Holiday Cottages In The North West

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Stacey - Verified booking

  And the properly layout is perfect for a family.

  The garden is gorgeous. The house is spacious and the location is gorgeous. That bath in the main bathroom is the size of a small pool and it’s beautiful. However… there are some basic issues that should be sorted and one or two things that should be made clear on the listings. The main things that need resolving… 1. Dirty hot tub. We arrived to water with a green tinge in it, not heated up, with a layer of scum on the top and debris in the bottom. I’d have been tempted to think this was just unlucky… but there’s comments in the guest book going back months complaining of the same thing, which just makes me think the water is never changed. There was a real smell in the little hut the hot tub was in too. So, despite this being one of the main reasons I booked the property, I just couldn’t bring myself to get in it personally 2. Cleanliness in the kitchen. There’s a fly problem to start with, but I appreciate it isn’t easy to resolve. However, if you know you have a load of flies, then cleanliness, in my view, should be one of the key things. We took dishes out that were dirty and needed rewashing. And when we took the air fryer out it was absolutely filthy… so again we just decided not to bother using it 3. Loads of the lights just don’t work. Again, I saw this had been mentioned previously in the guest book. But it wasn’t resolved. The main lights in the master bedroom don’t work. The wall lights in the living room don’t work. The lights in the second bedroom didn’t work. 4. The couch was very lumpy, bumpy and old…not comfortable to sit on at all. When we were shaking the cushions up to try and make it more comfortable it was also clear it hadn't been cleaned in a REALLY long time. Things that need highlighting in the listing, I feel: 1. Huge area of nettles in the garden. I was traveling alone with 3 young children so was drawn by the garden. But there’s a massive section of nettles on one side not fenced off. Appreciate stopping nettles growing is unfeasible. But pointing it out would be helpful or even fencing it off 2. Wifi is too slow to do anything beyond send text whatsapp messages. I appreciate the area has slow wifi issues. Average speeds in the postcode is only 10 mb per second. But the wifi in this house runs at no more than 1 mb per second. I mentioned before I was travelling alone with children. Add to the fact there was no mobile signal and ultimately, I needed wifi to be able to keep in touch with the childrens’ father and other people. So this was massively inconvenient. I know there’s not much an owner can do about slow wifi all the time, but when someone advertises “wifi” at a property, you assume it will be usable. I had specifically looked out for wifi because I know signal in the area can be patchy. I’d also specifically looked for a hot tub but the hygiene issues were hugely, hugely off putting. It’s worth adding that on the occasion I contacted the owner about it, despite the fact there was nothing they could do, they did respond immediately. But of course it was impossible to contact most of the time anyway because of a lack of phone signal and a very slow wifi network. In all, this is a beautiful property in a wonderful area. But a lack of cleanliness, poor maintenance and unclear advertising in regards to things like wifi left me personally very disappointed.

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• Victoria - Verified booking

  We had an unexpected but lovely stay at Springarth cottage after we had to move at very short notice from our original holiday cottage due to a serious problem.

  The owners took us in within an hour of Sykes calling them late on Saturday evening and made what initially felt like a total disaster feel so much better when we were warmly greeted by the owner. Springarth is a very pretty cosy little cottage within a small ,extremely sympathetic and well done barn development. The house is very clean and comfortable and beautifully furnished. There is parking outside the front door and a seating area which can be accessed via patio doors from the sitting room. There is also a very pretty little pond area that can be accessed from a gate near to the driveway. The cottage is easy to find as has a red telephone box and flagpole as landmarks and is close to the crossroads. The cottage is set within peaceful countryside and quiet roads. The kitchen has plenty of space , storage and is well equipped. But do bring 1 large stock pan and an extra baking tray if you need to cook for a large family. ( as is usually case with most cottages). The living room furniture is very comfortable with enough seating for all 6 of us. There is a large traditional farmhouse table for meals in a separate room adjacent to the kitchen. Water pressure was fine in both the over bath showers .The bathrooms are clean and attractive. From here there is a useful large Sainsburys supermarket (easily accessed by car) in nearby Penrith for supplies (/approx 15 min drive)The cottage is also very handy for Keswick and Ullswater., and visiting Aira Force via boat. Grasmere in the Lake district is a 45 minute drive away mostly on good roads and worth a visit. There is also a riding stables and Llama/ alpaca attraction close by and several historic points of interest including Castlerigg stone circle and Arthurs table. The owner has thoughtfully produced some itineraries for days out to places of interest and towns within driving distance . But best advice if you want to book days out such as Ullswater ferries, riding, etc is to either book in advance of your visit or when out doing your shopping as the cottage is in a bit of a dip so the wifi signal is not the best. This was actually a positive for us as we really enjoyed the peace and proper family time together without our teenagers being permanently glued to devices. We brought a favourite board game with us and had lots of laughs in the evenings after some lovely days out. So don't let the wifi signal put you off as this cottage is lovely! We would definitely stay again if we return to this area.

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• Bruce - Verified booking

  Disappointed we weren't advised the hot-tub was out of order.

  We had specifically searched for a location that offered one. There was an out of order sign on hot-tub shed door. We had to get custodian of property to come sort out the beeping smoke dectector (we couldn't get it to stop). Asked him about hot-tub and said he would message owners. Messaged him later and he said owners confirmed it was not working. We had to make new plans for our evenings instead of using it. Fortunately, we brought a stick for the tv so we had other entertainment for the 2 kids during the evening. Besides the hot-tub, there were a few things that were also a bit disappointing about our stay. We couldn't get the tv to work in the bathroom; it seemed like the batteries were dead in at least 1 of the remotes for the tvs; wi-fi signal was not the best (guessing because of the remote location); couple of lightbulbs were burnt out. Mostly minor inconviences, other than hottub, but disappointed us a bit. Overall, house is very spacious and welcoming and is well laid out. The beds were very comfortable, bathroom and WC was good to have both, kitchen had numerous appliances and sufficient pots, pans and utensils. Wood burning fire was nice for the cooler evenings. Would have rated my recommendation and stay higher had the hot-tub been working.

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• Tracy - Verified booking

  It’s a great house and we enjoyed our stay however the Lock on front door needs changing.

  Very difficult to open and one of the party got locked out whilst going to bin. Luckily someone was in house to let them back in. Out of 4 people staying in the house only one person could navigate the lock. No fire wood on arrival and house very cold on arrival. Phoned agents looking after property who said don’t provide wood. Sykes contacted owner who said it’s not provided and that the listing is wrong. I’ve never stayed in a property yet where some wood is not provided when a log burner is advertised in the property. Had to locate where we could buy wood and drove to get some. Not such a relaxing start to holiday. Radiator in lounge needs bleeding. Lots of crockery and a lot chipped but no egg cups. Had to improvise and use egg box that the eggs came in to hold the boiled eggs. Pepper pot but no salt pot. Radiator in upstairs bathroom too close to toilet so burned your legs when using toilet. Had to cover it with a towel. Concur with previous reviews could do with a bigger fridge and freezer. Would have struggled if we had a longer stay to store fridge food . Not owners fault but next door looks like a builders yard and should be brought to the attention of anyone staying there.

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• Laura - Verified booking

  A lovely house with stunning views and lots of little touches to make our stay more comfortable.

  Loved the jams and biscuits, plus well stocked with things like olive oil and washing up liquid. The top floor shower shouldn’t be used if any other water is turned on in the house - like the washing machine or dish washer as the temperature fluctuates enormously. The bunk bed was broken when we arrived meaning we couldn’t use it but that was fine as we were a four rather than a six but put a call into Skye’s and they said it would be fixed for the next customers. It took a while to find out who to contact as some pages of the welcome pack were out of date. We had one really windy night with a lot of banging and wasn’t sure whether there were some tiles loose at the seaward side or whether this was something do to with the renovations on the adjoining property, but they do provide ear plugs! It’s in a fantastic location and we sampled the Bosens Locker, the Conacle and the pub on Piel. It was a great base for visiting family locally and, of course, near to Roy’s Icecreams on the coast road! We also discovered the drive through Icecream Cumbrian Cow and the Milk Shed where you can get fresh local milk and milkshakes on tap!

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