for shower or bath after that. The response to Nigel in January 2023 was “Occasionally, leaks happen”. This is true, but as a property owner, I’d be scared the ceiling might come down and I’d make sure that the leak is fixed, not painted over. We did not call out maintenance until the last night because: I found workarounds for most of the problems and had taken everything but the kitchen sink (and cleaning materials) to the cottage. We only discovered the leaks from upstairs to downstairs late in our stay. By the way the one from the bathroom is only when the tub is draining so it is likely to be a leak in the waste pipes. The reason I don’t hold out much hope that this constructive feedback will be listened to, or acted on is that some of the issues reported previously are still unresolved and the parting shot to Nigel was “We … sincerely hope that you find a cottage more to your liking and requirements, for your next trip away together”. Which is easily interpreted as “go stay somewhere else”. My Son and I certainly will and if you're looking for holiday accommodation, maybe you will too? The constructive criticism from others was somewhat rudely dismissed, so I expect the same for my review. The review mechanism doesn’t allow guests to reply to owners’ feedback, so I won’t be able to contest any owner responses or rudeness either. Full review here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WcGMGjynlt2_ZrKIY-q-XLujzsbkVSVK8v009Q66o_4/ Photos and video here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2yPjjGiaoN2Ccnb36

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• Stephanie - Verified booking

  Kitchen surfaces/ oven and bathrooms very clean.

  Bathrooms lovely and very modern. Overall though, house is quite dusty in places, with a number of cobwebs throughout. They don’t bother us much, as we live in a rural area, but I can imagine would be off-putting to some guests. I did an online shop with Morrisons for when we arrived, but found I couldn’t use much of the cupboards or freezer when unpacking my shopping. Freezer is in desperate need of defrosting. Once I had removed all the ice trays and broken freezer doors that were stored inside it - I managed to use one of the shelves for my food. I’d say it’s currently around 50% ice - so needs attention. It’s definitely a “home away from home” as felt lived in and is lovely and warm. Everything you could need is in the kitchen - but it is bordering being cluttered. All of the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen are full. I unpacked/tidied one of the cupboards and moved items around, so that I could store my shopping. It would have been nice to have just one empty cupboard to unpack my shopping into. I understand it’s a dog friendly place, so again we can turn a blind eye, but there was dog poo around the front of the house and on the grass, which was nothing to do with our dogs. We removed what we saw so the kids could play outside. We are very vigilant with picking up after our dogs, but realise some people aren’t - so this is not the fault of the cleaners really, it’s just annoying. The furniture in the tv room is tired and somewhat uncomfortable, but the furniture in the second living space is lovely, with a lovely view. Finally, the lighting throughout is tricky. Only the kitchen and bathrooms have ceiling lights. The rest of the rooms have just one or two lamps. This was ok for some of us, but my Mum, for example, struggled to read upstairs and opted to get ready in the bathroom due to the lighting in her bedroom. We therefore spent most of our family time in the kitchen, eating, chatting and playing games around the big table, which was great. I think overall, nice enough, but maybe a bit too expensive for what it is. We wouldn’t stay again. But have enjoyed our holiday away from it all. Thanks.

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• Elise - Verified booking

  All in all we had a wonderful stay.

  We loved the safe enclosed garden for our dog, as well as the cosy log burner, well equipped kitchen and the comfy bed. We thought the location was great to visit many locations in the Lakes, and we had a great time driving around to visit lots of places and went on some amazing walks. We really appreciated the bottle of prosecco on arrival, thank you! A few things we think could make this cottage even better. The cottage in on a blind bend on a semi busy road where cars go very fast, something to bear in mind if you have young kids or a dog as there's no gate. Getting out of the drive felt dangerous as you can't really see, and the mirrors to help you do so really need a clean to help with that. Sofas were a little uncomfy due to the springs but not the end of the world! If you have a dog too note they're not allowed upstairs, something we would have liked to have been told beforehand as our dog isn't used to sleeping downstairs on his own. We unfortunately experienced some building work next door which was quite noisy at 8:20am on 2 occasions, again just unfortunate timing and not the end of the world but a bit frustrating when you want a quiet break. All in all we really enjoyed our stay and would recommend it but just a few things to note above.

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• Shelley - Verified booking

  Foxrock is a beautiful, more than well equipped, cosy, modern holiday home.

  The home has been superbly furnished with all mod cons and a beautiful log stove that we enjoyed in the evenings. The outside space was also well equipped and maintained and it was just bliss to be up early in the morning, with my Labrador, with the patio door open, listening to nothing but the birds and the sound of the stream running by the bottom of the garden!❤️ However, I had just a couple of niggles with the cleanliness. Whilst sweeping up after my own dog, I was also sweeping up the dog hair from a previous stay; my Labrador is white and there were lots of black dog hairs I was sweeping up! The radiator in the bathroom was really dusty and not really somewhere I wanted to hang my facecloth to dry! And the grill was a little grubby and had to be washed/scrubbed before I could use it. We did have an issue with the lock on the bathroom door, but I phoned Sykes and reported it, and the maintenance team came out quickly to repair that. Overall, we had a wonderful, relaxing stay. I would definitely recommend this property to anyone and would return to it in a heartbeat. Thank you ☺️

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• Richard - Verified booking

  We loved the property and the location and what weather !

  The house with its thick stone walls remained cool despite the high temperatures. A great house so clean and modern which was much appreciated. We would love to return on our next visit to the Lakes. In the spirit of us loving the property and certainly not complaining could we suggest the following which we feel will add to the comfort/ enjoyment of future guests:- Clothes airer or discreet washing line Larger kitchen bin A small creative (in the space) hanging rail in the en-suite bedroom Board for fruit prep ( the wooden ones are liable to staining) Some more small sharp knives, there was only one A cafetiere for fresh coffee ( we had to order one on Amazon Prime :) ) An external cover for the en-suite extractor as we had lots of flies ( in this room with all windows shut )in the first 24 hours and believe that they came through this open pipe which ought to have said cover on to prevent birds etc from using it as a home ! Thanks so much for letting us stay at your lovely property. Until the next time …

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