South West Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Deborah - Verified booking

  I had a lovely stay, for a week.

  The location was perfect: light free, and peaceful. The cottage was traditional stone, a lovely airy space with beams, warm and spacious with easy heating controls, and well stocked with kitchen implements, although some needed replacing.The fridge and freezer were not particularly clean, and the oven grill/tray was past use at all. The bath had previous occupants hair in it. The double bed really needs replacing: when I rolled over all the springs crunched together and you could feel you were in contact with the wooden base. Ditto the small 2 seater sofa, very uncomfortable, and the cushions were flat as pancakes. It would have been nice to have been given a couple of washing power capsules, as is standard if washing machine facilities are available. The laundry room was clean and accessible. Wifi was slow in the lounge but fine in the main bedroom. I had one small bath towel and one handtowel for a full weeks stay. I asked for a second small bath towel, so I could wash my hair when I had a shower, and the host refused to give me another towel! I've never experienced this, it seemed a bit mean. (As a comparison I've just stayed 3 nights in Bath and was offered 2 of each sized towel, a face cloth, and a shower mat every day.) If someone wants an extra towel, give it to them, this makes a difference. Being that the cottage is 4.5 miles from the nearest decent food shop (Aldi near Bodmin), it would have nice to have a decent welcome pack like a loaf of bread, block of butter, half a dozen eggs, and a pint of proper cows milk, (instead of the tiny UHT pots that were left), with 4 teabags and 4 coffee sachets. I would happily have paid an extra £10 to have this kind of if welcome pack, to save me having to go shopping again for basics after a long journey. Perhaps that's something you can consider? Overall a lovely place and if the bed and sofa were upgraded this would be a top notch little place.

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• Tracy - Verified booking

  Property filthy, mould on the bath mat, shower curtain and bath plug.

  Round the window in the bathroom is mouldy. Bath temperature goes to freezing every few minutes. Dirty in kitchen including where the wall is breaking away. Radiator in the bathroom is full of rust and the towel rail fell apart on the first day. Thick dust on all the light fittings. Towels are thin and well worn, no hand towels. Lack of home comforts for a very cold house (blankets) Lighting in master bedroom is pointless with the dimmer switch broken. Knob to turn the cooker on is broken. Damp in the lounge and poorly decorated. Extremely poorly equipped kitchen. Kitchen cupboards smell of mould so crockery smells. Knives are blunt and unusable. Sieve is covered in rust and limescale. 3 matching wine glasses and mismatched drinking glasses. Side plates are scratched and not nice to use, very basic mismatched equipment. The kick boards in the kitchen are broken and there is dirt along the open cabinets in the kitchen. Dust across most of the beams in the kitchen. Dyson hoover plug attached to the wall with no hoover. Under-stairs landlord storage is messy as well as storage bags and Christmas tree box not put away. Soap in the downstairs toilet was left empty as well as cleaning products under the sink. Kitchen sponge is old and unusable. Welcome pack is limited. Bin collection is wrong so we weren’t able to put the bins out. Empty bottle from previous guest left outside the side door and the side access is filthy. No explanation or reviews of local restaurants, all information that could be googled. Walks would be more useful to be from Lyme Regis. We book with Sykes twice a year but after the state of this property we will be looking to book with a different company.

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• Penelope - Verified booking

  We absolutely loved our stay at West Ridge.

  What an incredibly beautiful house and gardens, it was a real privilege to be in. The house has such a lovely energy, we really got the feeling that it has been loved and appreciated, which made it so easy to feel at home there, whilst appreciating the beauty and history all around you. There are so many toys available for children which was really appreciated, ours only ended up playing with a handful of them, but there are games for all ages which is great for rainy days. The bathroom upstairs is huge, super clean, modern and practical for kids, making bath time nicer than any holiday we've been on. The whole house was spotlessly clean and the beds were comfortable with good quality white sheets. West Ridge is a short walk from the beach east of Boscombe, which is absolutely stunning and much less crowded than Bournemouth beach, and there are ice creams, toilets and water which is perfect for long days on the beach. It is also an easy drive to Christchurch and Mudeford Quay, and really close to Southbourne. We had an absolutely brilliant week at West Ridge, with many wonderful memories to cherish. We will definitely try to stay here again if we return to Bournemouth. Thank you for such a lovely stay.

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• Michael - Verified booking

  The house and garden were fantastic and it's position close to the beach and the cliff top pathway is ideal.

  There's a lot to do and Bournemouth has so much to offer and is very well looked after and we had a great week. Our only slight disappointment was the lack of thought that seemed to have gone into providing for holidaymakers. In many similar properties you are provided with a booklet of information about how to operate equipment etc - using the cooker was far from straightforward, details of local shops, supermarkets, facilities, restaurants, takeaways, places to visit, what to do etc. Also, some of the basic things, like salt and pepper for example, weren't provided and it was odd having many of the most accessible cupboards in the kitchen locked. The bin in the kitchen was woefully inadequate for such a large property. Having lots of very nice ornaments on show does help to enhance the general ambience of the property but if you have young children it can be a source of anxiety. Some warning of all the locked rooms and cupboards would also have been polite we feel. Rather than a holiday home, it felt a bit like a private house that we were intruding upon. With a little bit more thought it could easily have been a 5 star rating.

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• Keith - Verified booking

  Centrally located for touring all of Cornwall’s coasts .

  . just a 5-10 minute slow drive to get to any ‘real’ road. We also found Bodmin Parkway railway station (15-20 mins drive) convenient and cost effective, to visit Looe and St Ives. The emailed easy-to-follow route instructions from the owners were appreciated, as sat nav didn’t recognise the final half mile of very narrow, bumpy farm track. Owners explained in the guidance book, about the wifi being slow, and why. We found this a real handicap, as it was actually very hit and miss on our iPhones and iPad. Perhaps some mention should be made by Sykes in their cottage features list? We almost didn’t book, because the lounge photo shows a tiny tv (why do so many owners do this? .. a decent telly is only £200 .. we almost always ignore a property, if pic shows a ridiculously small telly). HOWEVER, telly had been swapped, and there was a nice 32” one provided. SYKES need to change the photo, to reassure potential clients, who may be put off. There are some nice walks, but always starting back down the farm track. Overall, we had an enjoyable week, but would not return, purely because of the WiFi deficiency.

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