“We arrived before anyone else, so had chance to take a good look around the house before all sorts of luggage and shopping got brought in.”
First off, on the details it states to park next to the bins (outside the gate). This is a trek to bring all your belongings up the wrap around ‘drive’ to the steps of the property. So we chanced it and drove up. The drive is extremely narrow, so depending on your car, you may not manage it. But there was no way I was leaving our car next to the wheelie bins to be knocked or scraped because it would have been too close. There are 2 chains with padlocks on them in 2 different places to stop you driving all the way around, but fortunately for us, they were not attached across the ‘drive’. The info book states we shouldn’t use the road where we exit, but we did and none of the neighbours said anything. My son parked his car in a nearby car park after unloading his car and had to pay overnight fees cos there was no room in the road. The house is huge and I love the fact we could be in control of the temperature of the radiators except for the bathrooms, they stayed cold! And the pool table was a big hit. There is not a wardrobe in the master bedroom, so we had to hang my husband’s shirts off the picture rails. There were quite a few thick cobwebs on the windows around the house and dust in the master bedroom except for the top surfaces of the bedside tables and the dressing table. We even found a ‘joint’ under the table in the pool room! So whoever is doing the cleaning, isn’t very thorough. There was a strong smell of bleach when we arrived in the hall and kitchen, but all the other rooms downstairs spelled musty. Just a spray of Frebreeze would do the trick or use some plug-ins. All three double beds were very comfortable (the bunk beds didn’t get used) and it was a bonus that none of the rooms were twin rooms. But I am glad me and my husband brought our own pillows as we usually do on staycations cos our pillows hardly had any filling in them in our room. We would have really suffered. Each bedroom had 2 bath towels and only 1 hand towel. Which would be fine if just staying for a long weekend, but we stayed for a week. So this also needs addressing. We were surprised to discover not all the bathrooms had liquid soap in them and not every loo had a secondary loo roll provided, also there was just a tiny bit of washing liquid left in the bottle and not even a welcome pack which is usually standard practice. Well, tell a lie, there was left over tea, coffee and sugar. All opened and used and a small salt and pepper. That’s it! Just as well I brought some provisions of my own. The pool room has a cabinet housing a few glasses that is just in the way while playing pool. There are loads of cupboards in the secondary kitchen in the pool room with nothing in them! We could see what the owners were trying to do with the decor by keeping it traditional looking, and they have. But it looks unfinished. There are no furnishings on the mantle pieces or in the wall mounted cupboards etc. all the fire places downstairs had the flue liners hanging down, which looked unsightly. If you expect to watch TV on your stay, there is a small tv in the kitchen with a fire stick locked down and a small fire tv in the dining/sitting room and a huge fire tv in the pool room all locked down. So if you want to watch any of the apps, you wouldn’t be able to. Again, just as well be brought our own fire stick as a just in case. The write up also states there is a trolley for the bin for ease to take down the ‘drive’. No there wasn’t. AND who we presumed were the owners turned up the day we arrived, we were sitting out enjoying the weather, having a drink waiting for our adult kids and partners to arrive, saw us, but didn’t bother to say hello and ask how things are. We would have told them the front door sticks and we found it quite difficult getting in. In fact we thought the door was locked from inside! There is no phone number to contact the owners if you needed any assistance with anything, so bear that in mind, cos it is sometimes hard to get hold of a Sykes rep on the phone. But with all that said, we had a great time staying in this house. Not sure we will be back though cos of the parking situation
Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on the house.
We are glad you had a great time staying there, and we’re sorry that you encountered some problems.
We have discussed the housekeeping issues you noticed with the team and they will be addressed going forward.
Should guests wish to contact us directly, we do operate an in-app messaging service where we endeavour to respond to any queries as quickly as possible.
I am afraid we have not been at the property in the last few weeks, so we did not see you enjoying the sunshine - if you should visit again when we are there we will be sure to say hello!
Kind regards,
Emma & Dave
Property Owner
