Villas In Hope Valley

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Andy - Verified booking

  This is not to be seen as a negative review and I hope you take the feed back as constructive comments.

  We had a brilliant family week and the location for central Castleton is brilliant. But the property is needing some TLC. Most kitchen utensils were provided - but we are glad we brought our large wok for cooking for a family of 7. There's no garlic crusher and an additional chopping board would be good. It might be worth sharpening knives or providing new ones as the ones provided are woeful. Not a massive issue to us, but there's no gate on the fence facing the public car park which could be a close call for potentially escaping dogs when front door opened. The front door supporting brace needs replacing as it is broken and you have to lean on the door to close it. There is no key for the side patio doors (that we found). The stable door at the rear does not close properly unless you really push it and lock the door from the inside. This is annoying if you are sitting outside. It becomes dangerous for little children and their fingers. No light bulb in small room and no replacements or spares anywhere. Dishwasher needs salt to be provided - there was none that we found, so it often didn’t clean very well. Tumble dryer - doesn’t dry clothes completely dry. Accessible electric cables/wires under tv are not only visible and unsightly, but grabbable by a child unless really supervised. The welcome book is lacking any real details about managing the property itself. The bins - although it can’t be helped - were 3/4 full on arrival. There is also a lack of details for bin day collection point. I placed the green bin in the car park, but luckily I saw the bin crew at 6:30am and they said they only collect from the roadside. There is no hot tub information/ upkeep details what so ever. Luckily, we knew we had to add chlorine as the slow release container floating around had run out by Wednesday. Who knew you had to remove this when in use? I can only compare to other places I've been where staff visited twice a day to check levels. It shouldn't be down to guests to manage the safe use of a hot tub, with no instructions. There are no spare bedding or pillows (its stated beds can be pulled apart if needed which is great, but there are no extra duvets provided) there is also an under sheet missing. The curtain in the living room is annoyingly short. Cleaning, just generally could be better. It seems a surface clean is done, rather than a thorough turnover. There are cobwebs and spiders in most room corners, the worst place being above the kitchen fridge. Bathroom window is in need of repair (there was a note on the window) however the bathroom door in the same room also doesn’t close properly. In addition, the toilet seat is moving and needs to be fixed/ replaced. King size bedroom en-suite shower doors don’t close completely, and tray floods - due to blockage. Stairs are loud and need new wedges, difficult to move up and down the stairs at night time without waking others and one gets a sense that the stairs are going to collapse! Security for dogs and young children in the garden is concerning given the proximity to the main road and it is fortunate we were fastidious in supervision. We had to move any wood lying around to form a barrier to deter them from escaping, especially towards the car park side. There were many screws lying around in the rear pebbled area that we picked up following construction of the welcome cover to hot tub. It seems a missed opportunity to encompass the fire pit and grassed area along with the pebbled area into a wholly securely fenced area. The seating area along the fence in the pebbled area, along the roadside, by the hot tub is a great idea, but it is too high. It needs to be halved in height to sit comfortably on. This is by far the main area we used A seat leg was broken on the arm chair in the living room by window. We ended up balancing this many times so it could be used. The oven has a weird funny smell when in use Castleton experienced a massive power cut during our stay, so the burglar alarm needs resetting as it was beeping and there was an issue rebooting the WiFi and TV but we conquered that eventually. I come back to the Welcome pack, there were no instructions how to do any of this. A clock would be nice on the fireplace in the living room. It takes two adults to lift the hot tub lid on and off. Actually 3, the first time we used it we leant the lid against the fence, but it dropped down the back and it took 3 adults to get it out (2 in the spa). Whilst the lady cleaning the hot tub was utterly pleasant, she arrived at around 8:30am, but check out is at 10. The hot tub was being drained by before 9am, which didn’t allow any use for the morning of departure had we wanted to. Fortunately we didn't, but we were just not expecting anyone so early. Again, I come back to the welcome pack (lack of) information if 8:30 am is the norm.

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• Ann - Verified booking

  The apartment is exactly as the photos show.

  It is on the third floor at the back of the building away from road noise and looking out onto the rock face, trees & foliage. The sun does shine this side of the building and we were envious of the apartments next door, both sides, as they had a small balcony with table & chairs & we would have loved to be able to open the doors & get outside as our apartment was very hot - 25C with both sash windows open all night - our dogs felt the heat as did we. When we arrived we expected to just turn the key and open the door as it is on an internal corridor. However we couldn't get in and luckily the cleaners were still in the corridor so they helped. Even so it took them a few minutes to open the door and they told us that they have problems too. Having watched the lady lift the handle / lower the handle before putting the key in and turning, I realised that the lock was not a simple lock, but the same as our double glazed front door. The door itself was not a simple hotel room type door. It is a very heavy fire door so you have to give it a good shove to open. The oven is a combination microwave oven with instructions. We did not find instructions for the induction hob (2 places). We have never used one before as we have a gas hob. All we got was a Lo sign until eventually my husband put a saucepan on the hob and magically it went on. The tv is a smart TV. I sent a message to the owner as we couldn't get normal tv channels - we have Sky tv at home and Netflix, but very rarely use the apps other than catch up. We eventually got used to it, but not a fan. There are lots of plates & bowls ( a dinner service of them), but fewer glasses and we would have liked much larger cups or mugs. The settee, which is of good quality material, is saggy / uncomfortable, but it is large enough for 2 to sit on. A broom and dustpan & brush is provided together with a dish-cloth, scourer sponge, tea-towel and washing up liquid. There is a nice big cupboard in the bedroom with shelving, where you can hang clothes, store bags and suitcases. I would have liked a full length mirror hung on the back of this cupboard door & a light weight battery operated sweeper (£69) to suck up bits from the hard floors daily. They also do not appear to recycle rubbish as everything goes in a large bin in the apartment. There were many people staying on & off, a large car park with an electric charger, children's play area and BBQ. There is a walk for dogs opposite the Cupola restaurant on the other side of the road. It is quite steep, but you can let the dogs off the lead. There is a lady receptionist in the lounge area from Thursday to Monday. The Cupola restaurant next door is also very nice. It is open every day until 8pm (pizzas only in the evening) and on the week end a fuller menu. We visited Eyam, plague village, up the road, Bakewell, Buxton, Ashbourne, Matlock Bath and Castleton - we have already been to Chatsworth House, which is very close. There are apartments for sale & if the journey was much shorter I would be tempted to buy because this is a quality development. We really enjoyed our stay.

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• Carol - Verified booking

  We loved Castleton and especially enjoyed our hike.

  Eastry Cottage is located right near the entrance to Cave Dale, a ravine/dale often a part of mapped walks. The hike up was lovely and a little challenging for us. One caution is make sure you know your route well before heading out and take along a good map that marks the terrain. Paths are well trodden, but not well marked. In December the weather was not too cold, but damp with rain possible for some part of every day - plan for that. Good waterproof hiking boots are a must, as you will be walking on rocky, wet paths. Eastry Cottage was lovely, but not fancy - which was OK with us. We had planned to cook more, but found the availability of groceries limited. Fortunately there were many excellent dining options in Castleton. The host provided some lovely Christmas decorations and fresh flowers on the dining table - we really appreciated that as our visit was near Christmas. There were eggs and milk awaiting us in the refrigerator and served as our breakfast the first morning. The kitchen provided the basics as far as pots, pans, dishes, utensils and included 2 kitchen towels, dish soap, salt and pepper, instant coffee, tea bags. We did not find the extra silverware and dishes until we were leaving. Look for that next to the dining table. We were thankful for the washing machine - as we got very muddy in our hikes. We arrived by public transport (train to Hope Valley and bus to Castleton) and managed without a car, but I got the sense that most vacationers in the village did have cars.

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• Hannah - Verified booking

  Perfect little weekend break.

  We will definitely be back. Mattress extremely comfortable, furnishings tasteful and atmosphere cosy. Warm and inviting aesthetic. Generally clean but it might pay to run the hoover under the sofa more regularly, our dogs were very curious about what was under there and having looked, I wished I hadn’t. Took the shine off a bit. The sofa might also benefit from a quick hoover. Apart from that, No. 46 is conveniently placed next to the elevator at the back of the building which made toilet trips with dogs very efficient! It’s nice to see the owner has actioned some of the suggestions made by previous reviewers (coasters provided and blinds sorted). My advice to guests with long locks is bring a hair dryer. I mistakenly left mine at home and couldn’t find one in the apartment. I improvised and used the one in the boot room meant for dogs (worked a treat!) but not the height of luxury. The building is fairly new and it shows, everything is still scuff-free and tidy. My only hope is that as the years go on, the quality is maintained. We do plan to come back and would hate to see it go downhill, specially as apartments are for sale and management by a variety of owners could lead to haphazard quality. Overall really pleased with the experience and grateful to have found somewhere dog-friendly that isn’t the pits.

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• Michael - Verified booking

  For a dog owner, the cottage is in the perfect location.

  It is easy to walk out onto Burbage Moor without crossing a single road, just up the garden and over the stile, through the woodland and you're there. In fact, walking out to the NT Cafe a couple of miles away only requires two road crossings! The garden is quite dog-safe although I daresay a medium sized dog could jump the wall if it put its mind to it. The cottage is a good size, the bathroom, sitting room and main bedroom are huge. The second bedroom is adequate and the kitchen, whilst compact, was big enough for our requirements. The cottage has a superb heating system and holds the heat well, despite the stone floor. Contrary to the published information, there is a dishwasher in the kitchen. There is also a washing machine, but it is in an outhouse which, frankly, was disgustingly dirty. We decided against using it! Our visit was November so we didn't take advantage of the small courtyard where there is a table and chairs but I imagine that would be pleasant although I doubt it gets much sun. The windows all have secondary glazing so road noise wasn't a problem for us. There is a pub literally five minutes away which is excellent. Hathersage is about a mile (downhill) which is fine going down... I'd be happy to stay there again so am also happy to recommend it.

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