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.

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• 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.

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• Gareth - Verified booking

  Spent a week at Tillymint cottage during august.

  We are a family of four and the cottage had plenty of room. It was clean and tidy on arrival and well stocked. We liked the fact there was things like drying maiden, hoover and cleaning products available. The site itself was amazing, kept clean and tidy and lovely and quiet. The playground, crazy golf and golf frisbee we’re fab! The pool was well maintained, and our kids loved they could go every day and that towels were available, which was really helpful. Staff were lovely and polite, always said hello and very attentive in the restaurant on site. Food was lovely albeit a tad pricey, however the activities that ran that week were definitely a nice added bonus. The area is beautiful and the closest big supermarket was about a 10/15 min run, so not bad at all. Lots to do in the Lake District, a week just isn’t enough and the odd day we decided to stay on site there was plenty to keep us occupied and the cottage had a really good selection of books and dvds. We did however have two minor points with the cottage; the plywood decking area upstairs did look a bit a dodgy but we know the cottage has not long been taken over, so I’m sure that will be dealt with, and the the key safe…was a bit tricky opening it and just wouldn’t open when it came to returning the key which made us panic and flap. Overall, we would definitely recommend Tillymint cottage to anyone and we will be booking again for next year as we enjoyed it that much

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• Fionnuala - Verified booking

  Beautifully decorated property with an emphasis on modern technology.

  Unfortunately however, the owner has confused a magazine worthy showroom with a holiday let. Not suitable for small children due the ridiculous amount of breakable ornaments. Every surface where I would want to put my own items, was covered in home bargains tat. Get rid of it all and you have a lovely property. Kitchen had the minimal amount if kitchenware. No toaster, no collinder, 3 broken mugs, no slotted or wooden spoons. Only 3 small pans. Not great if you enjoy cooking. No child friendly crockery, so bring your own. No instruction manual or advice on how to use the plethora of digital equipment. Even the oven told us it was on the WiFi. No info on recycling. No guide for the thermostat. Not sure what the purpose was of the huge blank books that took up space in the living area? Whitbarrow village itself is lovely though after a week of non stop rain, the play area and all grass areas were too muddy to enjoy. The pool and restaurant were lovely. We will return but not to this property.

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• Nicki - Verified booking

  The accommodation was spacious and kitchen equipment was surplus to our needs.

  Unfortunately the main double bed mattress was damaged and my husband ended up sleeping in another bed to help his painful back after the first night. Also, a very strong lingering food smell was present in the upstairs areas and this ruined our time in the property. Despite good contact from the cleaners, a solution was not possible during our stay. The facilities on the site were as advertised, however we received no arrival information about where to find the property in a huge resort. The provided post code led us into a private farmers yard and we were not aware that swimming had to be prebooked or where to collect equipment to play mini golf etc. The staff on site were pleasant and helpful. Sadly our little family didn’t enjoy the holiday as we’d hoped and felt disappointed including mostly broken and unusable items in the games room. We do not think the property should be listed until the food smells have been removed especially from carpets.

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