Keswick Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Wayne - Verified booking

  We had a very disappointing experience at Beck edge.

  It does look exactly like the pictures on the website but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Parking is a problem. The roads around the property are very tight and very busy, not only with vehicles squeezing around the corner but also cyclists and pedestrians passing by right in front of the house, making it difficult to park and unload the car. The road noise woke us up in the morning due to a manhole cover which clank’s every time it’s driven over. The allotted parking space to the side of the house is really tight and you have to park close to the house wall to not block the neighbours drive. The key safe is located on the opposite side of the property through the rickety gate next to the side door and a scruffy rotting log store (not a great first impression). The key safe itself was difficult to operate and the front fell off once it had unlocked. Before we arrived we did received a message informing us the dishwasher had broken, which is annoying but these things happen. (There was a hand written note in the kitchen confirming this). The general feel of the place is dated and maintenance and investment in the property over the years is clearly lacking. Some of the issues we encountered were mentioned in a previous review and had apparently been resolved. The front door lock sticks and is really difficult to lock and unlock from the inside. (It’s identified in the safety paperwork as a fire exit which obviously is a big safety concern). Cupboard fronts, doors and plinths in the kitchen are poorly fitted and tired. I’m not sure the filters in the extractor fan have ever been cleaned? They are yellow with grease and the ceiling above is stained. The fridge doesn’t seem to be working efficiently, the lights doesn’t work, the bottom shelf is broken and the door is being held together with some sort of foam/adhesive. The manual in the kitchen is partly handwritten and difficult to read especially the oven instructions which have been crossed out and sketched in biro! There’s a sealed unit in the rear kitchen window which has broken down and is full of condensation along with a spotlight and bulb that have blown. This room just smelt very stale so we had to open all the window to freshen the place up. The blinds throughout the property are dirty and offer no privacy from the surrounding properties or roads. As previously mentioned the array of towels supplied are very small and really old, I’m not sure why they haven’t been replaced years ago. The main bathroom was functional and the water was hot but the rainbow shower curtain wasn’t very clean and had mildew around the bottom of it. The beds were fairly uncomfortable but the bedding old and worn, the single bed didn’t smell great and my son refused to sleep In it. We had a 2 night stay booked but decided to cut it short and travelled home a day early as we felt really uncomfortable at Beck edge. Although this property might be acceptable to some we felt it is in desperate need of a refurbishment and freshening up, there has clearly been no investment in the property over the last 20 years and it shows. And for such an outstanding area of the country where you have to pay a premium to stay, the standard of this property is simply not good enough. It’s very disappointing as we’ve used Sykes on several occasions and properties are usually of a very good standard, but unfortunately not this one.

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• Ritchie - Verified booking

  Ground Settings and views stunning.

  The whole place over all was very charming and a good base for us to explore the surrounding areas and relax in between.. lovely views to wake up to . Whole experience only Let down by a few things. 1. The room was generally cold. Heating pre programmed with control from us, and not coming on nearly enough for what was a cold Easter weekend. Only one radiator in the room and it was also set to a low heat. We had to open the bathroom door to try and heat the main space as it was the only warm room in the house. We called through to reception a few times to ask but no answer. Also sometimes no hot water so had to have Luke warm shower. 2. Towels were old with one having a tear in it. 3. Some simple essential things like salt and pepper, tea bags etc go a long way when renting a place and not have to go out and buy all these things when travelling. It makes a massive difference and this could easily be provided 4. The noise coming from the other flats was at times very intrusive. Walls etc are paper thin and you can hear everything. We had a family with young kids next to us that seemed unaware of how thin the walls are. Maybe customers can be made aware of this and asked to keep noise down? 4. There wasn't adequate cleaning materials. Just one dish sponge and an almost empty bottle of fairy liquid that I had to add water to. Again a simple and cheap thing to provide so we don't have to go out and buy all this for just a few nights stay. 5. Cooker was awful. Took forever to heat up. 6.TV must be 20yrs old and needs updating. 7.internet was shocking. I know place is rural so maybe can't be helped. I needed to do some work and at times was unusable. Seemed to always go down at night? Maybe something to pre warn customers before booking as if essential work was needed done then this would have been a problem. 8. Bed was very comfortable but pillows not great. Again, a lovely place. Friendly and helpful staff. Glad we stayed, but will look elsewhere next time given the above issues.

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• John - Verified booking

  We were extremely pleased that Sykes were able to work with the property manager/owner to address a few concerns we had, prior to our stay, based on the feedback from previous customers.

  These related to the seating (a beautiful new sofa was delivered just before our start date), cleanliness (which was addressed) and a fuel alarm issue (the reasons for which were investigated and explained to us as an isolated incident). So well done to all concerned for resolving these concerns prior to our holiday. The one thing I need to mention (not a complaint but it needs addressing soon) is that there were signs of some water ingression in one of the upstairs en-suites (the one with the glass roof). The ceiling above the door is black in parts and there's some flaking paint. It only rained properly once during our stay but some water came through the ceiling and puddled on the floor, so we put a bucket and towel underneath to catch the drips. The grout in the floor tiles looks like it has been previously washed away in the affected area, which means the water would have seeped under the floor tiles and (possibly) through to the downstairs en-suite if it had rained persistently (and if we hadn't been in the house at the time and spotted it). I can't see any previous published reports of this issue amongst the customer feedback, so I don't know whether the owner knows about it. But I would hope that the property management company has spotted it because the signs are so obvious (whether its raining at the time or not). Maybe the work has already been scheduled, but in that case customers should be forewarned and know what to do if it rains. We hope the property manager/owner will rectify this problem soon, before it turns into a much bigger issue. This didn't really impact our holiday though, other than during the 2 minutes it took us to find the bucket, so we've given the holiday full marks anyway because of the numerous positive aspects - the location, the stunning property itself and the breath-taking views which we were particularly sad to leave behind (the welcome pack was a very nice surprise too). Overall, many thanks for a great holiday that my family will never forget.

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• Allen - Verified booking

  We had a great week staying at Gillside as a base for exploring the Lake District.

  There was only a few issues that prevented it being excellent. It hadn’t been cleaned to a high enough standard for us. When we arrived the rubbish was piled around the full bin outside. It was never collected during our stay. When I enquired I was told this was because the council couldn’t access the property as the road was closed?! The washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher filters hadn’t been cleaned out before we used them. There were cupboards and floors that had residual crumbs/mess. When we arrived on the Saturday there was a note to tell us not to use one of the ensuite showers because it was leaking into the room below, which was visible. We had to leave the key in the key safe if we went out to allow a plumber access. He came on the Monday while we were out and it looked like he had resealed the shower tray. The note was still there with no update, so we had to ring to see whether we could use the shower next day or not. We could and there was no further issues. We also had an unexpected visit from another plumber who wanted to inspect the mould in a different bathroom as he had fitted the bathroom. He took photos and left. There was a lack of space in all the bedrooms but we managed. On the plus side, the view from the property was spectacular and the kitchen was well stocked with cutlery, crockery and equipment to make meals. The broken sofa that had been mentioned in previous reviews had been replaced, so we had plenty of seats to sit on. The beds were comfortable and the underfloor heating worked although we couldn’t figure out how to change the actual time on the individual controls. The gardens were in full bloom and obviously well looked after.

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• Ian - Verified booking

  Beech Nook was a mixed holiday.

  The property is beautiful, and well equipped. We noticed that some previous holiday guests had reported that water was leaking into the kitchen from the upstairs shower. The same happened to us. I did report it on the phone number supplied but nobody came to repair it. When we arrived at Beech Nook we noticed that outside there were five full rubbish bins, and some rubbish bags. On the board in the kitchen it said rubbish would be collected on Tuesday, it never was. I reported this to the phone number supplied, but nothing happened. There were no rubbish bags supplied so we went out and bought some and as they were filled we put them in the garage. There was a washing machine and dishwasher but no washing powder or dishwasher tablets supplied. This is unusual in rented cottages. We also noted that there were no instruction books for any of the appliances. Washing machines and dishwashers are fairly easy to work out, bud the microwave was a bit of a challenge. Half way through the week one of the carbon monoxide alarms burst into life. After following the emergency procedures it appeared that it was signalling the battery was nearly flat. I reported this on the supplied phone number and was told maintenance would come to the cottage and sort the matter out. They never showed up. As I said at the beginning of this review, Beech Nook is a lovely holiday cottage but the customer service is diabolical. Most of the problems were simple and cheap to sort out, but there appeared to be a complete disinterest. Quick to take the rental money, but indifferent to responding to problems.

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