Wiltshire Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Patrick - Verified booking

  Where to start… We were due to check in from 3pm on 31/05 for 3 nights.

  At 2.30pm whilst we were on our way (3 hour drive) we were told we couldn’t enter the property until 6pm because it had not been cleaned. Quite frankly giving 30 minutes notice is a complete joke. We had our 5 month old daughter with us who needed to go to sleep ant 6pm and we also had to try and fill time because of this. Which meant more money spent. We eventually got into the property at around 7pm. Our first morning at the property was dreadful. No hot water running from the shower. We had luke warm water for 30 seconds then ice cold. I ran the shower for 40 minutes on full hot and it was ice cold. We informed the cleaner who said she would come round and check when we were out. So we were unable to shower and had to head out. The cleaner then informed me that she had been round and everything was fine… Obviously it was not fine and when we returned I went to turn the shower on again and low and behold the same problem. I informed the cleaner at 3.30pm. I heard nothing until 6.30pm, by which this time we had had enough and I called Sykes to complain and ask for a full refund as we would be leaving as soon as we could the following morning. Within minutes the cleaner is calling me! What a coincidence! I spoke again with the cleaner who said she would have to come round to check again or she would have to inform the owner I had refused to let her come in…I could see what was happening here already. Our daughter was asleep and we were reluctant to let the cleaner back in because of this. However she said she would bring a ‘plumber’. Somehow within 15 minutes the cleaner was at our door with the ‘plumber’ (definitely was not a plumber). Checked the shower and boiler and guess what…it wasn’t working! We were advised not to use the shower and that they would be calling British Gas to have the boiler checked as it was dangerous. Still no contact from the owners! I informed Sykes again that we wanted a full refund as this was not acceptable and we were unable to shower or bath our 5 month old daughter. The following morning, still no word from anyone so I again had to call Sykes who said they would contact the owner again about the refund. The owner offered 50%…50% refund after the absolute shambles that we had been through… I think it’s clear we will not be staying here again. We love Malmesbury and visit almost every year. Luckily we have stayed in other cottages in the village, with more competent and personable owners so have no need to come back here. Thankfully

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• Alan - Verified booking

  Our family, from the oldest to the youngest at 14 years old, loved the 7 days we had in this large bungalow.

  If you are not familiar with this area, you will find you can travel north or south from Knoll Farm Bungalow (aka Downs View) and find something for everyone. Yes, most roads here are north or south, but the A303 (worth avoiding on a busy day) runs east/west and it is only 4 miles from the bungalow. Having said that, Bath is 26 miles north, and it is easy driving through hills and vales. Day trips to the Jurassic coast, Corfe, Swanage on the Isle of Purbeck, are a little further in the opposite direction. Frome 8 miles north has large supermarkets. Equally, we all enjoyed wandering over the road from the bungalow to walk the 1km top ridge of "Long Knoll", up to 288m above sea level, admiring views and the Covid-19 NHS "ribbon of light" installation by a local artist. Our activities ranged from easy walking or cycling of canal tow paths (Dundas), to kayaking rivers (Wareham), watching steam trains, seeing museums, and farm animals.(City Farm, Bath) This bungalow has 2 electric showers each in a separate room (with toilet) which enable an immediately warm, quick, shower ready for your fun packed day. One of the showers also shares it's room with a bath. There is also a separate toilet room. 3 Toilets was enough for our group. The advert for this bungalow mentions road noise, we think for light sleepers you will probably need to relocate to the back bedroom with your ear plugs to get to sleep. The large comfortable lounge and conservatory/dining area are very quiet at the back of the house even with the occasional heavy lorry that rumbles past at any hour of the day or night. Plenty of towels were provided. If you can't live without your large bath sheet/towel bring it with you. The duvets are very warm and cosy. If you can't live without your thin summer duvet, bring it with you. Any issues and the new owners (July 2020) are very thoughtful and quick to respond. We rate them very highly.

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• Tom - Verified booking

  Absolutely amazing stay in this spacious, clean and well equipped house.

  The owners were so helpful and friendly answering all of our questions and doing all they could to accommodate our needs and welcome us. They are by far the best we have ever dealt with. Our check in experience on arrival day was also the best we have ever had and we can’t thank the owners enough for being so accommodating to our situation. They left welcoming gifts and it was an absolute pleasure arriving to find this total gem of a house. The fenced gardens were immaculate with plenty of seating. Great for the dogs to play without any worries of them wondering away from the property. The house itself is fantastic and more like a dream home. The layout is perfect and there is so much space for everyone. Brilliant modern bathrooms and showers and a fantastic deep bath with all the hot water you need and everything was ultra clean. There is a very spacious living room with plenty of seating and a good sized tv with plenty of channels. A wonderful light and sunny conservatory has a large dining table and it was so nice to enjoy food with the patio doors open on a summers evening enjoying the smells and sounds of the countryside. The beds were all very comfortable and actually everyone slept better than when at home! Finishing with the big ultra clean and very well equipped kitchen and utility areas. There is everything you could need and the owners have gone above and beyond to make sure guests have the best stay possible. Longleat safari park is so close to the house and there are little towns and villages very close with all the shops and services you will need. We can’t recommend this place highly enough and we have already started looking at dates to come back. Unfortunately after doing four Longleat safari trips we still didn’t see Anne the elephant so absolutely a must we come back!! And we can’t wait to enjoy this wonderful house again when we do. Thank you so much to the owners.

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• Simon - Verified booking

  The apartment overall is beautiful, very comfortable and we'll appointed, perfect for a stay in Salisbury, and the location is ideal.

  Even the mezzanine bedroom over the open plan living area was OK for the kids. Unfortunately, the holiday was ruined by the state of the ensuite bathroom, black mould, silicone coming away, years of dust and grime built up on the door, limescale encrusted shower head and hose. A broken sliding door difficult for children to close. The apartment had a funny smell when we arrived, which we quickly tracked to the ensuite. It only got worse as the week progressed, despite airing the apartment continuously. Myself and one daughter suffer from asthma, and at times the smell caught in the back of the throat and set off the asthma. It's clearly a health hazard. My other teenage daughter refused to use the shower she was so disgusted by the grime. The other bathroom also has broken tiles with a note apologising, so they are clearly having plumbing issues which they need to sort out urgently. The second issue was the roof windows and blinds, again with notes stuck to the side advising in use. The instructions did not work, the blinds are fitted too close to the window stays and foul, so are unopenable, so the mezzanine area was permanently dark. The wooden block the opening stay is affixed to was broken, so it was not possible to open the window itself. With heat build up in a hot loft apartment, being able to easily open the skylights would have been a godsend, but it was not possible. A potentially perfect holiday was ruined by problems which should be easy to fix, and for £1100 for the week I think these problems are unacceptable.

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• Aimee - Verified booking

  Absolutely brilliant place to stay as a base to explore the south of the Cotswolds.

  Peter met us and our 2 dogs on arrival and was very informative about the place, history and area and we met he's fabulous dog too. The place is huge and has everything you need. The games room was particulary great at night. I can understand the decor isn't to everyone's taste but we loved it and all the quirks, can see all the Cuban influences everywhere. The barn is on a farm and after seeing other reviews not happy with the surrounding tractors etc, I have to say "what did you expect?". There are vehicles and farm equipment around but it doesn't affect anything and just adds to the authenticity of the area. There is a bbq / pizza oven area across the road in some woodlands which was nice but we didn't use these facilties. Only thing to mention for others with dogs is that there is no secure garden area to let your dogs off, this didn't bother us though as we explored all day and only came back in the evening to relax and sleep. If you were travelling here with dogs with the intention of mostly staying in the barn I'd say maybe it isn't for you (mostly due to no secure garden) as it's quite secluded and although you could walk to the nearest pub it's a few miles away. (Fine with us, we drove to a different pub each night). But as a base to spend the day exploring and then coming back to later on its 10/10, highly recommend :D Would happily return with our dogs in the future.

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