Devon Cottages with Swimming Pools

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Ruth - Verified booking

  We arrive after a long journey to be totally disappointed with the property.

  It looked messy from the outside and the adjoining building was in a state of disrepair. Awdry Bungalow had a number of broken pots with dead plants in(no living plants) on the decking, There was a box on the wall which was dirty and next doors brambles had overgrown. My Husband cut them back so we could sit outside. On entering the property we found the smallest of wardrobes for 2 people. I always have a tape measure in my bag as I sew. The wardrobe was 16" wide with 2 small drawers (half a tall boy) but 1 drawer had a blanket in it,leaving the wardrobe and 1 drawer to use. You lived out of your case, which had to be pushed under the bed,which also had stuff already under it. The bed gave me chronic back pain, due it the mattress overhanging 7" . The base was far too small for the mattress and you ended up being rolled into the middle. On other reviews people had also complained about this,so wondering why has nothing been done about it. There was also mould on the blind in the bedroom. Kitchen cupboards with padlocks ,which limits your use. A dishwasher with an out of order sign, a larder unit full of owners cleaning materials, while you don't mind a brush or hoover. you don't expect to see weedol, especially as outside clearly hadn't seen any weedol! The shower was a hose yourself down, though the tilt in the ceiling doesn't really allow for this. The bathroom window(mentioned in other reviews) still needs renewing. The boxing in around the toilet is all damaged and needs repairing and painting. There is a globe light with loads of tape on the base area to stop it being plugged it. Why not just remove it ,as its ugly to see. There are also cups in the kitchen with sayings on such as "fulking Hill, Tickled Cock, Golden balls" more of an owners personal taste, than mine, or a holiday let. There were signs all over the bungalow which show the owners lack of interest in their property. Red paint on white wall,where it would only take a few minutes to touch it up. I can understand the other reviews now, though I expected something would have been done about it. Unfortunately not! Wouldn't recommend or stay again.I have Photographs I can send of all I have commented about,though no place to upload them. Ruth and Jules

  Read more less >

• Andrew - Verified booking

  The pool is very outdated and a cause for concern.

  We have photos of the tiles on the floor to the pool and the condition of the flooring and the pool it's self. It needs better maintenance and updating, the pool was cold most of the time and we were responsible for putting the pool lid in after use and opening it when I use, not something we want to do on our holiday. The shower wasn't very good or clean either, only one of us could shower in the morning before it went cold, so a rushed shower every morning wasn't nice. Couldn't get a take away delivered as it was too complicated to explain where the cottage was and even the owners were telling us you have to be descriptive as it ends up somewhere else other wise. Directions to get to the cottage was also not easy either. We did have a lovely time we spent days out everyday and the boys would use the pool morning it evening, but it was hassle and I didn't want them spending too much time in there. Also the owner did mention they get an ant problem with the pool so we kept an eye out for that. We wouldn't go back there, wasn't for us.

  Read more less >

• Angie - Verified booking

  Absolutely perfect and exactly what I was looking for.

  I stayed at the Cider House for a week on my own, a bit of a solo retreat as I wanted somewhere peaceful I could just relax and swim. The cottage itself is gorgeous, so cosy and full of quirks, also incredibly spacious with everything you could need/want in the kitchen. The bed and bedding were some of the comfiest I’ve ever slept on :) Having access to the pool was dreamy - it’s shared with the other cottage residents but generally had it to myself when I wanted to swim (several times a day) and was wonderful to be able swim with farm animals all around! Location was great too - felt very rural and peaceful but literally 3-4 minutes from a big Tesco and only a few mins more to the town of Bideford and also a great location for exploring Devon, and has the gigantic beach at Westward Ho! under 10 mins drive away. Family fun farm and everybody was so friendly and helpful, quick to respond etc. All in all 10/10!

  Read more less >

• Debra - Verified booking

  This is a lovely place to stay away from it all but it could be so much more with just a little more care by the owners regarding maintenance and cleaning.

  All previous comments we had seen are still very true, i.e. mould marks in fridge, in corners of living room and bathroom which could be easily rectified. The adjoining bungalow is still in a state of disrepair. Also the outside seating and table was unusable as it is still covered in green algae which is a shame as we stayed in August. We had to pour boiling water over part of the decking we walked on to remove any slippery residue. Glad we had bought our own beach chairs which we could use instead. I did also use the bagless hoover only to find it had never been emptied and spent the next half hour de-clogging all the waste that had built up which was backing up down the suction nozzle- I don’t know if this was also used to clean the bungalow in between stays but I can assure you not much would have been picked up. It doesn’t take much to ensure it’s emptied in between uses.

  Read more less >

• Elaine - Verified booking

  The location was lovely.

  Fishing enjoyable. Great Birds and wildlife to watch. Size of property as expected. However, cleanliness and maintenance below our expectations. Kitchen cupboards coming off, floors of kitchen and bathroom in need of a good clean as they were very grimy and had tea stains leading to the bin, bathroom basin still had toothpaste on the bowl and taps and the towel stand was extremely rusty, door catch to bedroom not working. The patio furniture was covered in moss and too dirty to use. The pool was still out of action. The outside decking looked like it hadn't been swept or cleaned for months. It's a shame because with a bit of TLC it could be a great property. We've used Sykes before and previous properties have been excellent but this one is definitely not up to standard. I have a couple of photo's if required.

  Read more less >