Luxury Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Mark - Verified booking

  My wife and I visited for a three day break in February 2024.

  The setting is idyllic, over-looking the water, with lots of wildlife to watch (we even saw an otter!). Willow is one of three identical cabins around the same water, but they are well spaced out. In drafting this review I re-visited the website and realised that the photos showing the exterior of the cabin are not (at the time of writing) actually of Willow – the hot tub is further away from the main cabin at Willow. Anyway. the cabin is very cosy, and with the fire going it is beautifully warm and romantic. Everything is still fairly new, clean, tidy and unblemished. I liaised by message with Elinor, and she was very responsive, including in dealing with some of the points below. My wife and I are seasoned self-catering UK holiday makers, and I always recommend to hosts that they live in a property for a while (ie several days) to experience the property as a guest would. I suspect Elinor may not have done so, as there are little things that could be done to make a stay even more comfortable. For example, more hooks on the walls/doors for coats/hangers, providing washing up gloves and a bowl, providing kitchen roll, kitchen foil, etc etc. Nothing earth shattering, but just little things you notice are absent when living there for a few days. I can think only of two ‘gripes’, which are worth mentioning. Although the listing made reference to ‘electric heaters’ (plural), there was only one (until Elinor provided us with a second, upon my request). The heater is a portable oil filled electric heater, which you have to wheel between the bedroom and main living space. It is not programmable, and takes quite some time to heat up. The log burner really does blast out the heat, but that doesn’t help when you first get up, and the main living space is really rather cold. A couple of hardwired, controllable (ie with timers) wall mounted electric heaters (one for the bedroom, one for the main room) would do the job nicely. Secondly, the listing describes a “King-sized bedroom”. Obviously there’s no such thing, so we took this as short-hand for “bedroom with a king-size bed”. The bed was certainly very comfy, but it’s definitely a 4’6” Double, and not a 5’ king size. I realise that any criticism, even when it’s constructive, can be viewed negatively. This isn’t my intention. We had a lovely time, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Willow for a cosy romantic getaway. Just remember to take your own washing up gloves!

  Read more less >

• Mark - Verified booking

  My wife and I visited for a three day break in February 2024.

  The setting is idyllic, over-looking the water, with lots of wildlife to watch (we even saw an otter!). Willow is one of three identical cabins around the same water, but they are well spaced out. In drafting this review I re-visited the website and realised that the photos showing the exterior of the cabin are not (at the time of writing) actually of Willow – the hot tub is further away from the main cabin at Willow. Anyway. the cabin is very cosy, and with the fire going it is beautifully warm and romantic. Everything is still fairly new, clean, tidy and unblemished. I liaised by message with Elinor, and she was very responsive, including in dealing with some of the points below. My wife and I are seasoned self-catering UK holiday makers, and I always recommend to hosts that they live in a property for a while (ie several days) to experience the property as a guest would. I suspect Elinor may not have done so, as there are little things that could be done to make a stay even more comfortable. For example, more hooks on the walls/doors for coats/hangers, providing washing up gloves and a bowl, providing kitchen roll, kitchen foil, etc etc. Nothing earth shattering, but just little things you notice are absent when living there for a few days. I can think only of two ‘gripes’, which are worth mentioning. Although the listing made reference to ‘electric heaters’ (plural), there was only one (until Elinor provided us with a second, upon my request). The heater is a portable oil filled electric heater, which you have to wheel between the bedroom and main living space. It is not programmable, and takes quite some time to heat up. The log burner really does blast out the heat, but that doesn’t help when you first get up, and the main living space is really rather cold. A couple of hardwired, controllable (ie with timers) wall mounted electric heaters (one for the bedroom, one for the main room) would do the job nicely. Secondly, the listing describes a “King-sized bedroom”. Obviously there’s no such thing, so we took this as short-hand for “bedroom with a king-size bed”. The bed was certainly very comfy, but it’s definitely a 4’6” Double, and not a 5’ king size. I realise that any criticism, even when it’s constructive, can be viewed negatively. This isn’t my intention. We had a lovely time, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Willow for a cosy romantic getaway. Just remember to take your own washing up gloves!

  Read more less >

• Steve - Verified booking

  First of all, we did enjoy our stay, it's a wonderful location and ideally placed for exploring the area without having to drive.

  The facilities that have been fitted into a very compact space are excellent, and the property is well fitted out - the custom carpentry is very impressive! The kitchen has everything that could be needed, with the single exception of a rolling pin (I used a wine bottle). Both the bathroom and the bedroom suffer from very low ceilings. The photos in the listing do show both rooms as they are, but it's difficult to get an idea of just how little headroom there is from the images. It's not possible to sit up in bed and have a cup of tea, for instance, as the ceiling is too low. The bed is very comfortable though. In the bathroom the only oart of the room which allows a normal sized adult to stand up is the strip between the door and the toilet - other than that bending over is required - an inconvenience when using the sink. When we arrived there was a cleaning welcome pack - nice idea, but not well executed. It had dishwasher tablets (there is no dishwasher) and bin bags that were far too big for the small pedal bin in the kitchen, and no washing up liquid. This was rectified with a trip to the co-op, but the contractors doing the servicing were clearly not paying attention. Also there was one roll of tolet paper provided - this is not enough for two people, for a week. It was a nice touch to put up some festive decorations, we appreciated it. Although we came prepared as we have a log burner at home, it would also be a nice touch to have an initial supply of kindling & logs for at least one night. The information pack with local walks was very useful and got us to do some walks we wouldn't otherwise have attempted. But why in the list of pubs & restaurants is there no mention of the Swan? It's the nearest & we had a very good Christmas dinner there!

  Read more less >

• Louise - Verified booking

  Such a charming little cottage and I would definitely return if staying in this area again.

  We had 3 nights, on one of which we stayed in and cooked Italian and lit the log burner, and it was so cozy. Everything was as clean as it could be (in a rural setting, you are going to expect little cobwebs) but the important stuff like bedding and towels, soft furnishings etc were spotless. Indeed, the slanted ceiling upstairs would be a challenge for taller people after a few days, and the staircase a challenge for less able bodied guests (although, access to the upstairs can also be achieved via the outside staircase…so this is fine!)……but this little place was just magical. (Not really big enough for 3 adults…more of a couples or single traveller place)… A 5 minute walk to a lovely pub with excellent food (dog friendly), and a very pleasant few more minutes into the heart of Grasmere. There are lovely walks direct from the cottage, one of which we had the pleasure of seeing a couple of otters playing in the small lake. (And on the day of arrival, a red squirrel was in the cottage garden!) My only “miff” would be that there was no welcome pack….I have used Sykes cottages several times, and most have left a little tray with the basics on arrival to have a cup of tea/coffee and a biscuit….but luckily we had our own. The village shop is currently (as at October 2024) being refurbished, so the nearest shop is in Ambleside. Highly recommend this little place!

  Read more less >

• Matthew - Verified booking

  Not sure where this feedback is going as I cannot seem to display feedback to customers which is disappointing - seems that only good feedback is shared.

  Shock! This property is not pet friendly and I am extremely upset about my stay. Within an hour of my stay I had to leave the property due to my dog getting injured from going up the stairs. I appreciate it states in the listing about the stairs but this cannot be sold as pet friendly. Shortly after arriving I used the toilet, upstairs, my dog followed me up. As it was a new environment for her this is not an unusual behaviour to have. However, she fell off the stairs as they are dangerously steep and injured her front leg. I vacated the property and booked in at the Swan at Grasmere Hotel - a lovely hotel (stay there instead). This set me back £450 on top of the cost of the cottage to stay at Dovecot. I sent a complaint to Sykes cottages and they said I did not have a case for any compensation as it is advertised on the listing. I completely understand it’s on the listing, however the property is no where near dog safe - if it was, there should be a stair gate at both ends of the staircase. When I suggested this to the customer service agent I spoke to she said “well did you ask for one” as if to say it is my responsibility to check if it is safe for my dog. Anyway I would stay away from this property if you have a dog, it is not safe and is being miss-sold. There are lots of other places to book which would make your stay a lot less stressful.

  Read more less >