Dog Friendly Cottages In Windermere

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Neil - Verified booking

  We arrived on the Friday (first day of stay) in the evening after a long drive via Poole from a family funeral.

  On our arrival (around 8pm) we found that the boiler was not working. We then quickly attempted to put our little baby of 6 months old to bed in the cot, then found that there was NO cot in the property despite requesting this twice ahead of our booking. So, we had no heating and nowhere for our baby to sleep safely. I offered to my wife to drive us home, but we had already been travelling for over 7 hours so my wife decided to put a duvet on the floor and sleep as safely as she possibly could next to our baby. I was attempting to contact the 'out of hours' team at Sykes Cottages and Lakes Lovers but nobody answered. I left voicemails but didn't get a response. This was between 8pm and 8:30pm. I got two automated texts to say that somebody would be in touch within the next 20 minutes. We didn't hear anything. I was also on the phone to my friend who is a gas safe engineer who tried to talk me through getting the central heating boiler working. I video called him so that he could see the error messages on the boiler and he talked me through topping up the system and getting the boiler working again. We finally had heat albeit it took an age to get the old stone house anything near warm and comfortable. I woke in the morning various times as our baby was unsettled but also due to the glaring light directly outside of the main bedroom window - not helped by an almost translucent window blind in the bedroom. I noticed a missed call from an 01244 number, from 22:02. This was 2 hours after I had called on various out of hours phonelines. I am guessing that as it was Friday night the on call team must have all been in the pub! The next day we went to the rental office 'Lakes Lovers' in Windermere and told them of what happened on our arrival. They just seemed puzzled and said they would get a cot for us, with no sincere apology and no shock that my wife and 6 month old baby had to sleep on the floor in a cold house for the night. Quite unbelievable!! Around 3 hours later they dropped off a cot, and the gent said on delivery that "there should be one on top of the wardrobe so whoever should have put one there must have taken it out for some reason". This of course was not helpful, and still NO apology. We just left it there as didn't want to the weekend break (for my 40th birthday) to get any worse. The cottage was of poor quality and needs a full redecoration. From damp on the wall near the entrance door (due to obvious rotten/leaking gutters outside), to chipped skirting boards throughout the house, dusty floors around and under furniture (not great for baby on the floor), to a stained sofa. The cottage is neglected and I guess of the owner has ongoing bookings then they must be complacent and not bothered in the slightest. We have stayed in AirBnB before and never had the same issues like this with dog friendly accommodation. We stayed at a Sykes cottages rental in Symondsbury back in July this year and that was also dog friendly and also like living in a dog kennel for adults. It needs a full deep clean. Overall, totally dissatisfied and would not recommend this cottage to anybody. Apart from location and close to the lake, it was also very close (300 feet) to a booming night club that stayed open until around 02:00am. This was not mentioned on the booking site either.

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• Steven - Verified booking

  We stayed at the Giddy Goose in Windermere for a week in August this year and had a wonderful experience.

  The house is centrally located in Windermere, and having stayed in several nearby cottages, this one stands out as the best. Pros Excellent Location: Walking distance to restaurants, shops, and Bowness (about 20 minutes). The bus and railway stations are also nearby, making it easy to explore the area without a car. Great for Dog Walks: Convenient access to fantastic dog walks near Orrest, either up the hill or along scenic paths. Spacious and Comfortable: Plenty of space for our family of four. Our kids (ages 10 and 12) enjoyed having their own rooms. The house stays cool even on hot days, which was perfect for us and our dog. Comfortable Beds: Everyone found the beds very comfortable. Well-Equipped: Plenty of toilets and showers, a lovely garden where we enjoyed a BBQ Cons (Minor and did not impact our stay): Paint Touch-Ups Needed: Some areas of the house could use a bit of fresh paint. Microwave Instructions: The microwave requires you to set the clock before use, which is different from most microwaves. Some instructions on this would be helpful. Parking Space: The parking space is a bit tight. We managed to fit our Freelander, but larger vehicles might need to use the parking permit, which could mean a short walk to the cottage. Light Switch Issue: The light switch in the living room didn’t work as expected; you have to pull it out each time you press it. This might need fixing. Kitchen Supplies: The kitchen could use a couple more knives and a meat thermometer. Overall, We had a lovely and relaxing stay at the Giddy Goose and would highly recommend it. We would definitely stay here again.

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• Nicola - Verified booking

  Awful, awful, awful…,avoid at all costs!

  ! One positive is location, it’s fantastic, right in the centre of town. There are many negatives…everything is very worn and a bit grubby, the cottage is very tired and outdated, the main shower is awful, the beds are uncomfortable and the main bedroom needs a curtain. Now, none of that really bothered us too much, the main issue was the raw sewerage coming up through the downstairs toilet drain, flooding the downstairs toilet and running into the kitchen. The drains in the garden were overflowing with sewerage, it’s one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen. There was no way I was going to continue to stay somewhere that was flooded with untreated human faeces so we left 2 days early. What’s even more unbelievable is that Lakelovers told us we are not entitled to a refund for the 2 days we did not stay on at the cottage because we left early not giving them time to rectify the issue. This issue has happened before as you can see from previous reviews. How on earth can you fix the problem and ensure it doesn’t happen again? How can you ensure the property was fully decontaminated and safe to live in. And the artificial grass in the garden that was covered in faeces too, surely that needs to be ripped up and thoroughly cleaned or even replaced??!! I cannot believe to company are advising anyone to stay in such squalor conditions, this is a clear Health and safety issue but no one seems to care. I’m still waiting on head office contact details to discuss the matter further. Awful customer service, I will never book through the company again.

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• Simon - Verified booking

  As detailed on the phone, on the day we arrived the house (Giddy Goose) was not as clean as we would expect.

  The main and most obvious problem was lack of proper vacuuming: all carpets and rugs looked as though they haven’t been properly vacuumed for a while; one bedroom even has a muddy smear that had been left. Telltale bits of debris, cotton, threads, fluff etc were in every room. This is impossible to photograph now (I was not asked to take photos when I rang on the day we arrived). We tried vacuuming the next day and the smell it created was so revolting we had to spray freshener and open windows: the bag was full which might explain the poor vacuuming? I requested a new bag but we weren’t given one. There were other signs of poor cleaning. Cobwebs, dust and debris on window sills, a long black hair still stuck to the bathroom wall, broken glass just under one of the sofas. I’ve photographed all that I can. A cleaner was organised to come on the Saturday at 10:30am, we were given no choice of time. Unfortunately all of our kids were still in bed after a long day the day before, so we chatted to the cleaner and apologised and offered to clean the house ourselves. We did try vacuuming as explained. The last thing you want when you pay to stay somewhere is the disappointment of it being dirty, having to phone and make arrangements and being asked to vacate the property on the first morning so it can then be cleaned properly. All holiday lets are priced to cover the cost of cleaning. In our case that cleaning was simply not sufficient.

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• Catherine - Verified booking

  The Giddy Goose property is lovely, it has everything you need and is in a great location to explore the whole area as well as being able to walk to plenty of shops and restaurants.

  I really enjoyed my stay. The only issue that I have had is with the service post stay, I left 2 tops in the property which of course was my silly fault, especially as one was brand new that i'd bought whilst on holiday. After multiple phonecalls to Sykes I eventually had it confirmed that they had been found by the housekeeper. This took a number of calls and quite a bit of time chasing as it has to go between Sykes, the local branch- Lakes holidays and the housekeeper. By the end of October though I had it confirmed that the tops had been taken to the local branch and I paid the £15 fee for return. It is now mid December and I still have not received them and again after multiple calls the only answer I get is that they must have been lost in the post. Even though I paid for return apparently they are not sent recorded and no proof of postage is taken. I appreciate entirely that it is my own fault for forgetting the tops, but it is frustrating that it has taken so much chasing and that after having them found and paying for the return that you don't send them as recorded or take any proof of postage or anything at all to help a safe return. This would be helpful for the future perhaps or at least if I could speak to Lakes holidays directly to have sorted this. I would have paid for the recorded post as am gutted that I cannot get the new top back especially.

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