Big Cottages & Group Accommodation in Elterwater

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Trevor - Verified booking

  The property is in an idyllic setting, with plenty of communal areas for five adults to be together or apart.

  Our children would like to live there, however, my opinion has been that by letting it out provides the opportunity for fifty or more families per year to experience the Lake District without having to drive anywhere. There are short, medium, long, low, and any degree of height gain walks straight from the front door. Nonetheless, the income from the property exceeds the income of the average married couple, and having rented the property on a number of occasions it is disappointing to see that no maintenance has occurred since our first visit. The owner could have spent some of the income on maintenance providing employment for Lake District residents who are finding it increasingly difficult to find affordable rental property let alone buy one. I am of the opinion that the owners are just taking advantage of this idyllic property to plunder the Lake District and put nothing back. We arrived on Friday at ten past four. The plumbers arrived ten minutes later. They had been informed by the cleaner that the toilet in the smaller double room was out of order and they had come to fix it. On inspection the plumbers said they needed a part because it was a Saniflow toilet. They would return on Monday to fit the part. They did. It’s first test failed to remove the deposit taking many flushes to send it on its way. A plumber returned on Tuesday. After changing another part he left us with instructions on how to use the toilet. The occupant did not trust the effectiveness of the toilet so used the communal toilet in the kitchen for the remainder of their stay. On our last visit we remarked between ourselves that the place was looking a bit tired, but when a place that is advertised as having three en-suite bedrooms and one does not meet that expectation, then each defect in the home becomes more noticeable until you wonder when was the last time the owner took it out of service and put some money back into the community.

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• Janice - Verified booking

  The exterior aesthetic of the cottage is truly beautiful and it is perfectly located with lovely walks from the door and a short drive to Ambleside & Hawkshead.

  The garden is lovely, although it's use was restricted due to lack of funiture (4 old plastic chairs). The linen was clean, water hot, heating adequate & kitchen well-equipped (although no order to storage & not everything was clean). Unfortunately, the negatives far outweighed the positives including large areas of black mould on the window frames throughout the cottage, on the shower room walls & the utility room walls & doors; ingrained dirt in the grouting in the shower room; thd lounge windows were difficult to close & the secondary glazing trims kept falling off; filthy floor, sink & resources (mops, sweeping brushes, hoovers) in the utility room; 2 hoovers available but both dirty and don't pick up dirt so unusable; cupboard interiors dirty; cobwebs around ceilings; broken hinge on kitchen cabinet above the sink - BEWARE if you don't hold it open, it falls down on you; 2 broken dining chairs; water stain & large crack on the bedroom ceiling; electric socket hanging off the wall & 5 of 8 lights not working in lounge; broken kitchen bin; red marks in the bath; dirty laundry in the laundry basket; info folder has incorrect info about bin day (so bin doesn't get emptied because no-one knows to put it out on Wednesday, not Thursday); no key to 'games' cupboard or door from utility room into garage. The maintenance team sorted the lights & socket, removed the broken chairs & banged the windows to close them. The cleaners did a re-clean (it felt very reluctant) but we still had to buy cleaning materials & clean the shower room, bath & utility room ourselves to make them useable. Sadly, the cottage is in dire need of some maintenance work & a thorough deep clean. So many issues have been raised in previous reviews; a shame no-one appears to be responding. Such a shame because it has the potential to be stunning. We left feeling massively disappointed & needless to say, wont be returning.

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• Nicola - Verified booking

  The heating was pre-set and we were unable to control the temperature in the house.

  it was 19 degrees outside and the heating was on with no way of turning down or off. We contacted Heart of the Lakes and we were told somebody would look into this for us. Nobody came back to us. we had to put up with it and on an evening it was horrendous. The whole time we had builders working next door and each day they would start chasing the walls from 8am. You have the videos so you know what I am talking about. At one point the builder actually came through the adjoining wall. The kids were not able to sleep past 8am and the dog was terrified. We had no privacy as builders were wondering into our garden, we have teenage girls so this was completely unacceptable. At one point when we were sitting out in the front one of the builders went behind rather than into the portaloo to urinate right in front of us. I reported some of this to your company and sent pictures and videos. Again somebody was supposed to do something about this but nothing was done and nobody got back to us. Our holiday was completely compromised by the intrusive building work. We could tell by the comments left in the visitor book that we were not the only customers that were very dissatisfied and upset that they were not made aware of building works. This email is a formal complaint. I would like somebody to come back to me to let me know if my complaint has been received and is being reviewed / processed. I appreciate you can’t be responsible for the actions of the builders but I do believe we should have been made aware that there was building work taking place over the duration of our stay and this was you companies responsibility to do so. Please note other than the heating issue (that must be resolved) there is no blame on the owner of this property. My issue is with the company that manage the property. Heating issue aside the property was good.

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• Janis - Verified booking

  First the good: the location of the cottage and the cottage itself are wonderful.

  We loved how quiet and remote the area is. The age of the cottage is OK, as long as the amenities, cleaning, and other items are kept up to date, it is clear it is not a priority The bad: it was clear the cottage had not been cleaned. This is similar to other reviews we read in the guest book and online. If this is up to the management company then fire them and hire someone else. There were dirty dishes in the dishwasher, an old tea bag in the teapot, cobwebs in every corner, really quite disappointing. We needed to wash all dishes, we would have anyway but with the state of the cottage it made it even more necessary. The mop is DISGUSTING - we are happy to clean up after ourselves, and we know we left the cottage cleaner than when we arrived, but for heaven's sake - provide tools for your tenants to use! The alarm in the kitchen was ridiculous, we tried every which way to prevent that alarm from sounding, I think we were successful 1 day, and this was just with regular toast preparation, nothing was burned, nothing was smoking, and the alarm still sounded, highly recommend changing the location or finding a solution. When using the upstairs shower it leaks down onto the teapot area The key for the cabinet was no where to be found The refrigerator is a bit small, for a group of 5 (or 6 as advertised) it was crammed full. The directions for trash disposal need updating, one said Wednesday, another said Thursday Would we stay there again, most likely not, in the area yes, at the cottage, no

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• Denise - Verified booking

  I first came to the Old Farm a year ago and loved it so much that I wanted to come back.

  The weather was wonderful this year so we were able to make good use of the garden, although an outdoor table would have made eating outside more pleasurable. It is quite difficult not to bring grass indoors as the lawn was mown but the cuttings left on the lawn. The fridge door is really difficult to open (as it was last year). The bin in the kitchen cupboard had broken so didn't come out when the door was opened. Also the local instructions for recycling etc are difficult to understand. The green wheelie bin was already full so our bag wouldn't go in. The other black wheelie bin (which shouldn't be used I understand?) was full of soil and old dog poo bags. Neither bin was emptied on Thursday. I put both bins out the night before in the correct place. I did however help a neighbour clean them both out and disinfect them before I left to try to resolve the issue. The cleaners came and were really grateful and nice people. They do a great job. I think that the only improvements that could be made to the Old Farm, as it is quite expensive to hire, are new kitchen units (most doors don't open or close properly) and a new dining table and chairs (chairs falling apart). The downstairs shower room needs upgrading as it's tired and some mould is forming on the walls. You would then believe that the price reflects the quality of the property. At the moment it doesn't. However, we think the Old Farm is wonderful and we very much enjoyed our stay.

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