Holiday Cottages In Cumbria

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Moira - Verified booking

  I have written quite a long review, so accept it would have to be edited for publication The Lawson family has just enjoyed a long weekend in The New House ,in a very rural part of Cumbria.

  Take the advice of Sykes Cottages and don’t arrive without that essential bottle of milk, as you can’t just pop out to the shops. The house is very spacious and comfortable, with plenty of room for a family of 9 adults, as we are. The main living, cooking and recreational area is open plan and most attractive, leading out to a furnished patio, within extensive and beautiful gardens. The kitchen is well equipped for self catering, which we mainly did, but we also enjoyed a very high quality and reasonably priced dinner at athe Crossings, about 20 minutes away. All the bedrooms and bathrooms are upstairs, quite a long and steep climb to be expected in this high ceilinged property. There is a downstairs toilet and utility room with an extra fridge freezer for all those provisions. There are empty cupboards in the kitchen for other groceries. For anyone wishing to be away from the biz of the family room, there is another attractive and comfortable sitting room, leading through to a library, with its extensive and eclectic collections of books. There is also a small, formal dining room, which we didn’t even think of using, as the large (very covetable) table in the family room accommodated us perfectly. From the house there is a fabulous panoramic view for miles around, totally unspoiled by any modern intrusions, pylons, etc., giving a wide open feel to the hilltop house. It is set in a truly historic landscape, with the 4th century Bewcastle Cross, all 15 feet of it carved beautifully in sandstone, to be found at the bottom of the hill. A special exhibition, housed within the churchyard, is well worth a visit. A visit to Birdoswald Roman fort is a must. A huge amount of excavation has been done, and a fine exhibition and cafe all make for a great visit, ideal for Wall enthusiasts, like us. The New House is advertised as a family home, and it certainly has that feel, not at all a sterile holiday let. However, we felt the, to us, rather off colour cartoons in the main bathroom would not be to the taste of many renters. Probably because of its remote position, the WiFi was quite patchy. These two comments apart, our family would highly recommend this lovely house and setting to any prospective customers, particularly anyone seeking peace and quiet. And it was a lovely place for celebrating our 60 th wedding anniversary, the diamond geezers as we became known! Moira Lawson

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• Jane - Verified booking

  Over all my experience at New House, Brampton was very disappointing.

  To start with I was a bit concerned when I discovered after booking that the house keeping bond was payable to the property owner not Sykes Cottages. My concern was well founded. After paying the bond, 8 days before the start of the holiday, we struggled to make any further contact with the owner, Mr Barrington, and I had to speak to Sykes to contact him on our behalf, whereupon he did eventually manage to send the arrival details and the key safe code to us - just 36 hours before our arrival and after a full week of procrastination on his part. After departing New House on the 13th December it took until the 30th of December and 5 further phone calls to Sykes to have the good housekeeping bond finally repaid. Sykes have been extremely supportive. I think without their help I could be still waiting for my money and I am very grateful for their help with this. The property itself is ‘tired’ and we found it cold. The windows need cleaning, the settees in the main room are grubby. There are far too many grotty table mats, chipped pots and worn out 'no longer' non-stick pan and oven trays. It appears nothing old has ever been thrown away. The cutlery is an eclectic collection of bits and bobs. The fridge and freezer have seen better days and the cooker is very worn and was far cleaner when we left than on our arrival, especially the oven which we cleaned before using. The beds were uncomfortable and too well used. Out of 3 showers 1 leaked, one was either excessively hot or excessively cold with nothing in between, the 3rd was okay. On a positive note Mr Barrington is very generous with his toilet rolls. The small sitting room and dining room are elegant but they accommodate only 5 or 6 people, as a party of 8 adults we did not use them. The property is remote, big and spacious and the views are lovely. But this is not nearly enough to compensate. It is fair to say that the inability to contact Mr. Barrington and the irritation it caused spoiled our holiday as much as the other negatives which are also significant.

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• Lesa - Verified booking

  The cottage had a terrible smell in the lounge which got worse when the window in the lounge was closed.

  Although we had a dog with us the lounge made all our party feel really itchy and especially if we sat on the sofas. The carpet in the lounge was covered in dog hair as my socks were covered in hair. Carpet not tbest in a house suitable for 2 dogs. Very small kitchen, not the best accessories available either and not full sets of crockery. The gate to the bottom of the stairs was a very unusual feature!! There’s no photos of this on the listing, I wonder why?? The gate has a polite notice that dogs are not allowed upstairs. I don’t think this a necessary feature. Large bedrooms, fitted wardrobes has basic shelving inside there was an extension to the top of the dressing table? En-suite in main bedroom, the shower was grubby. The house was dated, decorated very basic, which wouldn’t be a problem if it was clean. There was no way we could have spent any quality time in the house, especially the lounge as mentioned above. We stayed at the property for one night and then came home on the Sunday. None of my family wanted to stay there. We have used the company for many years and this is the worst property we have stayed in. It wasn’t cheap, and I will not allow my family to stay in sub standard properly when you don’t feel comfortable with the surroundings. I did ring heart of the lakes to advise that we had left the property after one night and was told to make a complaint, no information was taken from me. I do not recommend this property at all and the owner needs to spend money to upgrade as there are far better properties in the same street which put it to shame.

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• Lesa - Verified booking

  The cottage had a terrible smell in the lounge which got worse when the window in the lounge was closed.

  Although we had a dog with us the lounge made all our party feel really itchy and especially if we sat on the sofas. The carpet in the lounge was covered in dog hair as my socks were covered in hair. Carpet not tbest in a house suitable for 2 dogs. Very small kitchen, not the best accessories available either and not full sets of crockery. The gate to the bottom of the stairs was a very unusual feature!! There’s no photos of this on the listing, I wonder why?? The gate has a polite notice that dogs are not allowed upstairs. I don’t think this a necessary feature. Large bedrooms, fitted wardrobes has basic shelving inside there was an extension to the top of the dressing table? En-suite in main bedroom, the shower was grubby. The house was dated, decorated very basic, which wouldn’t be a problem if it was clean. There was no way we could have spent any quality time in the house, especially the lounge as mentioned above. We stayed at the property for one night and then came home on the Sunday. None of my family wanted to stay there. We have used the company for many years and this is the worst property we have stayed in. It wasn’t cheap, and I will not allow my family to stay in sub standard properly when you don’t feel comfortable with the surroundings. I did ring heart of the lakes to advise that we had left the property after one night and was told to make a complaint, no information was taken from me. I do not recommend this property at all and the owner needs to spend money to upgrade as there are far better properties in the same street which put it to shame.

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• Joanne - Verified booking

  New House was perfect for celebrating my birthday with family and friends.

  Fantastic property, well presented with lots of character, it felt like home with photos and personal items not too fussy but better than being sterile and was very comfortable and relaxing. Kitchen was well equipped and included everything we needed. Bedrooms were clean and beds very comfortable. Plenty of room for all my family and friends to be together or do their own thing and the views were spectacular. It may be a little off the beaten path but worth it; wether you go walking or running or just want a relaxing time New House was perfect. It was an excellent base to use to visit local places of interest such as Hadrians Wall, Carlisle, Gretna Green and you soon get to recognise the surrounding area and villages. The local Bewcastle Church and Cross is worth a walk to clear your head after celebrations and is around 1 1/2 miles away. A local traffic jam is a herd of sheep or cows coming towards you which is a novelty but different to my usual commute and the memory will make me smile. My family and friends all enjoyed their visit over the week and confirmed what a good idea it was to do this. The house made the celebrations and Ross had thought of everything except a hair dryer, we couldn’t find one anywhere but anything else you thought of was there! The heating isn’t like your CH st home and it took some getting used to but that’s part of the charm and the log burners were a great focal point and additional heat source. First time we have used Sykes but will be doing it again. Fabulous time highly recommend New House.

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