“Great location with a large grass area just across the road, where you can sit and look out to sea.”
While we were there, there were a few resident seals who would settle on a rock a little way out. We also saw dolphins in the bay (from a distance). Turn left and walk uphill to the castle, then downhill to the other bay which makes for a pleasant evening stroll (past the fish and chip shop and the ice cream shop). Turn right and there is a path, with high hedgerows each side, which eventually takes you to another beach. The location is convenient for travelling out on the peninsula, North towards Caernarvon and South towards Barmouth.
The apartment entrance is not very inviting, around the back of the building, but it is best to try to ignore that. The apartment itself was spotlessly clean (although the windows could have done with a clean) and well equipped for a short stay. The bed and pillows were extremely comfortable, he wardrobe had sufficient hangers and there was enough drawer space. The apartment is quite ‘bijoux’ and the kitchen became a bit crowded if more than one person was in there but, again, it was fine for a short stay. It would be easy to think that there is no microwave but, as others have noted, the oven is a combined oven/microwave. The bathroom had a useful, large, heated towel rail (be careful not to accidentally touch it when you come out of the shower, as it is very hot). I definitely recommend this property.
Now for the few areas that I feel could make it even better.
The shower tray was not large enough to catch the water, hence the floor at the end of the shower became very wet. We used the mat provided to soak up the worst of it.
I could not find anywhere to plug in a hairdryer and look in a mirror at the same time. A mirror on the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom, above the power sockets, would have been very useful.
Take a kitchen towel and extra toilet rolls with you.
We found its difficult to get many channels on the TV. There may have been instructions but we didn’t find them.
Whenever I go away I check fire exits. There didn’t appear to be an easy way to escape from the bedroom if there had been a fire in the kitchen/hallway. As this property is on the ground floor, it makes sense that the windows only opened so far. However, the bedroom window was of a different type and looked as if it should be possible to unlock and open it but it was impossible. The only compensating point is that there were a large number of fire alarms throughout the property but I would have felt much safer if that bedroom window could have been opened.
Finally, my biggest issue relates to the advertised parking situation versus the reality. As I write this review, the listing still states “After unloading your belongings in the private parking spot”. Elsewhere, it states “Private parking for 2 cars”. However, the joining instructions state that parking is on a first come basis, with free parking on the streets and a free car park close by. I did point this anomaly out to Sykes Cottages before I went away and I cannot understand why the listing has not been changed. As far as I could see, there appeared to be four parking spaces, shared by four properties. All being well, you will get a parking space, with a bit of manoeuvering (it would have been useful if the entrance could have been a bit wider). If, for some reason, all of the spaces were to be full, there is a lot of free parking on the street but I can imagine this would get full up at weekends and in the high Summer season. The car park that is close by is ‘pay and display’ and not free (perhaps it was once?), so even this information in the joining instructions was incorrect. It would be helpful if this was all made clear in the listing, instead of giving the misleading impression that you will have your own designated private parking spot(s).
