Big Cottages & Group Accommodation in Bamburgh

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Nicky - Verified booking

  In theory the perfect cottage for 3 adult couples.

  This Cottage has the potential to be superb, but isn’t. The rooms are spacious, plenty of sofas in the sitting area, very comfortable beds. The kitchen is huge with lots of empty cupboards and drawers. Large fridge freezer. It is clean. We had a lovely holiday here, but I would not return for the reasons given below. The cottage had a surprisingly low review rating - noticed when I paid the final balance - thus requested Northumberland Coast & Country Cottages twice to ensure rather basic things were fixed before we arrived. This worked partly. A few hundred pounds expenditure is all that is required as this cottage will meet its potential. What was fixed: - 6 dining chairs with no protruding screws, - 1 new roll per loo in the ensuite bathrooms. - All light bulbs worked. - New roasting trays. What was not fixed by area: Inadequate kitchen utensils - bring your own if you plan to cook. - Poor quality knives, not sharp, and no sharpener provided. - Mixing bowls - just one very small one. - No salad bowl or any other bowl. - No serving dishes. - No non stick implements for the non-stick pans. - No Casserole dish - Nothing to make a pudding in. - Insufficient crockery or cutlery - we were always washing up a few things, despite putting the dishwasher on daily. - Bring your own washing up liquid - we bought some and left it for the next renters. You are given the smallest bottle known to man. - Bring everything you require to cook (No oil, no pepper etc provided). - Microwave button about to break - So on its last legs. This had not been mentioned in previous reviews. Inadequate furniture: - No chest of drawers in any room - you will keep your clothes on the floor, or suitcase. There is a small wardrobe in each room. - No shelf in any bathroom. A simple glass one above the basin would be a huge improvement. We used the floor. Windows - Window catch broken in downstairs bathroom area so it won't stay open. - No window locks, very basic security. Bathrooms: - The downstairs shower does not drain properly, so your feet will be in an inch of water. Outside - Dog poo from earlier renters by the washing line. We collected all ours and didn’t add to it. - Gate is not dog proof for small dogs. You need to put pieces of wood and flagstones along the bottom. Could easily be fixed by putting wire netting along it. Luckily our dog, who was very happy here, wasn’t particularly adventurous, if yours is, it will get out. - The upstairs shower doors have been replaced with curtains. The original shower doors have been dumped in the garden by the washing line. Note: 1. The downstairs ensuite, is part of the bedroom, with no wall or door in between. Not what we wanted. 2. The parking is very tight for 2 cars, particularly in they are both large. 3. You are expected to strip the beds and put into a laundry bag. 4. Extractor fans in bathrooms unbelievably noisy - you can turn them off.

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• David - Verified booking

  Bedrooms - there were no chests of drawers or shelves in any of the 3 bedrooms, so we had to stack our clothes on the floor or leave them in suitcases.

  Downstairs double bedroom - we didn't consider that this room was suitable for sharing, as there is no partition wall (i.e. privacy or smell and steam barrier) between the bedroom and the en-suite bathroom / toilet areas; also, the room is not fully accessible for wheelchair users as there is a small step up to the toilet and shower. It was just about OK for my 88 year old mother. Bathrooms - there were no shelves to put our toiletries on, so we had to leave some on the basin edge and the rest on the floor. The mirrors were too high for most of our family. The shower curtain in one of the bedrooms needs replacing with a proper shower door. Kitchen - several bowls (e.g. for salads and for microwaving food) are needed for food preparation. Dining area - the square table has 4 chairs and 4 sets of table mats, even though the cottage sleeps 6 (or 5 - see above - depending on how you feel about sharing a toilet in your bedroom!). You really need a rectangular table that seats 6 people!! Also, the dining chairs have screws protruding through the seat pads and need fixing urgently before someone is hurt. General - several light bulbs don't work. We found a few spares and swapped others from less critical areas, but some still need to be replaced. The lounge area TV is too high to be watched comfortably from a sofa. Although it's potentially a nice cottage in a great location, we would not return or recommend it due to the above issues.

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• Caroline - Verified booking

  The old stables is an adequate property for a group of six (we were a 5) however we were disappointed with several aspects of the property.

  The dishwasher did not work, the fridge ice maker did not work and was turned off due to a leak, the ?overflow from the sink leaked, these were all reported and Mike from Sykes came out to investigate but impossible to correct during our stay. Northumbria water also came to dig a hole at the entrance to the property due to a leaking underground pipe and this was also unfortunately disruptive for our holiday, noise, water turned off for a short period with no warning. Lights and toaster also not working adequately, bulbs replaced just to fuse again? Cause. Toaster only one two slice side working. Oven burnt everything? Thermostat issues and inaccurate. Carpet in downstairs bedroom had stains. Pots and pans dirty and old non stick lining all gone and therefore food ingrained, off putting. No black out blinds in bedrooms therefore awake early everyday. Proximity of cottage to the road made it noisy at times. Parking only just adequate for two cars. Only a general waste bin on site, no recycling facility. We did enjoy our break to Northumberland, enjoyed Bamburgh, the beach is second to none. Alnwick gardens and Lindisfarne very tranquil and beautiful. The potted lobster and several other restaurants in the area were wonderful. Seahouses had some nice independent shops. Lovely walks, beautiful scenery but unfortunately we will not be back to The old Stables. Disappointing accommodation.

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• Suzanne - Verified booking

  This is a great house, however, if we were to return we'd like to see some changes.

  The downstairs en Suite is on a raised level and there's nothing to hold onto coming out of the shower, not easy for an elderly person. There's nowhere to hang towels in any of the bathrooms. Could do with a little chair in each of the bedrooms. There was only one very small hairdryer in the house and to add to that only very tiny freestanding mirrors in each upstairs bedroom. Only one shaver/toothbrush charger which was in the downstairs en Suite. When taking plates out of the cupboard, there was at least 3 that had been used and not washed, they were dirty and greasy. The welcome pack was lovely but unfortunately the eggs were out of date so we didn't use them. We ruined a couple of things in the oven as it seemed to cook much quicker than it should despite being set at the right temperature. It also failed to go on one evening but the engineer came out the following day and fixed it although still cooked too quickly. The beds were comfortable and the house had a great heating system so was very warm. The kitchen is spacious and has lots of cupboard space but all the other things would put us off booking again.

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• Penny - Verified booking

  The house was lovely and clean.

  Rooms were a good size. Water was nice and hot and unlike the two previous guests the house was lovely and warm with no problem regarding heating. It is in a great location near all the wonderful sights. The sofas and beds were comfortable. My biggest disappointment was the lack of and cooking dishes. There was one sole Pyrex dish! How is anyone meant to manage cooking with that! No baking trays, nothing. It posed a bug problem for us in terms of self catering. With everything else the owners "got right" this was one niggle that shouldn’t happen. The only other issue was having a toilet that the door opens up straight into the kitchen. We did put the bins out as advised on the Monday night but they were not collected on Tuesday and we did the same again for Tuesday night and Wednesday night, still the bins were not collected so maybe the advice I. The I do needs to be amended. Beautiful cottage with a few niggles but definitely worth staying in as I. A perfect location. As I said it’s a beautiful cottage

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