Big Cottages & Group Accommodation in Penrith

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Simon - Verified booking

  Very poor I’m afraid to report from both the owners and Sykes themselves.

  The apartment initially looked lovely, clean and modern in an isolated area but was met with a rather stern cleaning note on how to strip the beds at the end of the stay and how to tidy up after ourselves. The property looked lovely but we soon came to see the many downfalls. The lights in the bedrooms are simply too powerful and are motion sensitive, so every time you moved in the room the lights came on. Unfortunately we found this out during the middle of the night whilst popping to the loo. Also, the door going out of the property in the main bedroom requires a blind as the external lights will light up the room too. Sensitive sleepers be warned! I did find the shutters did not keep the room dark enough in the mornings either but that’s probably personal. The secret room was a joy and can in handy when a bat flew in (so definitely close to nature) as one member of the family could hide in there, whilst my daughter was delighted to see such a creature close up. The site the apartment is in contains a bar and restaurant, whilst the food is good, please book your table ahead of your stay as we were turned away one evening. Lessons learnt. The crazy golf was free and a great way to spend a wet afternoon Now the crux of the problem. We only booked this apartment on the basis it was served with a heated indoor pool but on arrival day, it was closed due to a leak. It remained closed all week whilst we stayed there, if I was made aware of the matter beforehand, I definitely would have picked somewhere else to stay. I raised a complaint via Sykes whilst away but they only contacted myself when I returned home. I complained about the pool to Sykes who passed it onto the owners, but neither Sykes nor the owners were willing to help out. I was offered a £100 compensation from the owners only if I stayed with them again, but I don’t feel like I would like to stay in the property again. Neither Sykes nor the owners were willing to help out (NB The receptionist at the pool did not offer an alternative either nor did the closed pool signs suggest alternative arrangements had been made). Sykes suggested a small claims but this isn’t something I’m willing to do due to unnecessary stress. I’m afraid due to the lack of understanding from the owner, I won’t be booking from Sykes in the future.

  Read more less >

• Caroline - Verified booking

  Stayed with 4 girlfriends for a 50th birthday.

  Not far from Penrith, Lovely picturesque village. Great views. There's a well stocked kitchen, Large dining area, the bedrooms were clean & beds comfortable. Lovely big garden, great place for kids to run around in. Hot tub is fabulous, clean & well maintained. However there were some issues that spoilt our holiday. No external aerial for TV. an inadequate indoor one that we couldn't get a signal on all weekend!! Despite a phone call to owners a difficult conversation due to very bad phone signal! Asked if someone could come out & sort this. No one arrived at all. So a basic TV was not available. The WIFI was non existent! The Hub stated could not be found! & I tried every room! There's a blue ray player but the remote left would not work in the TV to get to correct channel. changed batteries (our own) still didn't work. Unable to use that also. Bulbs were missing from 2 lamps looked for spares as stated in welcome folder none were found! We swapped one from lounge area. The small toilet on ground floor had a sink on top of cistern this was full of water on arrival so unable to wash your hands in this bathroom. Old bar of soap, a soggy tissue & 2 disposable razers found on shelf in large shower on the first floor. Upon arrival we checked out the Hot Tub thankfully this worked great. Sadly we had to clean up the patio area. The previous occupants had left a few items of wet clothes, cans, & rubbish littered around! (Unbelievable how people leave property) however this should have been picked up by the cleaners. They must not have gone outside at all! Chairs all array table not cleaned. Extremely disappointed with this & find that totally unacceptable. Such a shame as the location is perfect, barn a great size. reported to sykes when I returned . Owners need to visit this property for themselves as I do blame the quality of the cleaners! for most of it. My advice to owners ... invest in a good broadband & get an outdoor aerial fitted.... Our saving grace... The local pub The Sun inn a few minutes walk away! Fabulous. Worth a visit & a great restaurant. Lowther Castle 15 minute drive away also worth a visit. There's a Morrisons & shopping area 10 min drive away too. These complaints were made in May by other people. But nothing has changed.

  Read more less >

• Joan - Verified booking

  The key safe was very difficult to open.

  We eventually walked in to be greeted by several houseflies, which continued to be a nuisance throughout our stay - where are they breeding? I soon found that the hob was filthy and no hob cleaner was supplied - I had to buy some & clean it before using it. The windows were dirty, both kitchen and back room, as was the tiled splashback behind the cooker. The kitchen bin lid was dirty - good job it's foot-operated. I had to clean out the fabric softener compartment before I could use the washing machine - it was completely clogged with gunk and washing powder - and empty the fluff filter in the tumble dryer. The cutlery drawer had crumbs in and some of the cutlery was dirty, as were some of the place mats. The dining room floor had breakfast cereal on it and a load of dust from where the stone wall is crumbling! The downstairs loo was badly stained - I left it cleaner than it was, but it clearly hasn't been properly clean for many weeks. The bathroom sanitary bin was left half full - yuck! There were light bulbs missing in the kitchen (1) and the single bedroom bedside light, and the light in the extractor over the hob wasn't working either. The microwave was too small for most of the dinner plates supplied - they couldn't turn. TV reception was poor, as were the wi-fi and phone. The low ceiling and huge beam over the bed in the mezzanine rendered it unusable, even for little me! Lucky only five of us were able to come on the holiday as it turned out. We were surprised to find no welcome pack - not so much as a pint of milk - no leaflets about local attractions, no information about the local recycling scheme (i.e. take it all to Morrisons car park), and no notes on how to operate the central heating system. On the plus side, the hot tub was ace - the best we've found anywhere - and the towels supplied were very good quality. The location was very convenient - just a few minutes' drive from Morrisons and handy for Ullswater, Derwentwater and plenty of other lovely places. We enjoyed a good meal with our grandchildren at Gianni's Italian restaurant in Penrith. We had lovely weather all week, so we didn't have to spend much time in the Barn, and actually had a really good holiday.

  Read more less >

• Vicki - Verified booking

  When we arrived the cleaning lady was still there finishing up next door, just as well she was as we couldn't gain entry as the key was not in the lockbox but in the door on the inside of cottage.

  She had no knowledge of us arriving as said it had not been cleaned! When she gained entry with her keys it was a left in right mess by previous customers. She told us to come back in couple hours (by this time it would be 6pm+) not her fault but a break down communication either with booking agent & owner. When we finally get in on first glances the ladies did a fab job in a short space of time to clean and prepair it for our stay. It was during the stay we started to find little bits not so perfect, the cottage could do with a little TLC and money being put back into it and bring up to date with current times. The kettle could do with replacing as has rather alot scalling init. The TV Ariel is no use at all, everytime you want watch TV you have to retune and lucky dip what channels you pick up. There is an outdoor ariel socket on wall why there's no extension into this instead the crappy plug in ariel?? Luckily the TV is a smart TV so can use your Netflix/prime accounts if you have these. The WiFi is shocking slow, the router is next door and you piggy back off that, it was hit and miss alot the times. The bathroom door handle needs attention, no one dared locked the door incase it came off and you got stuck in there! The shower in main bathroom is a cheap of the cheapest ones going and pointless for double shower that size, plus there's not alot hot water it runs cold and tepid, so don't think if having a bath. Cheap plastic toilet seats. The hottub man comes Friday & Mondays. We noticed He doesn't empty them at each change over but simply wipes the seats, fish out the bugs, cleans the filters and replaces the chlorine tabs. So not sure how many guests have used same water before us? (He was there just finishing when we arrived Friday- the tub was 40° so obviously not been emptied and refilled) These may seem little things but when your paying £1200++ these little things do go a long way to making your stay more comfortable. The garden is good size, enclosed so dog friendly. Overall its a lovely cottage, ideal place as base while you explore the beautiful lakes have to offer.

  Read more less >

• Sarah - Verified booking

  The cottage is a little style over substance - it’s beautifully decorated and has some clever touches such as the boiling water tap, but lacks functionality and some basics you’d expect.

  As a fellow holiday cottage owner and holiday maker I expect the following to be in situ - a toaster, some baking trays, blinds at all windows (the double bedroom back door has glass panels and no blind), working TVs - there are three but some don’t have live TV consistently working on them) and welcome instructions regarding the site itself eg recycling, bins plus using the technology (the less tech minded may find this challenging). From a safety perspective there’s a step from the kitchen to lounge which is difficult to see. Another guest has kindly put silver tape on this to make it stand out and has flagged in the visitors book - this isn’t up to safety standards in my opinion. Finally the hall and bathroom lights are motion sensored. I have no issue with this except that if someone gets out of bed in the double bedroom the light in the open bath area comes on and wakes up the other person - there’s no way of turning this off. This should not be on a sensor as we had disrupted sleep each night. The site itself is lovely - very quiet given it was half term. The restaurant serves good quality food and the mini golf etc are well maintained. Only and quite big negative was the pool temperature - it’s very cold. Our five year old learns to swim in a cold pool but this took it to another level and she didn’t want to go in the main pool - which we didn’t blame her for as neither did we! If the pool temperature was rectified we’d love to stay on the site again but we wouldn’t stay at this property.

  Read more less >