Big Cottages & Group Accommodation in South Hams District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Dan - Verified booking

  On the whole the property is a characterful, beautiful and historic cottage, it has ample outside space and the setting is fantastic.

  Unfortunately on arrival, we thought that the property was not cleaned to an acceptable standard. Whilst areas had been cleaned, much of the homes carpets and upholstery were not clean, dusty corners, cobwebs, and just a general feeling of uncleanliness was evident throughout all rooms, the kitchen floor in need of a scrub and polish, in addition to a lingering odour that bestows homes of dusty and slightly dirty nature. At 6pm following a full days travelling, we really did not intend to contact the holiday agent to commence a dispute, so we spent the first hour of our holiday hoovering and cleaning. We are practical and down to earth people, so it wasn't the end of the world to us. However, with a baby who would be crawling on the floors we needed to get it sorted there and then. We called into the Salcombe agents office for the property to inform them as we were passing by. We are not expecting action, we were just informing them of our experience. They suggested that we should have contacted them straight away and sent photos so that they could send cleaners out. This just wouldn't have been workable at 6pm on a Friday evening when we are knackered and need to get the kids down. Sending cleaners for a quick spruce up wouldn't have helped much, it's not necessarily the regular cleaning, but that the property needs a serious deep clean, the vac is a 25 year old Henry, so unless there's some emotional attachment to it, he probably needs replacing. The only mattress that seems fit for purpose is a single in the middle room, the rest, along with the pillows have the ability to reshape your back and neck into arrangements only a qualified chiropractor can sort out. A special mention to the fridge, whose noise became so loud at one point we thought it might be trying to communicate. A minor issue. Many areas were good however, the new cooker and hob were fantastic. The Amazon TV stick worked great for the kids. The single child's room decor was really fun. The house is of an age where you expect the quirks, and much of the decor fits well with that character and helps you disconnect from life back home. A side note, the nearest pub didn't do any food, although was welcoming. The Royal Oak further round was pretty bad, the bar lady served me whilst on her phone, empty glasses littered the place, with areas caked in dust. I love a dive bar now and again but this place took to a new level. We had fantastic weather with some brilliant visits to local villages and towns. We've made some wonderful memories and the cottage played a good part in that. The areas mentioned let it down, so I'm not sure we would return. I think the areas mentioned are fairly easy to address though.

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• Julia - Verified booking

  This was a lovely cosy cottage with lots of quirky features.

  Comfortable for 5 or 6 but be warned the stairs are steep for young children or frail or vulnerable adults. Beautiful views over Dartmouth town and harbour. The cottage is accessible by a very steep and narrow road for unloading and loading luggage but otherwise leave the car in the town car park. We kept ourselves fit walking up and down the steep hill to the shops! The cottage is just a short (steep) walk from the town centre where there is loads to do for all ages: steam train trip, lots of boat trips, museum, escape room, a wide choice of pubs, restaurants and cafes. There’s also a very nice heated outdoor swimming pool and a very nice indoor pool and gym at the leisure centre. Lovely walks with superb views. A nice walk or boat ride to Dartmouth castle and the coast. The castle is managed by English Heritage and there are activities for all ages and it’s well worth a visit. We loved Dartmouth! A friendly, peaceful and pretty town.

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• Karen - Verified booking

  We were very disappointed with the overall cleanliness of Gooder House on arrival.

  As l informed the Coast and Country Cottages office on the next day. The whole house was covered in cob webs. The downstairs bedroom was particularly poorly cleaned. In fact I did question if it had been. There was a lump of chewing gum on the window sill, loads of cob webs and the bathroom floor was filthy. The lady in the office did offer us a re clean but by that time we had all arrived and were keen to get on with our break. I was also very disappointed that no one had seen fit to give us warning of the building work going on next door. This proved to be very disruptive on a daily basis. The builders arrived every weekday morning at 7.30 am with their radio blaring, which continued all day. When they started the drilling the noise in Gooder House was horrendous. In fact one day some plaster came off the wall in the hallway. Considering the cost of the holiday I cannot describe it as a relaxing holiday.

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• Martyn - Verified booking

  I discovered that the sliding door of shower room next to the back door had become detached from the runners.

  The Maintenance chap tried his best but this is a job requiring the pelmet to the door to removed to rectify this and therefore we had to put up with the door being permanently open the whole 2 weeks of our holiday. It was also noticed that the door to the kitchen from the hall drags on the floor, it was like this 2 years ago! In fact most of the doors don't shut shut correctly and need some maintenance. The family bathrooms fan struggles and is either in need of a clean or the bearings worn out. The TV in the dining room and the main bedroom have only a few usable channels. They either need to be connected to the home WiFi so they can be used with streaming channels or connected to the BT TV. Despite this we really love this rental and the rest of the facilities make up for the shortfalls with the garage parking being the cherry on the bun.

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• Ruth - Verified booking

  The property is great.

  Good location, easy access down the hill into town and the garage is the clincher for us. We have stayed at Gooder House quite a few times now, in spring, summer and winter. The dodgy water supply this visit was a bit inconvenient but out of your control and the water bottles were much appreciated. The only downside was that on arrival the heating thermostat was set to 13C! We assumed the property had not been used for some time and no thought was given to making the house comfortable for us. My husband was able to adjust the thermostat but the house was freezing cold for several hours until a decent temperature was reached. The loft radiator remained cold so we had to bleed it ourselves to get heat upstairs. We would have expected the heating to have been checked before we arrived! Other than that, we had a good time.

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