New Year Cottages in the Lake District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Alexander - Verified booking

  Nestled on the tranquil shores of Windermere, the Boat House at Louper Weir is an exquisite getaway that truly captures the beauty of the English Lake District.

  From the moment you step foot on the property, it's clear you're in for an unforgettable experience. One of the Boat House's biggest charms is its unbeatable location. Positioned on the lake, the property boasts breathtaking views of the tranquil waters and surrounding greenery. It's a serene panorama that one could spend hours soaking in. A particularly enjoyable time is breakfast on the balcony, where the morning sun, teamed with the panoramic vista, creates a serene environment - a splendid way to kickstart the day. An exciting feature of the Boat House is the private pontoon. It provides an excellent platform to use water toys and, notably, a two-person kayak that comes with the house. This is a wonderful addition, allowing guests to explore Windermere in a fun and personal manner. Additionally, the Boat House is equipped with a large downstairs shower and a wet room, along with a washer-dryer. After a refreshing dip in the lake, these amenities were incredibly handy for rinsing and drying our swim gear. The interior of the Boat House is equally impressive. The bedroom is spacious and comfortable, featuring ample storage for clothes and a cosy bed that ensures a good night's sleep. The views from the room make waking up a joy and immediately set a tranquil tone for the day. However, the Boat House isn't without its imperfections. While the living spaces are well-appointed, there's room for improvement when it comes to mirrors. The inclusion of a full-length mirror upstairs, as well as one in the bathroom, would add to the comfort and convenience of the guests. The design of the spiral staircase leaves room for improvement. The current plastic stairs felt a bit out of place in such a lovely setting, and a wider, metal design would indeed be a superior choice. Lastly, a word of caution to those planning to arrive with a large vehicle. The drive down and turn into the drive is particularly narrow. My Nissan Navara suffered a scrape, a bit of a dampener to an otherwise fantastic weekend. Despite these minor drawbacks, the Boat House at Louper Weir provides an experience that is undeniably satisfying and rejuvenating. The blend of luxury and nature creates a truly unique retreat that offers a plethora of activities and a relaxed atmosphere. I would wholeheartedly recommend a visit, and indeed, I am already looking forward to returning – this time considering the larger house next door, also managed by Sykes. In conclusion, the Boat House at Louper Weir, with its stunning views and impressive amenities, is a little slice of heaven in Windermere. If you can navigate the tight driveway and don't mind a lack of mirrors, it offers an unmatched lakeside getaway.

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• Ruth - Verified booking

  What a fantastic holiday and place to stay.

  The facilities were great, amount of various kitchen gadgets was impressive to cater for all personal needs, ie, quooker tap, ninja, coffee machine of which we loved, especially as supplied with coffee pods, thank you! Loved using the sonar music system which was new to us. The bonus was the double kayak, supplied with life jackets of which we had a fantastic time exploring the lake, added with the jacuzzi to relax in later. The bathroom shower is lovely. The bathroom could be tweaked with a mirror on the wall over basin to make it easy for those who shave. Extra floor mats as water splashes out and over into bathroom for example. The spiral stairs are awkward, I sort of found my own technique to using especially as I suffer with my knee. There is no full length mirror upstairs so I left all my hair bits and hairdryer in the vestibule area and used that mirror for face etc. We only took small suitcases so managed to get up. On arrival we found the initial electric gates but missed the second lot of electric gates to go through. Another couple arriving did the same. Once we figured it out it became second to none. The road to the boat cottages is tight, really a smaller car would have been more apt plus the parking bay having to turn and reverse to get in or out. My goodness what a view over the lake awaits once there. We totally relaxed here after enjoying the many lovely surrounding towns. We picked up various leaflets from the information Centre at the top of High St, near Windermere Station when we arrived. The cottage agency is very near to them where we collected the keys. Windermere & Bowness-on-Windermere have such lovely shops, cafes, pubs and eateries which we really enjoyed. Kendal was a lovely town again with fab shops and food places. We loved visiting the antiques emporiums in surrounding areas sourced from the internet. The towns get very busy with cars and carparks get full very quickly. Best to arrive early to get parked. Sadly, the volume of cars may lead to tail backs especially on change over days of cottages. Everyone we met in shops etc were so friendly and accommodating. Thank you to the staff who located my birthday cards and forwarded them to my home address. We thought the Lake District was amazing and this boat holiday cottage was just the icing on the cake. We would have booked again for same week but unfortunately it has gone up by considerably by £400. Such a shame!

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• Martin - Verified booking

  WE TOOK TORCHES AND OUR OWN MIRROR.

  BUT WERE DISAPPOINTED THAT SOME OF THE MAIN REVIEW ISSUES HAD STILL NOT BEEN DEALT WITH. THE PROPERTY WAS NICE AND IN A GREAT POSITION WHICH SUITED OUR NEEDS, BUT WE WERE DISAPPOINTED IN THE QUALITY OF FURNISHINGS IN WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A HIGH SPEC PROPERTY AT A PREMUIM PRICE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE LOUNG DINNING FURNITURE WAS ACTUALLY SOME GARDEN FURNITURE WHICH WAS A LITTLE ODD?? WARDRBE SLIDING DOORS RATTLED AND MOVED VERY CHEAP TO BE HONEST. THE CLEANING WAS NOT UP TO STANDARD AND THE FLOOR HOOVER WAS FULL OF DIRT AND DUST WHICH WE HAD TO EMPTY, UNDER THE BED WAS FULL OF DUST HAIRS AND DIRT.SHOWER AREA NOT CLEAN AND TILES HAD WATER UNDER THEM.COOKER EXTRACTOR FAN WAS DIRTY. THE OUTSIDE BALCONY WAS FIULL OF COBWEBS AND DIRT AND THE GLASS AROUND THE BALCONY WAS DIRTY AND LOOKED LIKE THE WHOLE AREA HAD NOT BE CLEANED FOR A WHILE. WE DID GO INTO LAKESIDE PROPERTIES AT THE END OF OUR HOLIDAY AND GAVE THEM THE LIST AS BELOW, THIS WE WERE TOLD WOULD BE PASSED ON TO THE OWNER. WE ARE A WEEK AFTER LEAVING OUR DTAILS AND NO RESPONSE FROM THE OWNER YET?? 1. ARRIVAL INSTRUCTIONS NEED A VISUAL MAP FOR HOW TO ENTER THE PROPERTY BY CAR AS NOT VERY OBVIOUS SINAGE 2. NO WELCOME PACK?? 3. NEEDS PRIVACY BLIND ON FRONT DOOR TO PROPERTY 4. NO FIRST AID BOX FOUND 5. NO COAT HOOKS FOR COATS BY ENTRANCE TO PROPERTY INSIDE?? 6. YET 6 COAT HOOKS IN HOT TUB AREA?? 7. NOTHING TO SWEEP AWAY DIRT OR WATER IN AREA BY WASHING MACHINE NEEDS LONG HANDLED SQUEGGY BLADE. 8. SPIRAL STAICASE WAS FOR- WARNED AS TO NARROW ETC BUT IT WAS VERY FLIMSY AND MOVED ALARMINGLY WHEN USED NOT VERY SECURE. 9. NO LIGHT AT TOP OF STAIRCASE WHICH COULD BE USED AT NIGHT SO AGAIN UNSAFE. 10. NO WALL LAMPS BY BED OR ON WALL ABOVE BED VERY ODD?? 11. NO PROPER MIRROR IN BATHROOM JUST A SMALL SHAVING MIRROR?? 12. NEEDS LONG VIEW MIRROR IN LOUNGE AREA AS WELL 13. FOUND MOSQUITO NET IN WARDROBE BUT NO WAY TO HANG THIS BY DOOR SO HAD TO HAVE DOORS CLOSED AT NIGHT 14. HOT TUB WAS DIRTY WITH BITS IN BOTTOM WHEN WE FIRST USED IT AND THESE REMAINED ALL WEEK?? 15. SADLY, THERE ARE A LOT OF POINTS IN MY LIST THAT HAVE BEEN MENTIONED IN REVIEWS FOR THREE YEARS YET NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE

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• Christine - Verified booking

  Fantastic location and we had a great holiday here.

  Could have been even better if the slippers that were listed were actually provided. You definitely need these because of the stone floors even though the underfloor heating took the chill off. We rang the help number the following morning and were told to leave the keys in the key safe so some could be delivered but there is no information about the combination for the safe therefore this didn’t happen. At the end of the holiday I discovered we were given the wrong information as the key safe is not for guests to use BUT not having slippers was not as much of a big deal as I’ve made it sound. A couple of other things were more of an issue; - there are two cctv cameras, one pointing at the balcony and the other pointing directly at the hot tub. When we got there we were told that the owner would know if we had accessed the property even a few minutes early therefore we felt uncomfortable that we could be being watched and my partner felt this was a massive invasion of our privacy which had we known may have affected our initial decision to stay there. - on the last night we cooked a lovely steak however the kitchen window was locked and there was no key, there were no instructions for the extractor fan which we assumed would be automatic but it wasn’t. We didn’t like to fiddle with it as it was coming away from the wall. This all meant that the smoke alarms went off and again with no instructions we were unable to silence them other than by removing the batteries. Unfortunately as these were linked to the house alarm this meant that this was also alarming and no longer usable. Even the following morning the alarms started again if the batteries were replaced. There was a really good instruction folder with lots of other information in so not sure why this vital info was missing. Apart from that the venue is absolutely amazing, we loved the use of the kayak and the fantastic view. Those things would make us want to go again but we’d definitely be put off by the cameras.

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• Jacqui - Verified booking

  This property is absolutely amazing.

  The setting is just surreal and it had everything we could have asked for to make our stay one we will remember forever. The very steep and tight drive down to the property was worse than some reviews state so you need to take it nice and slow. One of us got out of the car to guide the other through the really tight area which is just by the entrance to the boat house. Very tight but fine when guided. It is also much easier to reverse into the space if you can as it is very tight coming out of the driveway. The narrow spiral staircase is again tight and not suitable for all, especially if you need the toilet in the night. We left the bathroom light on so we had some light in the darkness as there are no bedside lights or any lights on the staircase. Something to also stress to anyone considering booking as you are not told in the property description is the CCTV. They should by law let you know as one of the outside cameras is positioned looking directly at the hot tub. So if you are body conscious and do not want a camera watching you when you have very little clothes on then this is not for you. There is no need for the camera to be pointed directly at the hot tub it could be moved to just watch the stairs/entry to the boat house. We did ring beforehand to ask about this and were assured the cameras were not monitored and did not cover the hot tub, but once you are there it is clear the hot tub is overlooked. If we had known we would have cancelled as we were not happy with this at all. There are also 2 other CCTV cameras, one on the balcony and one on the neighbouring balcony which you might find intrusive to your privacy. Other than the CCTV this is a truly amazing place to stay and one where if made aware you can make you own decision whether to book or not dependant on your preferences to being watched.

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