Big Cottages & Group Accommodation in Hope Valley

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Andy - Verified booking

  This is not to be seen as a negative review and I hope you take the feed back as constructive comments.

  We had a brilliant family week and the location for central Castleton is brilliant. But the property is needing some TLC. Most kitchen utensils were provided - but we are glad we brought our large wok for cooking for a family of 7. There's no garlic crusher and an additional chopping board would be good. It might be worth sharpening knives or providing new ones as the ones provided are woeful. Not a massive issue to us, but there's no gate on the fence facing the public car park which could be a close call for potentially escaping dogs when front door opened. The front door supporting brace needs replacing as it is broken and you have to lean on the door to close it. There is no key for the side patio doors (that we found). The stable door at the rear does not close properly unless you really push it and lock the door from the inside. This is annoying if you are sitting outside. It becomes dangerous for little children and their fingers. No light bulb in small room and no replacements or spares anywhere. Dishwasher needs salt to be provided - there was none that we found, so it often didn’t clean very well. Tumble dryer - doesn’t dry clothes completely dry. Accessible electric cables/wires under tv are not only visible and unsightly, but grabbable by a child unless really supervised. The welcome book is lacking any real details about managing the property itself. The bins - although it can’t be helped - were 3/4 full on arrival. There is also a lack of details for bin day collection point. I placed the green bin in the car park, but luckily I saw the bin crew at 6:30am and they said they only collect from the roadside. There is no hot tub information/ upkeep details what so ever. Luckily, we knew we had to add chlorine as the slow release container floating around had run out by Wednesday. Who knew you had to remove this when in use? I can only compare to other places I've been where staff visited twice a day to check levels. It shouldn't be down to guests to manage the safe use of a hot tub, with no instructions. There are no spare bedding or pillows (its stated beds can be pulled apart if needed which is great, but there are no extra duvets provided) there is also an under sheet missing. The curtain in the living room is annoyingly short. Cleaning, just generally could be better. It seems a surface clean is done, rather than a thorough turnover. There are cobwebs and spiders in most room corners, the worst place being above the kitchen fridge. Bathroom window is in need of repair (there was a note on the window) however the bathroom door in the same room also doesn’t close properly. In addition, the toilet seat is moving and needs to be fixed/ replaced. King size bedroom en-suite shower doors don’t close completely, and tray floods - due to blockage. Stairs are loud and need new wedges, difficult to move up and down the stairs at night time without waking others and one gets a sense that the stairs are going to collapse! Security for dogs and young children in the garden is concerning given the proximity to the main road and it is fortunate we were fastidious in supervision. We had to move any wood lying around to form a barrier to deter them from escaping, especially towards the car park side. There were many screws lying around in the rear pebbled area that we picked up following construction of the welcome cover to hot tub. It seems a missed opportunity to encompass the fire pit and grassed area along with the pebbled area into a wholly securely fenced area. The seating area along the fence in the pebbled area, along the roadside, by the hot tub is a great idea, but it is too high. It needs to be halved in height to sit comfortably on. This is by far the main area we used A seat leg was broken on the arm chair in the living room by window. We ended up balancing this many times so it could be used. The oven has a weird funny smell when in use Castleton experienced a massive power cut during our stay, so the burglar alarm needs resetting as it was beeping and there was an issue rebooting the WiFi and TV but we conquered that eventually. I come back to the Welcome pack, there were no instructions how to do any of this. A clock would be nice on the fireplace in the living room. It takes two adults to lift the hot tub lid on and off. Actually 3, the first time we used it we leant the lid against the fence, but it dropped down the back and it took 3 adults to get it out (2 in the spa). Whilst the lady cleaning the hot tub was utterly pleasant, she arrived at around 8:30am, but check out is at 10. The hot tub was being drained by before 9am, which didn’t allow any use for the morning of departure had we wanted to. Fortunately we didn't, but we were just not expecting anyone so early. Again, I come back to the welcome pack (lack of) information if 8:30 am is the norm.

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• Robert - Verified booking

  We booked as 2 couples in their 70's, wanting 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and single beds for 1 couple.

  Broadhay met criteria. Got to destination after 9 hour journey from Devon having suffered much delay from motorway accidents and heavy traffic, so very tired. Kept owners updated of ETA via text messages during journey. On arrival, owner did not say "Welcome to Peak District - hope you enjoy your holiday", but rather seemed put out that we were so late (met us even though had in earlier phone conversation said she would unlock house and leave key in door). We were also harangued with Sykes Rental Contract and "Broadhay Rules" - first things in the house book (which contained contact details for doctors, dentists, hospitals, but no info on pubs, restaurants, shops or walks). Also, told we must empty bins and leave house in same state as found. Owner said she had made up 2 bedrooms as we had requested, ie 1 double and 1 twin, but we shouldn't use the 3rd bedroom as it had been prepared for the party following us. We said people have different needs - maybe a partner snores or is a light sleeper, etc. She would not listen and even said she would have removed the bedding entirely than let us use the 3rd bedroom if we had a need. 2nd couple arrived Monday and spent a bad first night as husband coughing and wheezing when lying down. Next night wife used 3rd bedroom, but removed all the bedding except the bottom sheet and re-used pillow and duvet from her twin bed. We need to know for future if owners can make such demands (not use a bedroom). We paid for a 3 bedroomed property. This woman very much needs to improve the way she talks to her paying guests. Our holiday was spoilt before it began.

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• David - Verified booking

  This was an old but very clean property in a great location in the Peak District.

  Very creaky floors which I guess is to be expected for its age. Nice really well equipped high spec kitchen but both fridges and the freezer were difficult to open as they weren’t fixed in the housing of the fitted kitchen. The busy road right outside the house was very noisy and meant that windows could not really be open especially at night (it was hot on floor 1 and ground floor) and it was not possible to use the garden comfortably to relax due to the noise of heavy traffic passing by constantly. 3 private parking spaces allocated to the property were not guaranteed to be available to use for 5 days of our stay due to being used by customers visiting the fish and chip shop opposite. This caused problems for our 3 car party. This issue was mentioned in an email but only after booking and payment. Bedrooms a good size (main en-suite bedroom ground floor door impossible to close). Beds comfortable and clean. Lots of bedroom cupboard space and bathrooms very nicely done. I’m sure plenty of others will enjoy and have enjoyed a lovely time here and we were okay but for the price point I think there are simple maintenance improvements that could be made and the noisy road/parking issues should be mentioned before any payment is made as this could be a dealbreaker for those seeking peace and quiet.

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• Heather - Verified booking

  The setting was lovely, the cottage was very clean However the night we arrived was very bad weather and the instruction from Sykes was poor even though I called prior to booking the cottage to ask how far from Hathersage.

  The owner did give instructions but not a very clear black and white post in the dark and the road was awful we had to leave our car at the Plough Pub luckily our son was with us and we used his car to gain access to the cottage this must be highlighted how steep and far the road is to get to the cottage, we are from the country so are aware how the natural setting can be a hinder access. Once we did arrive at the cottage no clear indication of how to get to the front door as two gates to get there which I totally understand as sheep surround the cottage. The cottage was cold on arrival and was most of the time as we went out all day it appeared the heating came on during the day but noted the thermostat were low on the radiators. Due to our son leaving on the Saturday we chose to leave also making our stay short as we would of had to walk to the car up the track with our luggage which is about a mile away. We were disappointed and feel this was not worth the money on reflection from previous stays that are not that far away from this cottage.

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• Katie - Verified booking

  I feel I need to leave feed back in two halves.

  Good points- location is amazing, beds really comfortable, bedding good quality, towels good quality and living room furniture was comfortable. Things that let the property down- two missing gates on the front ( the dogs could get directly into the carpark or drive to main road), no handle to assist the hot tub lid lifting ( it took both my husband and I to get it back on so my parents had been unable to use it once we had left), no safe steps for older guests and a shower at outside the back door, very large amounts cobweb's in most areas, back stable door didn’t fasten together and is extremely poor repair, broken lock hanging off the inside of bedroom two along with a broken curtain tie back and broken soap holder left in the shower, shower in main bedroom not draining and leaving stood water, curtains that don’t reach the bottom of the window, no wood packs for the fire pit and lots of large lengths of wood left on sitting area so it was not able to be used.

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