New Year Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Anthony - Verified booking

  This was not the quiet idyll that we wanted for our holiday.

  Let's start with the positives. The cottage was well equipped and just right for what we needed for 2 people and our dog. The cottage is perfectly situated for those who want a walking holiday. It is about a mile to the South West Coastal path and inland footpaths as well. It was a nice surprise to find a welcome afternoon tea as a gift from our hosts, thank you. Unfortunately...... the view from the cottage garden was of a large mound of crushed concrete measuring approx 20 foot high, 50 foot across and 40 foot deep. This rubble was obviously from a recent demolition of buildings that were nearby and was certainly not expected by us. This obliterated our view of the Purbeck Hills. The property directly next door is virtually derelict and due renovation which has started. The south face of the property had scaffold erected during our stay. This together with the mound of crushed concrete was not pleasant and certainly not what we expected from our holiday cottage. The cottage is actually situated on a main road and traffic passes within a few feet of the indoor seating area and bedroom. The traffic includes double decker buses, cars , lorries and the usual farm traffic. At times it felt that vehicles were coming through the wall! The positioning of the cottage also meant that persons walking past on the road footpath could be heard word for word. This was even the case well into the night (3am) with persons chatting loudly on their way home from the pub together with the smell of cannabis permeating through the window frame cracks. We do realise that all of the above is not the fault of the owners. We should have had knowledge of this so we could cancel. We wont return.

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• Jennifer - Verified booking

  A lovely property BUT: - the property sits within and is directly severely impacted by the building site and the access arrangement to the property via a derelict, dirty other building that adjoins.

  This fully detracts from the property experience. -the access building is not secure as it is open to the public as both doors are not lockable - anyone can enter - how safe is this? - what are the fire safety arrangements as there is no other way out as the derelict buildings are attached and the building site adjoins? - keeping long lawn grass for wildlife is applauded but what about recycling- only one bin provided - but we must recycle into 3 bins - as you state in the information pack and as we all should? not environmentally friendly sadly. We tried our best with sorting in our own bags in the living room - not ideal. - the TV didn't work - only on our netflix account and we reported this but heard nothing - Wi Fi kept dropping out - it is clear parking is an issue being distant and with the unpleasant access through the derelict building not easy/nice. Clearly all concerned with the letting know that the access and parking arrangement won't work until the new development is complete and bays for the rental properties delivered next to them. Years away? In the meantime the arrangement is not acceptable as others have said previously. I have a video and I am happy to share with future bookees so that they really know what awaits them and informs their decision to book this property. When all of the adjacent building work is complete and access and parking sorted out this will be a fabulous property to rent but not til then. Happy for you to discuss the return of some of our monies as we feel this would be reasonable.

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• Keith - Verified booking

  We booked Sea Pink as a last minute get away.

  We booked on the day of arrival and were pleasantly surprised that even with the quickest of turn arounds we still arrived to a lovely clean cottage with a nice welcome hamper including a treat for our dog. We can agree with other reviews that the cottage is a little difficult to find and the instructions could be a little clearer and they seem to only detail from one direction. We came up from Swanage. We were fully aware that the area was being developed as this was clear on the website but this didn’t affect our stay. Noise was minimal while we were there and we hardly noticed it. The area is beautiful with walks suitable for all abilities. The Kings Arms is a lovely pub just a few minutes walk down the hill with a great selection of drinks and food. The village does lack a shop for any bits and pieces. Yes the pub does serve this but only during the day but we didn’t see any evidence of this. All in all Sea Pink was perfect for us. Both ourselves and the dog found it comfortable and had everything we needed. The local butter was a nice touch!! We would have left a message in the visitors book but the pen had run out

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• Sarah - Verified booking

  AVOID, if you don’t want to stay on a building site.

  This property should not be let whilst all the building workS around it are continuing. 19 new houses and flats are being built in the adjoining building and on the land at the rear of the cottage. It was impossible to find the entrance as the instructions were so out of date. The builders kindly showed us how to gain access as you now access the property through the adjoining derelict building. You have to walk down mouldy, dirty corridors with steps to come out on a rough uneven path at the rear of the property. None of this is detailed on the listing. Parking is also an issue. The gravel area is a fair distance away and very badly signed. If you park in the lane you receive rude notices on your car by the opposite house. So the only option is the main road. This should not be currently let or at least described with updated information clearly detailing the current building work which will only make the situation worse as it progresses in time. If we had been made aware of the building works we would have booked another property and feel Skye’s are at fault over this.

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• Tod - Verified booking

  We had a lovely time and the cottage is ideally located in Langton Matravers to explore the isle of Purbeck.

  There are regular and reliable buses from the village to Swanage, Corfe Castle, Poole and elsewhere. The cottage is nicely designed though visitors should be aware that the shower isn’t very good as it leaks from the hose and so you get not much than a dribble. There is no freezer and only a small ice box in the fridge, which doesn’t close properly and is consequently too iced up to fit much in. The WiFi is sketchy so you have to be patient with that. Cleanliness not great - floors not properly cleaned and found half eaten biscuit under the sofa and had to wash the crockery as had food remains still on them. It’s good that we knew about the construction before we went but it inhibits sitting in the garden on a nice day due to the noise in particular. Plus there’s a smell of wee so maybe there’s a septic tank nearby. There was a nice welcome gift on arrival, which was appreciated. We booked through Sykes and although we had a good time, in general we have come to expect better from a holiday cottage booked through them.

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