Cottages That Sleep 12 in the UK

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  We enjoyed our week in Barscobe House. It has a lovely prospect looking over the countryside, set in a well kept estate, and a large secluded garden with a mowed lawn. There are walks starting from the house e.g. the Holy Linn waterfall, and up into the hills. It was reunion for three generations of a family, coming together from Edinburgh, Yorkshire, London and Maine USA. It was helpful having the caretaker and housekeeper staying on the estate to help with queries. We also used a local agent, who had good local knowledge. The kitchen is very well equipped: it is difficult to know what one is going to find in a holiday let, but this property has the sense of a much loved family house, well designed for catering. There were many baking trays, cake, bun and loaf tins, a blender, food processor, hand mixer, ice maker… A real old fashioned larder, 2 fridges (one with a freezer section) and a chest freezer. Ample cutlery and crockery etc. Good recycling arrangements (glass to the nearby village, or local supermarkets). Two washing machines, a tumble dryer, an old style wooden ceiling pulley for clothes (in a separate scullery). Two dishwashers. Some of the chairs and furnishing are wabi-sabi, but we found this made it comfy, and matches the house. Beds comfortable, nice cotton bedding, plumbing good, very toasty hot press to dry/air clothes. We already knew that Castle Douglas is a foodie town, and it didn’t disappoint: three butchers (we used Grierson’s, excellent), bakers, a greengrocer, and we ended the week ordering a very good fish supper from Moore’s (with a rigid insulated box and a foil-lined bag, they stayed hot enough on the 25 minute drive). The nearby village of Balmaclellan has a friendly community shop for messages like fresh milk. There are mobile fish van shops in the region too. We were lucky with the weather, but the house has a snooker table (pool too? Not my strong suit!) and lots of indoor space should the weather break - we did consider playing “Sardines”, but actually spent a lot of time exploring local attractions for outdoorsy types (some of my family has an affinity for cold water, and swam enthusiastically in Loch Ken), with the coast not too far away. We were sad (in a way) not to need the fires, that’d be cosy indeed. The “dark sky” area meant that on clear nights we could see the Perseid “falling stars”. The wifi dropped out occasionally but this wasn’t a problem for us. The caretaker was on hand on the one occasion the router needed rebooting. We understand that infrastructure improvements are coming soon. It is an interesting old building (early 20th century) that must be challenging to keep from disrepair. The windows alone are a daunting task. The hefty security deposit is unusual in these days, but I see why it is imposed, and it was repaid within the week. The entry time of 5 pm is the latest we’ve ever been offered (due to cleaning schedule, I think), but we built that into our arrival time. We had one electric car in our party: the provision at the house is currently via a standard indoor socket using one’s own trickle feed cable: rather slow, and the surcharge seemed arbitrary (not metered, rather high) - but we did opt to use it as the fast chargers in Castle Douglas were in use/out of order: the infrastructure will presumably eventually catch up (and I don’t just mean at this property). Highly recommended.

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• Nicola - Verified booking

  Had a truly memorable family holiday didn’t hear.

  Fantastic weather too!! It was a Stunning property, in a most Beautiful area of the Lakes. A massive place with plenty of elaborate bedrooms & bathrooms, enough to sleep at least 12 people, however the shared rooms (kitchen & front room combined) would be best suited for 8/9 at the most. We loved the covered porch area, with seating to take our walking boots off, which was a real sun trap in the morning, a lovely place to sit with a cuppa at the start of the day. We also enjoyed the movie room downstairs in the basement, where there was also a very warm Boiler/Utility room, where we could get our dirty clothes washed & dried very easily during our stay, very well kitted out. . Many fantastic walks starting from Elterwater, we walked to Grasmere, Ambleside, Skelwith Bridge & Little Langdale, so no need to drive anywhere if you don’t want to. But if you fancy a shopping day out in Ambleside there is a regular bus service, reasonably priced we used that a lot, where there’s lots of interesting shops, specialist walking stores, cafes & pubs galore plus Hayes a little walk out of town, the largest garden centre I’ve ever been to. If you’re up to walking a little further, then head down to Watershead where you can get a boat & cruise Lake Windermere for the day, stopping off at Bowness on Windermere & Lakeside. Lakeland’s store is worth a visit too, if you like cooking & kitchen gadgets. Elterwater has a great pub; The Britannia Inn, on its doorstep which does good food, but plenty of other pubs within walking distance; Eltermere Inn plus Wainwright’s which is a short walk to Chapel Stile, where you also find a convenience store & Brambles Cafe. There is even a Cocktail Bar which does food on the hill close by. It’s just a Fantastic & Interesting place to stay. The only complaints being the shower in Best’s bedroom ran too hot so couldn’t get an ideal temperature. And we also were a little disappointed that there was no welcome pack when we arrived. We had travelled from East Anglia, so had a long long nightmare of a journey & by the time we arrived which was late, there was no milk or complimentary tea/coffee/sugar, so had to wait until we had unpacked everything out the car in order to make ourselves a well needed drink. Other places we have stayed at leave a complimentary arrival pack, which includes a loaf of bread, butter, jam, tea/coffee, milk & sometimes a cake & wine, usually providing locally produced items. We also had a suggestion due to the double fridge freezer being in the hallway behind a door that’s used a lot. You need to put some port hole windows in that door, plus the one to the kitchen too, so you can see whose behind it, so no one try’s to open the door when someone is in the fridge or getting something out the cooker. Anyway it was a fantastic holiday & would definitely return.

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• Ben - Verified booking

  Good points: - Great location - Easy parking - Nice big bedrooms (apart from one) Bad points: - Kitchen is nowhere near big enough for that many guests.

  Similar work surface / storage to a 1 bed flat. - Main bedroom suite shown as having a kitchenette on website photos but on arrival had been removed. This exasperated the above issue and was a let down. - property has 6 rooms all with double beds. We phoned prior to booking to confirm these could be separated into twins in the kids’ rooms. We would not have booked it otherwise. This was not actioned and we were told the conversation did not take place. It caused stress on arrival but eventually it was rectified. But the property isn’t suitable for children sharing a room for this reason. - 1 bedroom is tiny - Microwave did not work - someone came out to show us how to use it but it didn’t actually warm food up. It was also at floor level bit odd and inconvenient. - Kitchen door opens into oven area. Poor workflow design and made cooking awkward. - Oven had missing instructions and was impossible to figure out so hard to use. - Property info book mentioned a deal with local leisure facility. After much phoning around and asking, there was no recognition of this as stated which caused frustration / a waste of time. - balustrades are made of threaded bar, not a conventional building finish, and some were loose and fell out leaving a gap that a small child could fall through. Building regs specifies 10cm max gap. Had to refit some of these. Not suitable for toddlers. We had a good holiday but for what it costs, these issues shouldn’t have happened. The main issue is the size of the kitchen.

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• Helen - Verified booking

  We had a lovely holiday in Le Chalet.

  The property was ideal for 2 families as there was plenty of space. All the bedrooms were stylishly furnished and had good sized comfortable beds plus 4 of the 6 had ensuite bathrooms. All rooms had a hairdryer. There was a great TV room downstairs which our teenage children loved. There were kitchen / dining areas in both the top floor suite and on the main floor both with dishwashers. The kitchen was well kitted out with pans, plates glasses etc however there wasn't a lot of spare space for food. The dining table easily seated our party of 10. The lounge are was great for the adults in the evening and had a TV and iPod dock. We didn't need the wood burner but I imagine this would be a great asset in the winter. There was a very useful laundry room in the basement with washing machine and tumble dryer plus an iron. There was a small outside area which although not really big enough for everyone to sit out was great for doing a BBQ. (We took a portable one). The house is in a great location and ideal as a base for exploring the Lakes and walking. There are also 3 good local pubs within walking distance. In summary I would definitely recommend this property and if we return to Elterwater we would love to rent it again.

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• Leanne - Verified booking

  The house was much better than expected.

  we have stayed in a number of large houses with our 3 generations family of 8 - but this was by far the nicest, cleanest and in the best location. The house was spotless and everything was very new and the renovation was carried out to a very high standard. there was every item you could possibly need in the house too, no detail was missed. the beds were comfy, the electronics supplied were great, the furnishing were of a high standard, the bathrooms in great condition and no water pressure issues. the only thing we had a slight issue with was getting wifi reception in the living room - not sure if it was the thick walls or the tv location, but everywhere else in the house it was fine. it is very central, within easy walking distance to the each, restaurants, shops, bars, and all the activities available in Llandudno. We always got parked outside the house or within a few meters. there is lots of room for large groups /families, the house is much bigger than the photos appear. the orangery is beautiful addition and such a nice place for breakfast. the garden area is lovely if you get the weather to eat alfresco. We would not hesitate to recommend and hope to return one day soon.

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