Dog Friendly Lydney Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Marina - Verified booking

  About Time Cottage is in a fantastic location for exploring the Forest of Dean.

  There were so many things to do and we managed to fit in the Dean Forest Steam Railway, hiking to Mallard's Pike, the Sculpture Walk, Chepstow Castle, Tintern Abbey, Hopewell Colliery and Westbury Court Garden plus we saw wild boar and deer at the nature reserve. We had a couple of good meals at the Woodman Inn too. If you visit outside the school holidays make sure to check which days attractions are open as some are not open every day. About Time Cottage is a great house with large rooms (good sized bedrooms and a massive lounge/dining area and a great laundry/drying room) and many good facilities including fast wifi enough for all of us (which you need because there's no 'phone signal at all). The hosue does need a bit of TLC. Much could do with a refresh or a bit more attention paid to making sure that everything is right for each set of new visitors. I'm not sure how often (or if) the owners visit as they would see what could be improved but just a bit of time and money. For example, there is a lovely decking area but we couldn't use it because the plums from the tree in the garden had ripened and fallen all over the ground which attracted loads of wasps (this was mentioned in the visitors' book a month ago but nothing had been done). Ideally the plums should be picked up on a regular basis to stop this happening. Some of the kitchen equipment was low quality - plastic glasses for champagne, cheap cutlery. No cleaning stuff provided, not even in the kitchen or bathrooms - we even had to ask for a mop. Quite a few light bulbs not working (also mentioned by previous visitors). No details on when to put the bins out. There is a folder with what you can recycle but why not put labels or pictures on the 4 bins provided in the kitchen, it would be so much easier? Also the recycling and food bins were practically full when we arrived, not great for a house of 10 people and a dog, especially the food bins when it was so hot. It was very hot but the house didn't have any fans (we did ask but none were provided). The upstairs loft room was particularly hot because the blinds don't keep out any light at all (bring an eye mask if you sleep in that room). Would be great to replace them or add blackout blinds and it would help to keep the room cool. Bathroom showers were a bit mouldy, we have cleaned off as much as we could for you! This mjight seem like a long list but we did have a lovely time and would definitely come back if the house is updated. Thanks

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• Jayne - Verified booking

  The property is becoming rundown and tired.

  There is chipped kitchen floor tiles and the kitchen units are very worn. The oven was filthy and looked like parts of it were being held together with some sort of blue tack. The inside of the microwave was dirty too. We didn't use the dishwasher, so we don't know what state that was in. The kitchen and bathroom floor tiles were really dirty. The laminate flooring throughout the property was dirty too. We spent part of our first morning sweeping and hoovering all the floors, including under beds etc. We swept up so much debris. The sofas had debris and dog fur on them. We hoovered them as well as we could. We then got on our hands and knees and tried to clean the kitchen and bathroom floor tiles with hot soapy water. Not the best start to our holiday. The water was dark brown. The grouting needs a scrubbing brush to sort it out, but we certainly weren't going to do that. There was too much laminate flooring to clean. The mop provided was dirty, so all we would have done was push the dirt around. The bathroom wall tiles and the shower screen need black mould and limescale removed from them. The back door is ancient. The front door sounds like you are entering a haunted house. The double glazed window in the lounge has blown. The driveway is full of weeds etc. The decking is very springy. The back garden is the local cat toilet. We had to regularly hose the cat poo away so our 2 dogs didn't try to eat it. The walls are grubby and marked. The visitor information book says the property is in the progress of being sorted out. It certainly does not say that on your online details. If it had, we would never have booked it. The property has such great potential to be lovely given it's layout, garden and position. it is such a shame it has been allowed to get so bad. We have rented out lots of holiday cottages over the years and never had such problems with cleanliness etc. We were very disappointed.

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• Kelly - Verified booking

  When we arrived at the accommodation, it had not been cleaned from the previous guests.

  Dirty bedding and towels, rubbish left, dirty dishes etc. Sykes arranged for a cleaner to attend but we had to find somewhere to go for four hours! The cleaning company paid for us to have dinner which was welcomed but we still had hours to wait to get into the accommodation. The accommodation needs a thorough deep clean. Behind the TV was lots of insects; underneath the sofas were really dirty; there was mould in the bathroom; the bottom of the bed was dirty; the outdoor wood burner was full of cigarette butts; some of the crockery in the cupboards was greasy and dirty; there was dirty underwear in one of one the drawers. Outside, the decking area (shown on the website pictures on the and booking details) had been removed and piled up in the garden; sharp metal fixings were left sticking out of the ground where it had been screwed down. This was dangerous for dogs and children. There were building materials in the garden and the garden gates are not secure for small dogs who can fit through the gaps - our dog escaped twice and we had to block the gate with bins and old bricks from the piles left in the garden.The front driveway is full of weeds and the plants are overgrown - one covers a front bedroom window. Many of these issues were mentioned in the purple breakage record, previous reviews and the guest book, but the problems remain. It seems to me that the owners don't really worry too much about the condition of the accommodation. I really did not want to stay and reported these problems, with photos, to Sykes on several occasions during the week; I received responses telling me that the problems had been passed to the property team or that the customer relations team would be in touch. No one contacted me. We vacuumed underneath the sofa and throughout the accommodation and cleaned all the crockery before we used them. This is not what we expected from Sykes.

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• Jill - Verified booking

  A beautiful house made very homely with the addition of pictures, ornaments, accessories.

  All bedrooms nicely furnished. We asked for one of the double rooms to be split into two singles - no problem. Large spacious accommodation with pool table and table football to keep our 10 & 13 year old grandchildren amused. Clean, tidy, so much provided - bedding, two towels each, bathroom hand towels, tea towels, oven gloves, washing up liquid, kitchen roll. Also toilet rolls in each bathroom and dishwasher tablets to start your holiday. Lots of utensils too which you don't always get - ice cream scoop, pizza cutter, bottle openers, cheese graters. Plenty of glasses, crockery, cutlery, knives, pots and pans, salad bowl all included and extremely clean. Lovely 'welcome' pack including, cake, cookies, milk, bread, butter, cookies, cake, marmalade, teabags, instant coffee. This is just a super house to rent enjoyed by three generations to celebrate a 70th birthday. Garden was bigger than expected - nice garden furniture with cushions provided. Football field up the road. Great places to visit and activities nearby. Fountain pub in the village and Miners Arms at Whitecroft were great places to eat. Ate in both twice. Booked and ordered in advance as there were quite a few of us and meals were great. We would certainly recommend this house to any groups of 10 although because of the beautiful spiral staircase it wouldn't be suitable for anyone with mobility problems or toddlers. just one small thing - could the recycling folder explain what to do with food waste. Coming from an area where food waste is not collected we were not sure weather it was put in the outside food bin bagged or loose so ended up putting it our ordinary rubbish. Thank you so much.

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• Rosie - Verified booking

  The ensuite in the double bedroom downstairs at the rear of the staircase was unusable as there was a leak either from the shower or the toilet.

  It looked as if there was bubble wrap stuffed behind the toilet and inbetween the toilet and the shower to attempt to stop the leak. It didnt work. The house had the accomodation we needed for 10 people (apart from that one bathroom).. it was comfortable and plenty of cooking pots and crockery. the plates could do with replacing as tired and some cracks. good washing and drying facilities. internet not good .. but we are used to that as we live rurally!!! this could annoy others .We couldnt get the dvd player to work. We had two small children with us aged 2 and 3 and the concrete stairs were a constant worry to us. the provision of a stair gates or advice that these stairs wernt suitable for toddlers and small children would be helpful . Also please for future occupants update the recyclling folder. There was no blue bag for cardboard and it didnt make sense. Also it would be useful to state which day you need to put the recycling/rubbish out. However we had a wonderful holiday in a perfect location for our family.

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