Whitby Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Mr Jenkins - Verified booking

  On a positive note, the overall look and presentation of the cottage is good. The bedroom upstairs for a child is lovely and the style of the decor is very nice. Before booking I thought the cottage looked good but I was concerned about the ‘parking on the street’ description on the site as my wife suffers from chronic fatigue. I telephoned Original Cottages to check. The staff member assured me the parking was available on the street directly outside the house with a parking permit. Unfortunately there is no parking on the street at all and then you have to move the car as it is all double yellow lines and very narrow. We spent the first evening of the holiday hunting around Whitby for a space to park. We had ended up paying to park in a car park but it only lasted until the following morning when we would have to move and look for another space. The system of where you’re allowed to park and for how long is relatively complex and if you get it wrong you get a parking fine. There seems to be no leniency for this if you get it wrong. The parking remained an issue for the whole holiday and really marred the experience for me. Our neighbours were given a car park permit with their booking so they had a guaranteed place to park. My main issue is that the parking is not accurately described on the booking page and if it was I wouldn’t have booked this cottage. The cottage is basically a back to back but reversed so your only door (front door) opens onto a communal space for 6 or 7 houses. The downstairs is pretty dark and very much overlooked by neighbours but the upstairs does have a lovely view that peeks over the neighbours roofs to see across the bay. Many of the double glazing window units are blown and filled with condensation but this doesn’t detract much. There is an enclosed outdoor space for the cottage with a gate so ok for a dog. The outdoor space doesn’t seem to be cleaned and would benefit from it. It’s great to have 3 toilets but unfortunately the shower room has no window and was a bit smelly due to the lack of ventilation. There was black mould in the shower around the seals and drain area. The drain seemed partially blocked and the shower tray kept filling to overflow unless you turn the shower speed down. The cleanliness looked generally good at first sight but when moving a couple of things to find power outlets I noticed a lot of dust and dirt. The TV was a good standard and other appliances ok except for the cooker (Beko) which was poor and took about 3 times as long as it should do to cook food (and then not evenly). The WiFi speed is very slow, around 12mbps. Netflix buffered a lot due to this. The 4G/5G signal is about 5mbps downstairs but better upstairs or outside. The shelf under the tv has been broken and is hanging off the wall. Chimneys next to us are lower as they are further down the hill and smoke was coming into our house giving me a sore throat. We stayed in July so I’m not sure why people were using fires but of course it’s worse if you want your own windows open. We found our bed uncomfortable with a strange rough bed sheet although the rest of the bedding was fine. I could feel the mattress springs when lying on the bed. The other beds seemed fine. All problems aside we did like the house and the location. The parking was especially bad though and I feel the description on the booking site is quite misleading. I wouldn’t visit again, nor would I recommend it to a friend. The cottage is charming in many ways but not a restful place to holiday. I know my review is somewhat negative but I have tried to be balanced based on our experience.

  Read more less >

• Dave - Verified booking

  When I was considering booking this property I was not aware of what was meant by a "Jack and Jill" twin room.

  So I phoned the Sykes office for clarification. They told me that this comprised two single rooms sharing a common bathroom. As two of our party were single, not known to each other, each in their seventies and each particular about their personal privacy I described the room to them in the manner it had been described to me and they both said that with mutual agreement they would be happy with the arrangement. When we arrived at 11A I found that the property consists of three double rooms and one twin. The "Jack and Jill" twin simply does not exist! So agentleman had to volunteer to sleep on a sofa as the only way we could organise things. This was obviously unsatisfactory as he had paid for a single bed in a separate room. Looking on-line today it appears that this discrepancy has been pointed out twice in the past, the first time a year ago, yet the website description still remains the same. Also worthy of mention is the fact that at the time of our visit the first floor shower would be positively dangerous to small children as the temperature control is virtually unworkable and the and the unit seems to default to scalding hot.

  Read more less >

• Mr Allan Chapman - Verified booking

  The Cottage is located in the heart of Whitby, being an excellent location to explore the Town and undertake walks on the Beach to Sandsend and the Abbey. The Cottage itself is perfect and provides ample space for four adults. It has all the mod cons and amenities you require. The only negatives I have are as follows: Albeit directions are provided, it is still not particularly easy to find. When pulling up outside in a car, other Cottages are marked, but Sirmonds even when walking through the passage. The Property details are not very clear with regards to the winding climb upto the garden. We took my elderly parents, who remain mobile, but if they had of been on there own would have struggled with the climb with their cases or shopping. To the rear of number 4, the drain is blocked and overflows generating a sewage smell. When walking up to Sirmonds you need to walk through this water. It is not a problem being caused by Sirmonds, just an adjoining holiday let, which needs addressing. What I would say, these are minor points and I would recommend this cottage. Allan

  Read more less >

• Suzanne - Verified booking

  We were a party of 7 the accommodation is in a good location and plenty of room for this many guest however, we were extremely disappointed to find that cupboard in the kitchen which houses the boiler was full of dust and dirt.

  I do have a photograph I can send you I have taken to show you what the cupboard was like. The stairs carpets could do with replacing. The main problem was that the windows in the house would not open which is a fire hazard there was only three windows in the full property that opened, one was in the second floor double bedroom, one in the first floor lounge and the attic bedroom skylight would open. I consider this to be a fire hazard because if something would have happened in the property we would not be able to escape by the windows this needs immediate attention the windows will not open because they are paint closed. I will be making my own enquiries to see if this is legal. The stairs in the property are extremely steep so I would advise anyone who struggles to get up normal stairs will certainly struggle to get up three flights of a really steep stairs so please be aware. I would not grade the property 4 stars, very disappointing for a £1020 for 3 nights !

  Read more less >

• John - Verified booking

  Everything in the listing was as described.

  Unfortunately, there were several issues that left us feeling disappointed. The worst was a bad smell coming from the toilet drain in the attic bathroom. The owner arranged for someone to come and try to fix this on the Tuesday of our stay, but the smell was still present for the rest of our visit. In the second floor bathroom the sink plug didn’t close properly, so we couldn’t run a sink of water for washing or shaving. In the first floor bathroom the shower tray was slow to drain away. On inspection there was a large amount of matted hair and muck in the drain - it obviously hadn’t been cleaned for a while. Elsewhere we would have liked more mugs to save having to wash them by hand for each meal. Also a couple more pans and a grill rack would have been useful, and a teapot! Finally, it would have been nice to have instructions for which bin to put out and when. Only by chance were we able to do the recycling on the correct day.

  Read more less >