Holiday Cottages in the South East with a Swimming Pool

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Christine - Verified booking

  This is a lovely property with lots of room and plenty of equipment for cooking which was useful as we were a family group at Christmas and New Year.

  Decorations were up and there was a decorated Christmas tree. It's in the country on an estate where we could take the dog for walks. The owner was very helpful about us adding on an extra day at either end of the holiday when we could see on the Sykes website that the property was free. Some minor problems: We did ask for the bed in the downstairs bedroom to be made up as two twins (as my husband snores). The bed was listed on the website as super king size but actually it was only king so the twin beds were narrow and not very comfortable. When some of the family left I slept in one of the other rooms where the bed was more comfortable. There was a minor power cut part way through the holiday and the owner helpfully came out twice to try and sort out the timing on the heat pump that provided the heating but it didn't work consistently for the rest of the holiday. However there was a log burning stove in the lounge that we could have used if it had been colder. There was a pump in a cupboard in one of the upstairs bedrooms (the one with the en suite) and even before the power cut it would come on in the middle of the night making a banging noise every couple of seconds and kept my daughter awake. Some of us used the undercover outdoor pool once but maybe to be expected at this time of year despite being heated it wasn't warm enough to be comfortable.

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• Maryjane - Verified booking

  Where to start?

  a. Safety must be the first concern, especially in case of fire in such a wooden building. However, when you lock the main door at night, from the inside, it is virtually impossible to unlock. To do so we had to climb through a window every morning, to unlock the door from the outside. This is a known problem as there is a note on the door frame. REPLACE THE LOCK as a matter of urgency. b. Most of the smoke alarms have been removed. c. The kitchen induction hob's glass top is badly broken, with bits detaching. Yes it still works, but really.. d. The sink in one of the upstairs bathrooms has a big (~2") hole in it and is unusable. e. The tv in the downstairs bedroom has no signal. This was reported on day 2, and nothing done. f. Broken glass by the swimming pool. g. The outside "key safe" is upside down, and does not appear to work in any case. h. Most bedrooms very basic/small with picture hooks but no pictures on the walls. The pictures are very flattering. We paid £1800 for a week and expected more, having done this many times elsewhere. i.e. we are not that hard to please. The above is a pity as the property could be reasonable if furnished to a better standard, and is further let down by poor maintenance. We reported the sink and hobb on arrival the first day and were offered a £50 (!) discount. It has not appeared as yet..

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• Melissa - Verified booking

  Batts Barn is a beautiful barn conversion in a stunning setting.

  The location is within easy reach of many lovely villages, pubs, farm shops and castles. The barn has been finished to a beautiful standard with a very impressive kitchen area. The pool was an additional bonus, although "heated", it isn't the warmest. The housekeeper who lives onsite was very welcoming and friendly and nothing was too much for her. Thank you. A few things that let it down, without focusing on the negatives as it was lovely. But this certainly would improve the listing: There was no welcome pack, nothing at all. For the price of the barn, this was a shame. When I say nothing, not even tea bags, kitchen roll, coffee etc. This was disappointing and being very remote, it wasn't easy to "pop out". Most other accommodations we stay at, at least provide the basics along with a welcome pack and letter. Simple touches make a big difference and would make for a better review. The property could have been cleaned to a better standard, mostly the amount of cobwebs. We also had a huge problem with flies and wasps in the property. We understand you can get cluster flies this time of year but this was ridiculous. We were up until 1am trying to sort the problem. Once again, a lovely property. Just attention to the finer details would certainly benefit.

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• Alison - Verified booking

  The lodge is very nice, it was very clean and comfortable and we really did enjoy our stay there and we would return.

  The directions are very poor, needs to be more specific we arrived from Lymington but the directions did not get us there. It needs to be more clear about the restrictions on the park and you are not attached to the main one, it’s very clear when you arrive and laid out in a folder, this would have been useful advice when booking. This did not affect our holiday as we like the quiet nature of the retreat, but feel others maybe not happy, it needs to be clear when booking. The fridge and cupboards were all full of left over items, which meant we had no where to store our things. It felt like we were sharing with other people, rather than this was our home for the week. We catered for the whole week of food and had to leave items on the side as there was no space cupboards. The maintenance team were excellent, we had a problem with hot water, nothing anybody could have foreseen, this was fixed within half an hour with the most excellent customer service. The lodge is lovely as said at the beginning, the area is lovely, we only traveled half an hour a day, sometimes less to visit some excellent places. We had a fantastic holiday, the little bits would have made it superb.

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• Paul - Verified booking

  Overall, we were very pleased with the accommodation and had an enjoyable week.

  Just a few minor issues: 1. The instructions to open the main gate could have been a bit more detailed as we spent a few minutes working out how to use the fob. 2. The cupboard in one of the twin bedrooms was full of spare bedding so there was no room to hang any clothes. 3. There was no recycling bin in the lodge. 4. Not an issue with the accommodation, but we were disappointed to find out that we had to pay for a pass just to use the on-site restaurant (we didn't want to use any of the other facilities). Is this something that can be taken up with the site authorities? 5. Sykes advertises two lodges on the site: Seahorse Lodge and Amethyst Lodge. In relation to Amethyst Lodge, there is a note about the site facilities being 5 minutes walk away and that driving is not advised. It probably wouldn't have made much difference, but we chose Seahorse as this note wasn't included in the accommodation details and we assumed this didn't apply to Seahorse. Perhaps Sykes could be consistent in their information on this. 6. Also in relation to Amethyst, there is a note about on-site passes being available at half price. Does this also apply to Seahorse?

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