Dog Friendly Cottages Devon

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Craig - Verified booking

  House smelt of damp.

  Sofa and armchair were both damp. Too damp to sit on for any length of time (5 mins max before own clothes becoming damp as well). This meant there was no where to sit or relax in the day/evenings, outside of the small kitchen table or bed in the room upstairs. No access to WiFi, even though listed on listing. No WIFI network registered on either our phones or laptops. We tried a few times in different locations within the property both in the evening and following morning. There was no mobile reception either, so we were unable to rely on mobile data. Had we known this upfront, we wouldn’t have booked the property, as we needed to be able to work remotely during our stay. The owner advertises the property includes WiFi, which is totally misleading, given there was no signal at all. We did speak to Gavin (the owner) as soon as we arrived, on Saturday evening, and mentioned both the WiFi and the damp sofa, and his response was “no one has been in the property in the past five days, so it can’t be damp”. There’s an adjoining door (which is not lockable, and only has a small latch on it) between the master bedroom to the owner’s property, which is next door. Again, neither of which are mentioned on the property listing, which are important things to mention upfront. Dirty - dust and spiders found in every corner of the property All of the above contravenes the Consumer Rights Act. We tried to speak to the owners (in person) before leaving on the Sunday morning, but they were not in, despite saying they would be. We have text conversations evidencing this. The owner lives next door, so had no excuse not to come round to discuss or attempt to resolve the issues. Gavin said he would contact Sykes Cottages to come to some sort of resolution. We followed up with him (and have texts specifically saying he’d spoken to Sykes). And yet Sykes have no record of Gavin making contact with them, at any point. A very disappointing experience in terms of the property and the general lack of care and consideration of the owner. We had booked to stay for a week, but due to the poor standard and property not being as described, we only stayed for one night, and found alternative accommodation for the remainder of our stay in Devon.

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• Ruth - Verified booking

  We arrive after a long journey to be totally disappointed with the property.

  It looked messy from the outside and the adjoining building was in a state of disrepair. Awdry Bungalow had a number of broken pots with dead plants in(no living plants) on the decking, There was a box on the wall which was dirty and next doors brambles had overgrown. My Husband cut them back so we could sit outside. On entering the property we found the smallest of wardrobes for 2 people. I always have a tape measure in my bag as I sew. The wardrobe was 16" wide with 2 small drawers (half a tall boy) but 1 drawer had a blanket in it,leaving the wardrobe and 1 drawer to use. You lived out of your case, which had to be pushed under the bed,which also had stuff already under it. The bed gave me chronic back pain, due it the mattress overhanging 7" . The base was far too small for the mattress and you ended up being rolled into the middle. On other reviews people had also complained about this,so wondering why has nothing been done about it. There was also mould on the blind in the bedroom. Kitchen cupboards with padlocks ,which limits your use. A dishwasher with an out of order sign, a larder unit full of owners cleaning materials, while you don't mind a brush or hoover. you don't expect to see weedol, especially as outside clearly hadn't seen any weedol! The shower was a hose yourself down, though the tilt in the ceiling doesn't really allow for this. The bathroom window(mentioned in other reviews) still needs renewing. The boxing in around the toilet is all damaged and needs repairing and painting. There is a globe light with loads of tape on the base area to stop it being plugged it. Why not just remove it ,as its ugly to see. There are also cups in the kitchen with sayings on such as "fulking Hill, Tickled Cock, Golden balls" more of an owners personal taste, than mine, or a holiday let. There were signs all over the bungalow which show the owners lack of interest in their property. Red paint on white wall,where it would only take a few minutes to touch it up. I can understand the other reviews now, though I expected something would have been done about it. Unfortunately not! Wouldn't recommend or stay again.I have Photographs I can send of all I have commented about,though no place to upload them. Ruth and Jules

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• Kate - Verified booking

  I’ve been renting holiday cottages in North Devon for the last decade, and this property sits firmly in my top three!

  The location is just perfect, only a couple of minutes to the (dog-friendly) beach and the town centre. Combe Martin itself is a great base location generally, but the proximity to the beach really makes this property stand out. The house had everything we needed to ensure a comfortable stay. The stairs are a little difficult to navigate (as someone with mobility problems) but this was made clear within the listing. The cream tea on arrival was really welcomed - some milk would have been nice so we could have brewed up on arrival. The addition of a dressing table would be great as I found it difficult to dry my hair, having to move one of the bedside tables to be able to sit on the floor near an outlet and mirror. The lack of an enclosed area for the dog was the only draw back we could find; Newberry Beach is just across the road and is dog friendly all year round so this was exceptionally convenient for us, though having to get shoes on, leash up the dog, and then walk him up and down the street outside for his final toilet break before bed was a little frustrating, it would be nice to just be able to open the door and let him outside as we do at home. We did also find ourselves having to pick up a fair amount of cat faeces from the front gravelled area, though there’s really very little that could be done to prevent this it’s maybe something the owner should be aware of as we did worry that it would be assumed that any we didn’t manage to get would be attributed to our dog. I’m unable to really pass comment on the cooking facilities as we ate out every evening, but at a glance it appeared as though everything needed to prepare meals was available. We had a fantastic week and this property and it’s location really contributed to that. Despite the slight niggle with the lack of enclosed outdoor space, we’re already looking at booking again for next year - and we have never re-booked a holiday let before! Thank you so much.

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• Davina - Verified booking

  The kitchen was poorly equipped.

  No serving spoons. cutlery thrown in the drawer. The cups has stain spots and we could not remove them. Also when water was tipped down the sink, it glugged for a while and then there was a slight odour of bad eggs. Think it needs some drain clear. I doubt the owner is aware of this. We had to have help sorting our the underfloor heating. One switch was in a cupboard that had no handle. We thought there was a shower not just the jacuzzi. Our fault we know. Never assume!! But it was difficult to crouch down in the jacuzzi to have a shower, using the hose which had a temporary repair. The photo, showed a private courtyard, but from the Coach house you looked out onto other parked cars and the side road and when you were sitting inside you felt you were in a goldfish bowl as everyone could see right into the room. My last comment is a personal one, but the bedding had been washed in very strong smelling detergent - fabric conditioner and it was so over powering it made us sneeze. Fortunately there were spare pillow cases, so we covered 2 cushions and used these instead. The smell was very strong. This is the first time I have ever written an adverse comment, but feel I should.

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• Debra - Verified booking

  This is a lovely place to stay away from it all but it could be so much more with just a little more care by the owners regarding maintenance and cleaning.

  All previous comments we had seen are still very true, i.e. mould marks in fridge, in corners of living room and bathroom which could be easily rectified. The adjoining bungalow is still in a state of disrepair. Also the outside seating and table was unusable as it is still covered in green algae which is a shame as we stayed in August. We had to pour boiling water over part of the decking we walked on to remove any slippery residue. Glad we had bought our own beach chairs which we could use instead. I did also use the bagless hoover only to find it had never been emptied and spent the next half hour de-clogging all the waste that had built up which was backing up down the suction nozzle- I don’t know if this was also used to clean the bungalow in between stays but I can assure you not much would have been picked up. It doesn’t take much to ensure it’s emptied in between uses.

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