Christmas Cottages In The Lake District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Alan - Verified booking

  This is a fabulous property in a fabulous location as you can see from the photographs, unfortunately we arrived at 1700hrs on the Friday night when Storm Arwen was at it’s worst.

  There are three bedrooms of which we used two hoping that friends could join us for the Tuesday night in the third bedroom. That is a large room with lovely bathroom and velux window. We had a quick look in that room and got on with unpacking, and I lit the wood burner and turned up the radiators looking forward to our evening meal. About 1830 the power went off and was off until late Sunday afternoon. No central heating no lights no internet very iffy mobile signal and no running water as it is pumped, flushing the toilets was done by a bucket of water from the very nearby lake. After a very wild night where hundreds of trees came down, one of which wrote off my two month old car things could not get worse, or could they? The following morning we looked in the third bedroom and found water and debris in the bathroom and a gap all the way around the velux window (we were told later by the roofers that the window had been blown the wrong way round) I wedged the window the best I could to minimise the incoming rain and reported the damage to Sykes. We made the best of the week we cooked two meals on the wood burner which I managed to keep going by using the offending tree resting on my car until power was restored. Obviously our friends couldn’t stay and people staying the following week had to be cancelled. We were having problems getting a hire car and the owners said we could stay an extra couple of nights at £105 per night (most generous) as they couldn’t get anybody else. We managed a hire car and got home, I then asked for compensation starting with their price for two nights, this obviously didn’t go down well but then I received via Sykes the most unbelievably insulting email where the owner accuses us of opening the velux window! I ask anyone reading this review: Would you or anybody you know enter this bathroom on probably the wildest night of the year and open a velux window and how would you feel if you were accused of doing so. What I do know is if that window had been open, even a little, it would have been very noticeable on that wild night but if it was closed but not locked I would not have noticed and it wasn’t my responsibility to check. If it had been left open by the previous guests that is perfectly acceptable, we have stayed at cottages during covid where we have been asked to open windows before leaving. The responsibility for that window being unlocked or faulty is not down to any guests. Beautiful property, you can form your own opinions about the owner.

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• Martin - Verified booking

  We loved The Belfry and would not hesitate to stay here again.

  The open plan upstairs lounge and kitchen is gorgeous and well equipped with everything you need including a welcome pack and a cleaning pack. The bedrooms were comfortable and bathrooms lovely. Location is perfect .. just minutes from the village centre on foot. Bus stops outside on main road and the 599 service every 20 mins in summer timetables takes you to all main attractions. One toilet doesn’t flush well as others have reported…downstairs lighting flickered quite a bit and we did think security could be a tad better… you cannot lock the door with the key from inside although there is a bolt. The entrance to the yard isn’t secure as no lock to wooden fence door. but it does appear to be a quiet area. The church bells ring constantly but didn’t bother us. Some reported a smell of damp downstairs and there is a hint of mustiness but again didn’t bother us. It’s an old building with great charm and a modern interior. The hot tub was awesome and available to use from arrival. The lane from main road to property is indeed very narrow and we turned our wing mirrors in for safety but it is passable with care. Plenty of parking space. This is a fantastic property and we would highly recommend it.

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• Graham - Verified booking

  Generally good but with a few niggles.

  The L shaped sofa is too soft and uncomfortable. The back rest is too far back and the cushions too soft. The dinner and small plates need changing to a flatter design as the upward lip around the edge means they don't fit the dishwasher rack so we ended up handwashing. A seperate dryer would be much more useful than a combined washer/dryer as a drying cycle takes four hours and is very noisy. An external washing line would be a good addition. The dining table is not hygienic. It is a big piece of wood but there is a large crack and a big hole in it where you can see crumbs etc have dropped in and can't be cleaned out. Likewise the chairs and bench seat look nice but they are hard and uncomfortable after a while. The freezer needs de-frosting as it's caked with ice. The toilet in the master en-suite needs sorting as it doesn't flush very well. Also the shower doesn't drain very fast so the tray is nearly overflowing when running. We had to lift the plug from the drain hole to make it drain quicker. The weirdest thing is that because this was obviously a larger building split up to provide separate accommodation, the window in the small bedroom looks out onto the garden of the property next door.

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• Clare - Verified booking

  This property is not fit for rental and holiday lettings and we were very disappointed by our overall experience.

  Every room in the Belfry has black mould throughout - all windows and frames are covered in black mould, there was black mould on the bed sheets and on the curtains. We were unable to sleep in the main bedroom as there was such a mouldy stench and I have left the property with a stuffed nose. I contacted Sykes who did send out workmen however it was a partial treatment and requires much deeper work and attention to sort the problem. Other issues include the en suite bathroom as it stunk and the drainage didn’t work properly. Small things like the 5 bulb chandelier in the main bedroom only had 3 bulbs working, were disappointing. Lastly we were awoken on Friday morning at 7:30am to a leaf blower outside the bedroom windows which went on for an hour - no sleep ins at the Belfry! Overall the property has real potential - it’s nicely decorated, lovely furnishings (the table, chairs and couch) and it’s in a great location however the fundamental issues with the property far outweigh any of the benefits. Given the price we paid to stay at the Belfry, it fell well below expectations and the cleanliness alone is enough for me to not recommend it to anyone.

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• Adele - Verified booking

  Lund certainly has the ‘wow’ factor with magnificent views over the lake.

  The welcome pack and bottle of milk were great and much appreciated. We were really lucky with the weather and enjoyed sitting out on the balcony and dog walking along the lakeside. We didn’t have any trouble parking though it was clear it could be an issue at busy times when the queue for the ferry blocks the car parking area. I didn’t give full marks for comfort as there were only two, two seater settees, the beds were wonderfully comfortable the property was lovely and warm and there was always plenty of hot water. I knocked a point off ‘facilities’ as they need a little renovation, the floor tiles were loose in one bathroom and all needed redecorating. My husband is a keen cook and prepared a wonderful Sunday roast for us, he found the oven temperature was inaccurate, and a couple of larger pans would have helped. Overall we had a great stay at this beautiful property and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, if you are lucky enough to go do take a plentiful supply of bird seed as you will have a chorus of expectant visitors every morning!

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