Last Minute Cottages in North Yorkshire

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Christopher - Verified booking

  IMPORTANT RE LIFT AND SHOWER ACCESS: To the owner and Sykes: GIVE PEOPLE THE LIFT INFORMATION IN ADVANCE!

  See other reviews below. I got an email from Sykes pre-arrival with all necessary information re keys and entry etc EXCEPT about the lift. It promised a text from the owner on the day of arrival. I didn’t get one. Sykes had sent another email to me with the lift info, which I did not receive because I do not use email on my phone, and only saw when I got home. You get a key to a door on the left of the building where there is no lift. There is another door for other apartments to the right side of the building, which the outer door-key ALSO fits, which is not obvious at all. The lift is there! So I struggled (I’m partially disabled) up three flights of stairs with baggage, thinking that there was no lift. Thankfully my friend realised a 3rd floor door led across the outside of the building and we realised the lift was there and then tried the key in the other ground-floor door. See the reviews below: Mar 2023, Jun 2023, July 2021, and Jan 2022 (when they never found the lift). This is ludicrous. There is no sensible reason for omitting the lift access information from that sent in advance. And clearly Sykes and the owner do not read the reviews or have not acted on the feedback. Sykes: THIS IS VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR DISABLED PEOPLE, and annoying for everyone. There is so little accessible accommodation in Whitby and many disabled people will opt to stay at this apartment. RE THE SHOWER: The photo of a walk-in shower makes it look fairly accessible, but the shower tray and screen are too long for the size of the room. There is only an 18-inch gap between the end of the fixed screen and the wall. My shoulders are wider than that and I therefore had to walk in sideways facing the wall and then step backwards over the shower tray. This would prevent people with greater disability from safely accessing the shower – and there is no grab rail. (Mentioned in Oct 2021). To Sykes and the owner – grab rails are not expensive additions, and when this shower needs replacing, a shorter screen would be sensible. And I previously booked a Whitby property with an accessibility statement with all measurements, which may help. There are people I know who would not have been able to use that shower. These simple things will get you more repeat bookings, but a little thought and extra information is crucial to avoiding anxiety and at worst an inaccessible apartment for disabled people. Contrary to a previous review the flat itself was very clean, but I always check the beds and the mattress protectors needed a shake (!) and did not look as though they had been washed. These should be washed between every visit. A minor niggle was that the toilet roll holder had a bit of old cheap spring at one end so it was unusable. I don’t understand how these cheap and broken things are not fixed. I am sad to write the above because the apartment is lovely, was very well-equipped, and apart from the above points, a Godsend for disabled or elderly or ill people. It is an almost flat 10-minute walk to the town and swing bridge and has parking right next to the building. The views over the river and to the harbour are fabulous, and to sit and watch gulls, cormorants, ducks and shags right outside, and steam trains, and the lights of the town at night was wonderful. So please, Sykes, and Kerrie, get the above sorted. It may help future bookings (and more importantly avoid even more repetitions of the problem) if you respond to this review to say that the above issues have been sorted. Not everyone reads or scrolls down these reviews.

  Read more less >

• Dave - Verified booking

  Fabulous but first I’d like to address a previous review.

  I can’t say it’s not accurate however we did not notice the “smelly dog” sofa. I do think some points are down to personal taste and the comments give the review an unfairly negative feel Unfortunately we are still in the middle of a global pandemic and there are many shortages including builders and the supply of skips, hence the leftover building materials. This was addressed the week we were there, having waited many weeks for one to become available. Yes, it’s a “mish-mash” of furniture but this can be quite clearly seen from the photos and is partly what gives the place its character and quirky feel. We found the hosts Ian and Ruth very friendly and we spoke to them on several occasions discussing how Basil’s Barn came to be and all the trials and tribulations involved. It was very interesting and explained the 1st floor storage area (building regs!) as well as many of the other lovely features. We think some of the shortages in the kitchen had already been addressed by the time we visited but don’t forget this is a brand new property and it’s easy to forget the most obvious things. However, a quick word with Ruth and she would almost certainly have gone out and bought them for you, she was so helpful. We thought the quality of the workmanship was excellent and a huge amount of attention had been placed on some of the details, each one having its own story. We had a lovely holiday, nicely sandwiched between 2 pubs and Egton is a picture postcard North Yorkshire village ideally placed to visit the surrounding areas and attractions of Whitby, Robin Hoods Bay, North York Moors and the NYMR

  Read more less >

• Lisa - Verified booking

  It will be good when it's finished.

  This is a great conversion but it is not complete to the standard we would expect. This property was listed before it was ready. When we arrived we thought we were in a builder's yard and could not believe that we had arrived on holiday. The left over builders' materials are stacked badly all around the parking area and this really harms first impressions and then every time you go in and out of the property. The gates are both difficult to use as the hinges have dropped, so this makes arrival and departure tricky. There is a real mish-mash of furniture including a 'smelly dog' sofa. On arrival I thought the smell was from the previous occupants but then realised the smell came from the second hand sofa. The rocking chair was uncomfortable to use as a relaxing chair, so there are really not enough suitable useable sofas. The cottage lacks rugs - especially the bedroom as you put your feet on the cold floor - it was too warm to sleep with underfloor heating in the bedroom but that left the floor cold. The bedroom also has too many items of furniture, the hanging rail was useful - but a simple chest of drawers would be better. No hairdryer. The kitchen lacks some equipment - an inadequate grater, no coffee pot and limited wine glasses. The whole storage area on the first floor is slightly odd too. It was a shame as the hosts were pleasant, the milk, tea and biscuits a nice touch on arrival, and the garden was lovely (slightly too many fairy lights!) and the area is fantastic. I think it needs time to be properly finished and made more comfortable. It could be really lovely with more care and attention.

  Read more less >

• Phil - Verified booking

  The lodge was very comfortable and well equipped, although the patio furniture is now looking a little worn.

  The main reason we booked this lodge over others is that the photos showed it to be in a nice, private and secluded spot next to a line of trees providing shade, only to find on arrival that it had been moved to a less-private and hilly spot. Not happy at all and Sykes have been extremely dismissive about this, saying that they sent me an email in April - 4 months prior to notify me of the move (it's now August). I did not receive any such email. Further to this, Sykes are still advertising the lodge as though it is in its former tree-lined location! They will no doubt come back and say the previous location easily became flooded, but in a hot August this was not an issue for us. Then there was a problem with the wifi connection to my laptop. The wifi itself worked well as we connected all 3 phones, and an ipad with no problem, but I needed the owner's permission to speak with the wifi company to set up my laptop, only for Sykes to reply that the owner had stated that no-one else had had this problem, basically saying 'Tough - get on with it!' Not what I was expecting to hear. As I could not connect in order to attend to some urgent work we had to come home a day early. Overall not happy and feeling let down.

  Read more less >

• Christine - Verified booking

  The accommodation was as expected and comfortable however the total lack of information regarding entry to flat was unacceptable.

  When we arrived there was no information as to which key box was for our flat. It turned out to be the one labelled XIII for flat 6! The details stated that there was a lift but there was no sign of one in our block. The lift is in the ajoining block and then there is an outside corridor on each floor joining the 2 blocks which we finally discovered ourselves. The key to our block also opened the ajoining block but again we had to discover this for ourselves. The parking for our block was labelled underneath and again the key opened this. However there was no space labelled for flat 6. We entered the flat and looked around for information but there wasn't any obvious (we later found a folder in a drawer under the TV with information on the dishwasher and dvd player and out of date information on the wifi). In the end we had to phone sykes who had to phone the owner to find out where we were to park. All of this information should have been given to us along with the key number. The last thing anyone wants after a long journey is to have these problems. I feel entry to the flat, parking and access to lift are ALL very important and this should be dealt with so that other customers don't have to have the same hassle.

  Read more less >