Large Dog Friendly Cottages in East Devon District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Carolyn - Verified booking

  The property is picture perfect from the outside inside is a different matter.

  The floors needed a good mopping. There were cobwebs between items of furniture and the walls and spiders everywhere. We could live with this. The maintenance on the house is very poor. There are peeling damp patches around the house and general maintenance as poor. The tiling around the bath could have been done better by a three year old. The lighting was very poor with the only decent light in the kitchen. The kitchen was very poorly equipped. However the biggest issue was not mentioned in the Sykes blurb. It mentioned that the ceilings were low. They were fine at about 6 ft 5 inches high or taller. The one light in the lounge could be an issue for a very tall person but at 5 ft 10 I was fine. What is not mentioned in the blurb is that the door heights varied across the house. In order to prevent any head injuries you need to be a maximum of 5 ft 4 inches tall. My 85 year old father left after our stay with 3 bleeding head wounds from banging his head on the door lintels. There is obviously knowledge of this issue and the solution was to staple 3 small cushions to 3 of the doors, however the cushion was staples on to one side so your could reasonably safely enter that space but if you were to leave there was no protection attached to the door and injuries occurred. Overall the accommodation would really not be recommended. This is a pity as usually good from Sykes. It does not deserve any more than 2 stars at most. Fortunately it is in Devon and we could spend the days elsewhere in the county. The return to the house was not a time of joy. My recommendation is to avoid this property at all cost. It would really not be suitable for 6 people. I could offer mor observation’s but will leave it as DON’T STAY HERE!

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• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  By Steven E on 24-May-2018 Lovely House - perfect for big families. Stayed at Knowles House with 5 other family members including elderly parents and a dog. Wonderful house with a terrific garden. Weather was perfect and garden was superb for chilling, sunbathing or even Yoga. Met by the owners who gave us a guided tour and explained everything we needed to know from the heating to the recycling. Lovely clean bedrooms with a twin on the ground floor with its own small lounge area perfect for the elderly who have difficulty with stairs. Layout of the kitchen with the cookers and crockery, separate sink room and a third utility room with large fridge and freezers take some getting used to but no big deal. There’s a standard cooker / low level grill if your not confident with using the Aga. Big flat screen TV in the lounge and plenty of small ones in the bedrooms if your that desperate to watch TV. Showers in the bedrooms were very good and we had no issues with hot water no matter what the time of day. Lovely walk for dog walkers alongside local river one minute from the house. Journeys out to local coastal towns didn’t take long in a car. Make your own mind up about the best ones to visit - we liked Beer but won’t be rushing back to Seaton! Lovely coastal walks between Seaton and Branscombe. Took a local taxi (The very helpful Bert from Seaton Taxi’s who took all 6 of us+ Dog) to the Ship Inn at Axmouth for a couple of evening meals - Quality food, highly recommended - make sure you book. Would definitely recommend this house. Show less Stayed: May 2018 Thank Steven E

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• Barry - Verified booking

  THE PROPERTY.

  The Stone Cottage was a wonderful property. The rooms were spacious, had tall ceilings, were extremely light with large windows to enjoy the surrounding extensive grassed tidy garden and the open countryside, and were tastefully furnished. The kitchen was generally well equipped. The house accommodated 4 couples very well EXCEPT that one of the so-called bath/shower rooms was in fact just a WC. This is a MIS-DESCRIPTION - made worse by the fact that our lead traveller telephoned Sykes to confirm the facilities pre-booking and was misled then, too. We required and expected 4 bath/shower rooms but did not get them. SYKES AS AGENT. Sykes were very slow to reply to messages sent from the lead traveller’s account pre-visit, or sent meaningless or incomplete replies which in turn had to be queried again. Phone calls had to be made to chase up. When eventually answered (typical wait time 15/20 mins) call centre staff could not provide any additional information to help to resolve queries. Sometimes they called back and sometimes they did not. In one case the call staff member’s personal style came across as argumentative when asked about feedback published on site describing ‘rickety outdoor furniture’. (However, the faulty wi-fi later reported from on-site was resolved by a local contractor early in our stay)

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• Lesley - Verified booking

  We had a lovely holiday in Beer.

  Craft Cottage is in the village itself so it is an easy walk to the local shops, pubs, restaurants and beach. When we looked at the parking in the details before our holiday we thought it might be a bit of a pain having to walk down the road and unlock the gate every time, but it was easy to do and caused no problems. It was out of season, therefore the shops/restaurants were open for shorter hours or less days, but we didn't find this to be a problem. Because it was out of season, it was lovely and quiet. Everyone parks outside Craft cottage to visit the Village Store, which would be more annoying in high season as it would be busier. It is quite noisy outside in the mornings with deliveries to the shop and the school buses reversing into the bus stop. The cottage is very comfortable and had everything we needed. We weren't able to get the gas fire to light while we were there which was a little bit disappointing. There is central heating also which we were thankful for. We have a small dog who isn't able to walk very far. This meant that to reach any level grass for him to use for toileting, we had to go up to the cliff top car park. However, there are lovely views from up on the cliff so although it was a bit of a palaver, it was worth it! We would definitely visit again.

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• Richard - Verified booking

  AS your records will show, this is the second time that we have stayed at The Stone House, so it goes without saying that we love the property.

  It is in a wonderful location, enjoying lovely views over adjoining countryside, it has accommodation that comfortably accommodates our large family and has an air of quality and good taste. Its location, though rural, is only a short drive to various towns including Lyme Regis, Seaton and Charmouth, all of which are worth visiting. The Harbour pub at the bottom of the road (only walkable by the most hardy I would say) was very pleasant, with log fires and was dog friendly. However, we were disappointed this time to arrive (in the dark at this time of year) to no heating and hot water and no internet. It was also difficult to get a mobile signal unless you called from some locations upstairs or out in the garden to the north. We don't remember having the same problem before and without the internet, it was a challenge to get in touch with Sykes Holiday Cottages. A very pleasant man came to the house, but was unable to sort out the boiler during his visit (which had apparently lost pressure), so he had to resort to turning on the immersions. Please note that even though the use of the immersions ensured we had hot water in about an hour, it was scalding hot which also made the tap itself untouchable. We remained without internet throughout the holiday.

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