Large holiday cottages that sleep 12 to 15

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Josephine - Verified booking

  Good points - We all slept very well, the beds were very comfortable and all the rooms and bathrooms were all a very good size, it made room allocations very easy.

  All rooms clean and well presented. - Well stocked kitchen - everything was brand new and it was well equipped including kids meal things, we were impressed with the range of cups, glasses and plates. However, the plates were not great quality and we found left marks after using with cutlery. Also we tried to find out from Sykes what we could expect to find in the kitchen but they were not much help at all. Therefore, we unnecessarily packed pots, cooking utensils, even a blender as well as plastic plates, cups and cutlery because of the lack of information we did not want to risk not having what we needed for the duration of the stay. - good location to shops - very helpful that the property is well located with access to 3 major super markets, very handy and a definite plus. - The games room was a real hit. The multiple functional table provided hours of entertainment and was a great addition to the property. Also good that there was TV in there although upon arrival was not set up. - Great size and very spacious living room especially for the kids to play, we were able to set up the babies play pen and it was very thoughtful that a baby gate was provided although we didn't have need to use it. However, for the open fire I would suggest an enclosure/guard around the fire place, we had curious babies who often wondered up to it so we had to use one of the tables to separate them from it. - Very happy with the parking - we were able to get all 5 cars in - Thank you for the beautifully decorated Christmas tree - We also appreciated the very helpful and useful 2nd cooking area outside the games from, essential with a big family and lots of things to cook for Christmas. Bad points/things to improve - We appreciated the history of the house (I read in the welcome pack that it was built in 1780) and can also appreciate the cost of maintaining such a building but there are still some things that I believe can be improved. Some were quite frustrating and I would suggest they are looked into sooner rather than later. - Firstly there was no ground floor WC - I noted the cloakroom on the first floor but it was packed full of stuff and not useable, this meant that if you had go to the loo the only option was in your room, very difficult especially if you are on the upper floors. The fact that there is a cloakroom available it should be made accessible. - Upon arrival it was not obvious (at least not to me and my husband) about how to gain entry into the house. There was no clear instruction in the email which contained the code and it frustrated me that I had to call the helpline in order to get information. We travelled from East London and it was a 4.5 hour drive with a 6 month baby, the last thing I wanted to do was to spend an extra half and hour trying to figure out how to get into the house. Clearer instructions should have been provided, even as simple as, "key pad for entry is located on the right hand side of the door". As we received a code and the email made mention of keys, we assumed we were looking for a lock box that contained the front door key. I did not appreciate the extra effort after such a long journey. - Extreme problems with the internet, it was very helpful that the information was clearly provided about the Wi-Fi but it only worked well on our phones and tablets. It very much needs a boost as it was not able to carry the TV in living room and basement. although the TV was fine in room 4. I can appreciate that there were a number of devices connected at the same time which may have contributed to the problem, but this should have been expected and anticipated. The fact that the house can take up to 16 people and has three TVs, the necessary adjustments should be made to ensure better internet connection. As guests we should not need to compromise on this. - The biggest issue we had however, was with the hot water, some rooms were worse than others, for example my cousin and his wife in room 6 complained of no water and had to use the facilitates in the neighbouring room which had no problems. We should have been told about the tank and how it work, you cannot assume that we would know and again as guests this is not something we should have compromise on or worry about. - Thank you for providing the brand new travel cots as we requested, they were very easy to set up and very helpful that a protector and sheets were provided, however, mattresses were the wrong size and were too big for the actual cot. We were able to use them regardless but it meant that my child slept on a slight angel which was of course was not ideal. You'll need to change this asap for the correct size. - We loved room 1, especially the extra big bathroom, however, it had two major issues, firstly the bathroom is big but has insufficient heating for the size, so despite having a heated towel rail it was not enough to heat the room to a comfortable level. I would suggest adding an extra heater, the one I had in room 4 was very good. The second issue with this room was the heating in the bedroom. It cut off, the heater did look old so it may be it died, thankfully we used the portable heater in the living room, which was fine. However, guests should not to deal with problems with such basic needs such as heat and water. - As mentioned above the kitchen was well stocked and had a lovely new fridge, however, for a house that size with that many people 1 is simply not enough, you need additional one, even if it is not as big I would suggest an extra one. - I had to report that we had issues doors not closing properly and some jamming. In room 8 my cousin was trapped in the walk in closet for over an hour, we were all down stairs and didn't hear his cries for help and he didn't have his phone with him, so he had to break the glass to get out. The other door that jammed was the bathroom in room 3, luckily no one was in it at the time. - Initial instructions should have been provided to explain how to use the fireplace and portable heater you cannot assume everyone knows how to do this.

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• Karen - Verified booking

  The property is described as being luxurious but the ony things luxurious about it was the space, the cinema room and the views.

  As per previous reviews, the whole property is outdated but we could have lived with that except that there was a lot of things broken and not as described in the info. When we arrived on the Friday the beds in the Lodge were not made up properly, they should have been 2 superkings but were seperated in to twins. The twin beds upstairs had no duvet covers, pillows or sheets and were in the living area which it doesn't show it in the photos and makes it sound like there is three bedrooms. I called the three numbers left on the info sheets and left messages for two of them and the other (Pauls no) rang out. I didn't receive a call back from any of them. There was a table broken in the cottage (which was a dangerous health hazard) and the shower in the master bedroom was set to scalding hot and couldn't be changed. I reported these issues to Sykes on the Sunday and fair enough someone did come out on the Monday to fix the table but the plumber didn't come till the Wednesday and said there was an issue with the thermostat which he couldn't fix there and then so for the whole week we could only use the jets which aren't any good for washing hair. We also let the plumber know that the ensuite handheld shower head in the lodge was leaking and the toilet seat was broken. He said he couldn't fix those but would report back to the owners but we didn't hear anything more about those. The hot tub had a funny smell to it which was not very pleasant and the whole area round there smells musty. The cottage also smelt musty. Some of the bed sheets did not fit the single beds properly and the bed in the master bedroom is not the same as in the picture and is not a superking size bed. It had two mattresses on it and so the top one kept sliding off so didn't make for a good nights sleep and as a result my partner ended up with a bad back. While the main garden is kept well, the small yards at the back of the main house and the cottage were not maintained and could do with tidying up. The patio area outside of the side doors where the sun loungers are is also scruffy and uneven which makes it unsafe to walk on. It would also be useful to have a washing line or clothes horse to dry clothes outside (which would also help reduce the musty smell). There are many other things I could mention that needs sorting or fixing but it would take too long. I wouldn't normally moan this much but the fact that we paid just under £8000 for the week, I would expect the house to be immaculate and for everything to be working correctly. There are many thing that can be sorted quickly such as new bedding as the current ones are quite old and all pillows were very flat. I would also suggest the owners asking the council for more bins as they aren't all picked up every week so we ended up having to put recycling in black bin liners next to the bins due to them being full. Due to previous reviews I had contacted Sykes with some concerns prior to the holiday but was reassured that those issues were sorted. We noticed that the house is up for sale so just get the impression the owners aren't going to bother sorting the issues out or updating the property. I would also like to know how often Sykes vist the properties they advertise to make sure they are living up to the descriptions which this property clearly isn't.

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• Dan - Verified booking

  There were a number of super positive points, but the negative unfortunately offset that.

  PRICE I want to start by saying the price is fantastic for what there is there. Just the sheer amount of stuff in the house makes it worthwhile. FACILITIES There is a good amount of things to do. From the more active gym room, to the sauna/hot tub, to the cinema room. It's a great place if you want to just chill out. CINEMA ROOM There are some reviews here that state it is super complicated to set up. I'd disagree with that as the instructions are quite clear. It did take us a little while to work out that the sky box was at the back of the room and the remote didn't register a lot of the time, once we solved that, there were no issues at all with the screen. The chair power supplies did make an un-nerving electrical buzz, that felt dangerous, so we unplugged them for our stay. STYLING You go into the master bedroom and it's like walking into a modern house with great facilities (such as a whirlpool bath, shower etc). But then a mere 5-6 steps away, you walk into the bathroom of the 2nd bedroom and it has barely anything in it (toilet, basic bathtub and sink). Then you walk downstairs to the 'party room' which is relatively decently styled compared to the dining room area and another time travel through the kitchen. UPKEEP The whole property (all 3 buildings) feels like it has just been left to degrade over years. Outside of the master bedroom, it looks like not a lot of effort has been made to keep the rest of the house modern. Some of the LEDs were broken / breaking, as well as the gym being quite dangerous (some seats weren't even screwed on properly). Add to that bits of wallpaper ripped and some tiles cracked; just feels a bit neglected. COMMUNICATION Before we arrived, it stated the beds could be made up as doubles if needed. We requested this, but it wasn't completed. Additionally, there was a leak in the cinema room foyer area, that was left for the week (they did warn us about this, however). Also, about halfway through our stay, the outside panel to the main gate stopped working; we informed them but it wasn't fixed by the time we left (meaning we had to go through the pedestrian gate, run to the panel on the other side and back again, to get through). BEDS As I mentioned above, these were not made up as we had requested prior to arrival. However, they were uncomfortable with some beds feeling like you were going to fall out of them at the edges (likely due to having a 2nd mattress underneath the main one). OVERALL I would say the property is good, for what it is. There was plenty to do and nothing really impacted our stay to the point we were angry about it (the beds were close however). The price point works out really good value (although if the property was fixed up, modernized and corrected; it'd easily be worth double the price). I would say though, as much as it advertises it sleeps 18, 2 of the lodges bedrooms are off the doors in. I'd recommend 16 is the max. WOULD WE STAY AGAIN? All in all, I'd probably have to say no in the current state. Upgrade / update / fix things and it'd be a yes.

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• David - Verified booking

  A Great property let down by general maintenance.

  We enjoyed our stay but unless things change, we won't be back. I would suggest this was OK value for money on the price we paid but looking at next year’s fees it is asking too much and even at this year’s price unless there was some changes it won't be for us. Details 1st thing I must say is the cleaners / management staff are 1st class, they gave excellent, professional and speedy responses to our questions before and during our stay, the place felt clean on arrival. Things we loved : The general space, Kitchen, large dining area, the Karaoke, the Gym, Sauna & Jacuzzi. Kitchen: Cutlery is cheap and bendy, lack of wine glasses but overall, I would say 8/10 Bedrooms: Small towels provided but all clean and tidy, the master bedroom is pretty special although not all the functions worked on the Jacuzzi bath it was still a great addition, the lighting in the bathroom was also amazing but let down by low wattage bulbs and the toilet was dark, overall 9/10 Main room: (Party Room) suffers from a lot of lighting issues, cheap LED lights that flicker, Sky TV kept cutting out, this is not really a cosy place to sit and watch TV which is why it’s more of a party room and for that purpose its brilliant 10/10 for a party night ! Gym: Well-equipped but the treadmill was not great with the belt jamming which made it dangerous. Sauna was great (not much lighting) but did the job, Hot tub only goes to 38 Degrees unlike most that go to 40 so we didn't use as we are used to ours at 40. All of this in the same area and including a shower & toilet and as you don't get all this in most places, so we need to give it a 9/10 Cinema Room: This could be so much better, it needs a new projector, it does work but VERY dim, lighting in and around this area needs work, it smells of drains between the utility room and cinema also. You can't plug a games machine etc. Power Seating Transformers buzz as other reviews mentioned. Overall 3/10 but could be a 10/10 with not much investment. My Advice: If you have already booked, go there and enjoy it, perhaps check if any of the above has been resolved, I did provide the chap with a long list of smaller issues, if they were all resolved I would re-consider booking again. If you have not booked, check with Sykes to see if there has been improvements made and if not consider other properties but anyone booking large places like this will know they usually sound much better than they actually are, perhaps I am also too picky because as I said we really did have a good time, improving this place would really not take much.

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• Valerie - Verified booking

  Paul and Sam did a great job in that the property was clean and they responded to queries during the weekend.

  We had a fun time and the main area is a great party space. However, there were some significant issues which would prevent us from recommending this property to others. Overall the fixtures, fittings and furnishings were very tired and worn. Most of the main house and both lodges require a significant update, especially the bathrooms. The lodge nearest the gate smelt damp and I don’t feel it is suitable as guest accommodation. We had no hot water in the main house on Sunday morning which we were able to fix following instruction but that involved rather a dangerous removal of a glass panel. The WiFi was very unreliable meaning the TVs in the master suite weren’t useable to the full extent and the alarm went off in the lodge nearest the gate at 1am on Monday morning. As there are no codes in the house manual we had to sit it out until the alarm stopped. The main issue though was a faulty wire / connection to the karaoke speaker. The speaker worked at first ( although the speaker has blown so the sound wasn’t great) but on sat night the connection became intermittent and then stopped working altogether. The wire had been previously repaired with black tape but this fix no longer seemed to work meaning we couldn’t use the karaoke or the speaker to play our specially prepared music playlist. One of the reasons we booked this property was because of the karaoke and it’s a shame a previous temporary repair job had been done rather than replacing an inexpensive wire and connector. Despite all this we had a great weekend but sadly I don’t feel this property represents value for money in it’s current condition.

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