Large houses to rent for Christmas

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Kirsten - Verified booking

  The house was OK for our purpose (stopping for a couple days at Norfolk on our way back to Germany after visiting the Scottish Borders) but not one the best we've stayed in.

  The photos are showing a very modern house, but in fact it's been built in the 90s and frankly, it feels a little bit tired and could use a little love. The good things first: the beds were very comfortable, with clean sheets, no problems there. The bedrooms were of a good proportion too, with enough space to put clothes etc, and clean. The living-room space is nice and airy, great for a family of 5. The garden was lovely. But: The weird self-made front door was a bit off-putting; the lock was quite hard to use. It was impossible to lock the door from the inside; we locked it from the outside and then got back in through the back. Not ideal. The house could have been a litte bit cleaner overall: the bathroom fittings were all very clean, but there was quite a bit of dust in the corners of the bathrooms and the living area. And there were dead flies and moths lying around literally everywhere! The kitchen, sadly, needs a good deep-clean. The floor was sticky and the counters and sink had been only hastily wiped, leaving ugly streaks. The electric kettle was disgusting - encrusted with thick layers of scale. The small tiles on the back of the wall under the window were really filthy, particularly behind the sink - when I wiped them down even just gently, layers of grime came off. That's not the kind of hygiene I like in a place where I make food. (Also, there was no cafetière for making coffee; luckily we brought our own). Well-equipped, as others stated, the kitchen is not. The stove is an old electric one, taking ages to get water to boil, and the dishwasher had a setup that made it impossible to load the pint drinking glasses without falling over. Also, it's in desperate need of de-scaling. All the glasses and crockery had a gritty, chalky feel after having been "cleaned" in it. The kitchen was the biggest let-down for me. The outdoor furniture would have been nice to use, as it was a very hot couple of days, but it was dirty, covered in bird droppings and cobwebs. I don't want to have to clean the garden furniture in a house where I only stay for three nights! In the heat it was especially bad that the three doors in the living space (two downstairs and the one in the big mezzanine) could only be opened all the way, not just tilted so we had to close them completely at night, making the room insufferably hot for my daughter. The vent that we opened didn't really help. As there were no insect screens, in the evening the house was teeming with moths and grasshoppers. There were lots of spiders, too; not ideal for my somewhat arachnophobic daughters. When I got the owner's 26-page instructions of how to care for the house, I wasn't expecting a property that has obviously gotten so little love recently. The village is ok, we did manage to take a decent walk, but it's not your picture-book English village. The neighbour's property across the street with its strange wolf-head effigy and "up yours!" sign was downright creepy. We did enjoy driving to Kessingland beach, visit the fab aviation museum and taking a day trip to Norwich; however unless this house gets the makeover it needs, I wouldn't really recommend it, I'm afraid!

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• The C Family - Verified booking

  Wow! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful house. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay and found everything we needed at the property. We have been blessed with the most amazing weather and the garden has been an absolute delight, especially the roses. It is so beautifully peaceful and quiet sat in the garden, all you can hear is bird song. As keen bird watchers, we have been amazed at what we have seen from the garden. Regularly seeing Red Kites, Buzzards, Kestrels and Hobby. The House Martins and Swifts put on a regular aerial display and we have been visited by Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Robins, Wrens and Blakckbirds to name a few. At dusk bats fly around the garden and we have seen Owls at dusk. Barney is a perfect location for exploring Norfolk and although we have visited the county many times over the years, we still managed to find new roads and places to visit. This is the county we usually guarantee to see Hares and this time has well exceeded our expectations (one evening driving home we must have seen about 50 in various fields), and the poppies have been spectacular. Returning to Stone Croft has been such a pleasure with extremely comfortable seating and beds. We would thoroughly recommend your home and hope to come back again soon. The easy access to the North Norfolk coast makes it perfect. We have had an amazing two weeks and feel truly relaxed and refreshed. Thank you again for sharing your beautiful home.

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• Lucy - Verified booking

  This is a beautiful, contemporary house in a quite village.

  The large open space in the hall, living and dining areas are perfect for our sunny week in May. The two bedrooms downstairs are comfortable and cosy and the master bedroom on the mezzanine level is impressive and feels quite luxurious. The balcony off the master and the outdoor staircase did feel a little precarious; I only used those stairs once and chose not to venture onto the balcony too often. The bathrooms are clean and well maintained. The shower in the second bathroom is very small, my elbows constantly hit the controller/mixer tap either shifting it to cold or turning it off altogether; a little frustrating. The utility room and study are perfect if you require either of them and the kitchen has practically everything you could need. The large driveway could probably accommodate three cars easily and the back and side gardens are a treat. The mature trees beyond the boundary are so beautiful and the back lawn was mown in the centre but left a little wild around the edges. This is the most contemporary house we have ever booked for a week away and certainly enjoyed the light and space. The village was quiet (other than birdsong) but the last couple of roads leading to and from the cottage are single width and blind in places. The grass verges were in full bloom in May so didn't help with visibility and it could be tricky in heavy rain or snowy conditions but I would still happily recommend this house.

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• The C Family - Verified booking

  Wow! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful house. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay & found everything we needed at the property. We have been blessed with the most amazing weather and the garden has been an absolute delight, especially the roses. It is so beautifully peaceful and quiet sat in the garden, all you can hear is bird song. As keen bird watchers, we have been amazed at what we have seen from the garden. Regularly seeing Red Kites, Buzzards, Kestrels and Hobby. The House Martins and Swifts put on a regular aerial display and we have been visited by Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Robins, Wrens and Blakckbirds to name a few. At dusk bats fly around the garden and we have seen Owls at dusk.Barney is a perfect location for exploring Norfolk and although we have visited the county many times over the years, we still managed to find new roads and places to visit. This is the county we usually grantee to see Hares and this time has well exceeded our expectations (one evening driving home we must have seen about 50 in various fields), and the poppies have been spectacular.Returning to Stone Croft has been such a pleasure with extremely seating and beds. We would thoroughly recommend your home and hope to come back again soon. The easy access to the North Norfolk coast makes it perfect. We have had an amazing two weeks and feel truly relaxed and refreshed. Thank you again for sharing your beautiful home.

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• Derek - Verified booking

  Though the house was generally as expected, the issue around arriving to find one of the doors was open and could not be locked almost finished the holiday before it had started (family of 4).

  Sykes staff were understanding and curtious, however the inability to contact the owner or any representative, delayed the obvious decision to send out a locksmith, so that it wasn't till 10pm that the door was secured. I suggest your procedures around checking the property before arrival and how to react to an issue quickly for the benefit of the customer rather than the owner, need to be reviewed. We also asked that the door be fixed once we had left the following Saturday, only to discover someone had been round while we were out for the day. In my opinion all the double door locks should be replaced. Also (and I know it's not the end of the world) we had to wash various items of crockery/cutlery before use (not a fan of dishwashers), however is this not another thing that should be checked before arrival? The house would also benefit from new living room furniture and a TV that works! Why a house of such a futuristic design not have (at least) an external aerial and up to date TV is puzzling, however it did mean the kids had to talk to us at meal times.

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